The First Clue Has Arrived!
We’re off and running with Traces Of Hope, the first-of-it’s-kind Red Cross alternate reality game.
This morning I got an email from “Joseph.” It said:
Hello how are you? My name is Joseph, I am in Northern Uganda…I am hitching a ride with this British journalist called Alan Hackston and he has finally let me use his sat. phone. Actually he is asleep! Ha ha. I am on my way to Hopetown now… See ya J.
I was stumped. But then started doing a bit of searching for this Alan Hackston guy and found that he has a blog. It gives a bit of background info and drops a few hints about Joseph, but you have to dig even further to find Hackston’s LinkedIn profile, flickr, and an abundance of other clues like this fake satellite phone website. (Yes, it’s definitely fake. If you do a “who is” search, you’ll see that the domain is registered to Enable Interactive, the company that created Traces Of Hope.)
Wow. This game is a lot more complex that I had anticipated.
Luckily I also found this forum where players are sharing hints and solutions. If you’re playing [register here], please lend me a hand by sharing your thoughts/hints in our comments! Thanks.
Oh and here’s the first video from Joseph: