The Puzzle Without
It's fair to say I've been having a bit of a puzzle-ish sort of day. My usual New York Times crossword on the cable car, a link to a familiar puzzle on the MIT Mystery Hunt page, the sudden realisation that all I need to do is swallow my pride and ask for an extension, because I can do this essay. I actually can, now, rather than being the Little Engine that Thought He Could but Then Failed Horribly When He Was Rerouted into an Unexpected Siding Behind a Lumber Yard.
The lumber yard being the entire city of New York, the siding being how society sees itself, and the failing horribly... well.
The last seminar for the course this essay will complete allowed me to raise an example that had been buzzing in my head all afternoon, though: a few years ago on CSI: NY there was a case that involved a LARP that had real-world puzzles that affected online events. Using a mix of codes and GPS co-ordinates, reality could be augmented in secret ways. Then there was the episode where webisodes were released upon the entering of codewords hidden in T-shirt designs (based on mythology, a dear subject to me). The userpic that accompanies this article is one of those designs - the phrase 'Everything and Nothing' hidden under the inks.
The MIT hunt is similar in a way - the idea that beneath seemingly meaningless details can be a whole world of messages. I have considered setting hunts; posting cards and details. Small hunts work well, morbane has a card in her flat that leads her to a secret word (it hasn't been solved yet, but I will suggest that it's a bit odd that a Viking ship would have so many differently coloured shields, isn't it?) from three separate clues.
If something like this were set, what form should it take to ensure maximum interest? Last year a man set a treasure hunt to award an engagement ring he didn't want and couldn't return. Is a live-action thing best? Will it be more solvable if it were online? A combination? Where's the place you're least expecting to find a message?