Names

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Okay, this is a random, probably 2-am-fuelled question, but it's something I've idly wondered about before.
Was this supposed to be named The Wall Will Fall? Because my brain can come up with a number of reasons why it's completely insane to expect that it was, and a number of reasons why it would be perfectly reasonable... and since it's 2 am, I don't want to list any of these reasons because they'll probably all come out sounding COMPLETELY INSANE. And if not, what were you guys calling it, until we hijacked it with the name The Wall Will Fall?

And speaking of names, 'Metaguards' was something else that people just kind of suggested and everyone ran with it... This is a question somehow. Had you had different ideas for what we should be called? Should I stop asking questions when I'm clearly sleep-deprived?

[Val Reznitskaya]

There was indeed another name that we used to refer to the ARG, back before you guys named it. I'm not 100% sure it's something I can reveal, but I think we generally agree that the name you came up with is better. That's why we've been using it and will continue to do so.

I don't think it ever even occurred to us to name your group. That was all you. =) But it seems like the name unified you and gave you a sense of identity, and more of a sense of purpose. It's not something we gave much thought to at the time, but I think the name definitely contributed to the tightly-knit community that came out of this.

[Connor Fallon]

We didn't really have a set in stone name, but we were going with Crossover often, or X/OVR for short.

And we never really talked about naming you =P We mostly referred to you as "Players"

[narrativedilettante]

We didn't really have a set in stone name, but we were going with Crossover often, or X/OVR for short.

I honestly had not considered xovr being short for crossover until now.

[Val Reznitskaya]

Actually, I'm pretty sure X/ARG ("Crossover ARG") was whatever came closest to a set-in-stone name. Guess what inspired the xovr domain.

[BlackWolfe]

We didn't really have a set in stone name, but we were going with Crossover often, or X/OVR for short.

I honestly had not considered xovr being short for crossover until now.

Heh, I thought of the site as "crossover.net" whenever I saw it referenced.

[Rick Healey]

Given how much it started taking over our lives, we actually didn't use any name for it. When one PM said "the ARG" to another, none of us exactly thought of Ingress first.

Also, it's actually ARG tradition to have a short and sweet development name. You need something easy to say as you're planning, and something that wouldn't immediately trigger alarms if a stray doc accidentally got released.

Personally, given that we were busy running it, I was fine with you guys naming it what you did. As for the group nickname, you can't really force a community into a nickname. I knew you'd pick what you like.

[Victin]

There was indeed another name that we used to refer to the ARG, back before you guys named it. I'm not 100% sure it's something I can reveal, but I think we generally agree that the name you came up with is better. That's why we've been using it and will continue to do so.

I don't think it ever even occurred to us to name your group. That was all you. =) But it seems like the name unified you and gave you a sense of identity, and more of a sense of purpose. It's not something we gave much thought to at the time, but I think the name definitely contributed to the tightly-knit community that came out of this.

Wait... I remember one of us commenting that on a thread a long time ago.

[H22]

Dryunya and Crossovers?

[Tom]

The Wall Will Fall is clearly the best name for the ARG.

We were worried someone would name it after the first thing encountered in the game, like Average Joe ARG or Sparkly Guy In Park. Happily, that did not happen.

We wouldn't have really minded Watch the Footage as a name. WTFARG is pretty funny. As is, some people referred to this as WTFTWWF, which is really the best acronym.

[Scarab]

The Wall Will Fall is clearly the best name for the ARG.

We were worried someone would name it after the first thing encountered in the game, like Average Joe ARG or Sparkly Guy In Park. Happily, that did not happen.

We wouldn't have really minded Watch the Footage as a name. WTFARG is pretty funny. As is, some people referred to this as WTFTWWF, which is really the best acronym.

WTFARG is really kind of hilarious when you think about it too much. Especially considering all the times we stoppedto go 'ARRRGH!'

[Rick Healey]

The Wall Will Fall is clearly the best name for the ARG.

We were worried someone would name it after the first thing encountered in the game, like Average Joe ARG or Sparkly Guy In Park. Happily, that did not happen.

We wouldn't have really minded Watch the Footage as a name. WTFARG is pretty funny. As is, some people referred to this as WTFTWWF, which is really the best acronym.

WTFARG is really kind of hilarious when you think about it too much. Especially considering all the times we stoppedto go 'ARRRGH!'

Only problem is, this exact sentence could be said by players of pretty much every single ARG ever.

[Val Reznitskaya]

Only problem is, this exact sentence could be said by players of pretty much every single ARG ever.

And not just the players.

[BlackWolfe]

Only problem is, this exact sentence could be said by players of pretty much every single ARG ever.

And not just the players.

I told a friend of mine about the trouble we were having getting people with smartphones out to where echoes were, and how much you guys must have been going "Oh, come on, guys, really? It's 2012! Buy a real phone!" and she said "That's why they call it an ARGH."

[Connor Fallon]

I actually got really, really worried when people originally were referring to the game as the Echo Chamber ARG. The game exists in the same universe (and only because Mr. A is cool), but wasn't really meant to be an advertising campaign or promotion for it. The characters other that Mr. Administrator had no role to play, and calling it an Echo Chamber ARG would only make people think that it was only for fans of Echo Chamber.

Luckily, that passed. I still think we probably should have had someone other than Mark send out that original letter.

Oh, Alex Moser would not stop referring to it as the Alex Moser ARG.

[Dryunya]

Since we've mentioned it, what was the reason for giving those instantiations those spoiler names? Yes, I mean THE WALL WILL FALL. Mr. A said it was a coincidence ("THE WALL TED FALL" made the AMA for me ), but I'm sure you can provide a better explanation, unless it's a season 3 spoiler.

[Tom]

I could weave you a story about tropes infiltrating the Void as the story becomes too thick for Mr. A to control. Or I could stick to the "coincidence" line. Or I could leave this one to your judgment.

But instead, I am going to say it was wizards, because that is more fun.