This past week has been tough for us at Deleted: The Game, and tested our vision of creating a story in collaboration with our audience.
Since the conception of Deleted: The Game, our goal has been to create a truly interactive media experience. Mainstream entertainment today often encourages partial audience participation (voting for contestants online or by text message, hiding supplemental film material in online games, etc). We promised to take this a step further, by having the action or inaction of our players influence the way our story unfolds: a genuine collaboration between the producers and audience.
In Game 4, players were meant to help Ethan warn Tyler not to go to their planned meeting place. The only way to do so was by finding the number of Tyler's prepaid cell phone. Unfortunately, nobody made it far enough down that trail to find the number. After much consideration, we decided to let the actions of the players be felt. Yesterday, players Yoji and Irene.Adler attended a live interaction that began with them meeting Ethan at the Bedford stop of New York's L-train. I'll let Yoji and Irene.Adler relate their own accounts of what ensued, but they essentially witnessed the demise of our lead character. Tyler has been deleted.
With Tyler gone, we've reassessed how Deleted should play, and we've decided that from Game 5 on, we will be discarding the 'Circles of Friendship' system since it essentially revolved around Tyler. Players will still earn points that will be used to determine the winners of the weekly prizes and the grand prize of a cameo.
To fill the void left by Tyler, other characters are going to ask for your help. You will have to establish new friendships and confidences again, sometimes with the least likely allies. As many learned with Tim Daniels, nothing is ever as it seems. We hope you enjoy these adjustments, and remember to play carefully - everybody wants something, and the stakes are high.
Finally, we will be putting up an obituary site for Tyler, so please drop by and write a eulogy. She will be missed.
- The Editor
