Lost ARG 2008 - Part 3

Octagon Global Recruiting got back in touch with me (and the thousands of others who signed up to their recruitment drive!) via e-mail.

The full e-mail content can be seen here: http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/site/emails/0716.php

And for those that can’t be bothered to click, here’s what the e-mail and the site states:

ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS

DHARMA HEAD OF RECRUITING TO ATTEND LAUNCH

Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, is pleased to announce that Dharma's Head of Recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, has confirmed his availability for the launch of our latest recruiting drive at Comic-Con 2008.

"My colleagues at Octagon Global Recruiting assure me that Comic-con hosts some of the brightest minds in the country," said Mr. Van Eeghen. "As Head of Recruiting it is my intention to personally assess the very best of this talent in the hope that they may join us."

The Dharma Initiative will be conducting eligibility assessments at Booth 3529 at Comic-Con, San Diego between July 24th - 27th.

If you are attending Comic-Con and would like to submit your name for a randomly selected drawing to secure one of ten (10) pre-release appointments with one of our recruiting officers, please click here.

The volunteer eligibility assessment will be available online from July 28th for a limited time at http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/

The Dharma Initiative hopes you will spread the word. Invite your friends to join the team at http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/


So before I get into some of the juicier aspects from this latest development, I’ll just review what this piece of information tells us. The important aspects are that Mr. Hans Van Eeghen now has a job title: Head Of Recruiting at Dharma.

There’s also the strong suggestion that he will be making an appearance at Comic-Con. How far they’re going to take that remains to be seen. But it seems clear Octagon Global Recruiting will be a presence there. I expect there will be a ‘proper’ recruitment thing for people to try, and then a version of it - whatever it is - will be available online for the rest of us to have a go at.

I wish I was going to Comic-Con! But I am not. So I am one of these people that has to wait until July 28th when the online assessment will be available. (Incidentally, http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ current has a message:

We can expect this site to develop a lot more over the coming weeks. . .!

Now, onto a little bit more juice (and a potential ‘star’ character for this ARG) back at the site http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/site/emails/0716.php. At this site, if you view the source code, there’s a message contained within. Full transcription below:

!--
…If you’re reading this, wanna hear something cool?
I’ve got intel about his little “recruitment drive.”
They’re doing some kind’ve personality/IQ testing or something down in SD for ComicCon.
Buddy of mine works down there and has the approvals for their “booth,” he says once you go in no one knows what happens inside and you need an appointment to get in. He also said to make sure you’ve got your Bluetooth on and visible – he’s rigged up a little something.
--

!--
The whole thing sounds like elitist B.S., doesn’t it?
Well, I’m getting in that booth and taking the test.
As many times as I have to before I “pass” (whatever that means?)
And then…
If I can?
I’m gonna tape it so EVERYONE can see what these idiots are up to.
Should be fun, right?
See ya in SD. RuckusGuy OUT.
--

So we appear to have someone leading us through this game and he goes by the name of RuckusGuy. (I’ll have a play with some anagrams of that and see what pops up, but nothing jumps out at the moment.) Potentially the story of the ARG may involve this RuckusGuy getting recruited by Dharma and reporting what is happening like a mole. That would be cool, but is total guesswork by me.

What he should certainly be providing is taped evidence of the recruitment process. It does all sound very interesting. Let’s just hope there’s a lot of thought and effort gone into this to make it bear out the intrigue. So, until Comic-Con, or any other unforeseen correspondence, I guess this puts us up to date. I’ll deliver more when I got more to deliver. . .