Email based interactive fiction - what was it?

December 3, 2014 10:49 PM

Trying to remember a piece of interactive fiction where you signed up using your email address and over several days you'd get emails from characters who worked at an imaginary company. I think you could reply to them using a certain format and that would change the way the story played out. I would have seen it around 2006 or 2007, and I don't think it was new then.

It's probably long gone, but knowing a title or if there's anything on archive.org would be a big help. I vaguely remember the site layout having a gray background with a kind of maroon border / background on the navigation column. I think the main point of the story was that some of the characters were uncomfortable with what was going on at the company, then they disappeared and other people tried to get you to stop talking to people.

Unfortunately I have no idea what the title was, and search queries like "interactive fiction email" aren't turning up anything relevant.

posted by 23 to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (2 answers total)

Best answer: So the missing phrase in this case is "alternate reality game", which is what these sorts of things are called. I dimly recall the one you mention, but my memory says 2001. A little bit of googling turns up Majestic, but if that isn't the exact one, this wikipedia list of alternate reality games may help.
posted by seasparrow at 6:01 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Oh, I hadn't thought of that! Majestic sounds very close, but I'm pretty sure the one I saw was free (you just had to sign up) and only used email (not AIM or real phone calls). Gives me a good starting point at least; thanks very much!
posted by 23 at 5:56 PM on December 4, 2014