The reality of the situation.

Well, since you've asked us a direct question we feel compelled to give you a direct answer.

The answer is: YES.

Yes; this entire project, the events that chronicle the efforts of a couple small groups of people trying to deal with the consequences of a leak at the OIS, has been developed, produced, and delivered for SEVEN people - some days a few more and some days a few less.

We have considered them to be seven extraordinary people, capable of making (and here I am looking for a really good adjective because I feel this very strongly) truly wonderful, and in some cases spooky, leaps of logic and fancy; smart people, funny people, sharp people. But yeah, let me count them up again...yep, looks like about seven.

It's true, we didn't target the exact number of 'seven' as the perfect number of people that we wanted to be involved in this part of OVERWATCH (we were actually partial to nine), but we knew from the start that the nature of this part of the project would very likely involve a relatively small number of people. So we structured things to really play to that small group of people, the ones who were truly interested in the story and who were able to work together to interact within the strictures of a world where people are paranoid, cautious and scared.

Since we are not schilling for a big new movie or a cool new game, since millions of dollars are not on the line, that didn't bother us in the least. We looked forward to the opportunity to truly tailor certain aspects of the experience to the individuals who were working hand-in-hand with the other characters to figure out more of what is going on with OSPREY.

What I never accounted for - and this is entirely my failing, not that of anyone else at Djinn - was the possibility that the small number of people who ended up being most involved in OV:G/I (maybe we'll talk about why we call it that sometime) would not want to be a small number of people, but would much prefer being a large number of people.

I hope you will accept my sincere apologies; I misread your interests and desires and gave you a large portion of what you apparently did not want. I am truly sorry about that. And I thank you very much for making your feelings known, it's one thing to hope to make seven people very happy it's entirely another to know that you are making no one happy.

I can't tell you much badly I wish I could change everything around to make it more wide-open to everyone. But I can't, at least not for this story. It has characters who are afraid, characters who are crazy, characters who are paranoid, and characters who are out for blood. From our perspective these characters simply cannot interact directly with very large groups of people and remain true to the underlying framework of what is going on.

I hope that there are at least a couple of you (TWO ;-) ) who are interested enough in the story, as a story, to stay and follow what happens with OV:G/I. True, it will likely be more linear and with a good deal less direct interaction, but the characters will continue on their various courses and, insofar as I can work them into this story, I will do everything I can to include interactive elements that can be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible. I'm not sure I can make that work, but I'll try.

To those of you who have come with us this far, I thank you very much, and I hope that you have gotten at least some intrinsic entertainment out of the story and perhaps will get some more. We really have worked hard, and it really has been just for you.

Regards,
David

PS. Not sure that it matters now, but for the record; 127 was simply to have been a place where Germain could give you information and where you could use the 'writeboards' (the mini-wikis) to outline your collective thoughts in an easier to follow format. Several of you had mentioned the potential usefulness of a wiki, and we were just trying to give you access to one in the guise of a story element. Since you all would have been admins, you all could have added as many new members as you wanted (just a standard FOAF trust model).

Thank you. And the weekly mail.

First, even though we are still in the early parts of the project we wanted to take a moment and say a very sincere 'Thank You' to everyone who has been involved in the production; both the direct and the extended cast and crew. We at Djinn have been involved with a wide variety of creative projects and rarely have we had the opportunity to work with such a talented and enthusiastic group of people.

~

I think it is important that we reply to the comment left recently by Brenda. Although we are very sorry that she feels that she is unable to continue following OVERWATCH, we are a little confused by her comment regarding the story being told by one or two people. The 'story' is what it is. If a certain aspect of the story is driven, or even monopolized, by one or two people then that, for better or worse, is what the story is - at that moment. If other people don't like that, then it is up to them to change it. As we've mentioned before, and we are quite serious, to a very large extent all of you ARE the story.

OVERWATCH is about information; who has access to it, who controls it, how one bit is connected to another, what people do with it and how that impacts the people who do not have it. We understand that that can be frustrating. That's the point. We very much hope that people who find themselves negatively impacted by inappropriate control of information will work together to change that situation; both in this project and in the real world.

Regardless of the metaphysics of the project, though, we are very sorry to lose Brenda, and we sincerely appreciate that she cared enough about the project to leave her comment.

~

You Are Not Too Late!

As a matter of fact, if this were a play we'd still be in act one.

We've received many comments from people saying that they really like the OVERWATCH concept (and let me pause and say THANK YOU for the kind feedback), but that they wish they had been able to start at the beginning.

We want to confirm that it IS still the beginning. Bear in mind that only one major problem has been solved and that all the OVERWATCH content is still available to be compiled and digested. Everything necessary to understand the whole story is there; but you still have to find it ;-).

So please feel free to become involved.

David

No Affiliation with Proboards Espionage RPG

It has come to our attention that there is an online RPG with an espionage theme that uses some of the same nomenclature as OVERWATCH. The fact that this has come to our attention is a testament to the skill and determination of the wonderful folks who have become involved in our project.

As much as we would like to say nothing and let this coincidence add even more confusion to the mix, we feel that some of the similarities are simply too great and would inappropriately influence our story.

Since some of the similarities are indeed odd (to say the least), we feel it is important to confirm that there is no connection what-so-ever between OVERWATCH and the Proboards Espionage RPG.

In light of the type of speculation that is likely to arise around these similarities, we would like to confirm to the providence of the term OSPREY in our own project; I personally chose Osprey as the codename designator for the project as a wink to my character, Danii Rosenberg, from my Autumn Country stories. Danii owns a metal spike named Saaksi which, as we all now know, is Finnish for osprey. An image of Saaksi can be found here: Saaksi Image. You will note that the image was posted in January of 2006, and the stories in which Danii and Saaksi live predate that by several years.

Thank you. I sincerely hope you won't have to hear from me again for a long time.

David Valley
Managing Director
Djinn Productions

Holy Ground

In light of the nature of OVERWATCH, I think it is important to understand that no character would ever break the sanctity of the official unFiction forum.

That being said, it is also important to remember that real people talk to other real people both in private conversations and openly on the internet and via other means, and that the information contained in those conversations is both easily available (these days) and allows for the compilation of complex relational structures.

OVERWATCH is not just about what the big guys can know about you, it is also about what anyone can know about you.

All the people who have become entangled with OVERWATCH are trying to deal with their individual situations as best they can. They are real people. They have their own goals and agendas, their own loyalties (both past and developing), their own (very personal) motivations. And, as with life in general, sometimes one person's story intersects with another's - and they are both changed completely.

Sometimes OVERWATCH may seem very real.

OVERWATCH is about the blurry line between our individual realities and the realities that other people create for us. It is about how stories are sometimes more real than our own lives. It is about surveillance and some people knowing more than they should about your life.

Sometimes OVERWATCH may seem too real, but that's all part of the story. You are part of the story.

OVERWATCH in the News

How cool! OVERWATCH has been featured on the Alternate Reality Gaming Network.

For those you you who are not familiar with Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), or who are not aware of all the ARG elements that are built into OVERWATCH, I encourage you to head over to the ARGnet site and get a feel for one of the most exciting things happening in the fields of storytelling and entertainment.

You will then be ready to start figuring out the REST of what's going on in our story.