This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 9 months ago by 
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Quick question from a new guy. Just curious about what happened on yelp last year with tension experience? I didn’t end up going due to what I saw. I wasn’t sure if it was a part of it now that I know more? Last year a couple went through tension that didn’t like the event. They said their opinion and were visously attacked, even to the point of the people looking them up based on their digital footprint on yelp. It became so personal and outrageous that these two people accused the obsessed attackers of working for tension (which had to be the case it would seem). It got so horrendous someone claiming to be darren boozman hopped on the yelp page to try to make it right, but he did seem to not really care much. Does anyone care to explain? I see a ton of group and gang mentality handling of people on the forums as well, but I understand that part of the story was to turn you all against each other? I certainly don’t need an obsessed fan cyber stalking me or calling my job if I happened to post a review saying it wasn’t for me. Does anyone know how much of this story is actually written or is it sort of made up as they go based on a strong structure? I don’t understand any story that makes any sense. Maybe someone friendly can be a guide to explain?
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Hello! As a participant from last year, it seems that the Yelp spat might have been generated due to Fan devotion. Obviously for many of us who are involved from spring oflast year, we bore witness and helped to unravel a mystery that took time and emotional investment and bizarrely, was completely free of charge. There were in person events, friendly exchanges, inspiring plot points that generated a real community that is seeing its second generation created right here and now. So it would be difficult for that community to see the culmination of an epic narrative taken apart for what might been seen as arbitrary or petty reasons by people who were utterly not interested in he narrative at all. On a personal note, it seemed to me that the problem with the negative review was simply a clash of expectations. They expected something and did not encounter it which is always the hazard of signing up for an event with a mysterious cult simulacrum. Obviously when a difference of opinion forms one side or another gets defensive. I can not personally attest to the allegations of cyber bullying and I doubt that any one who would consider such a thing would admit to it. What I can say is that an educated opinion is rarely attacked in the manner described and escalation can happen but as a whole it is entirely situational. We are wired to hold on to the negative though.
As for the territorial mentality displayed on the forums. This is a fact of human behaviour. When you gather five humans together, you are doing to get factions. Some of it stems from the previous experience incarnation. Some of it is reactionary to blatant crossing of boundaries. On the whole we try to recognize the forum for what it is, an arena to share ideas. Sometimes we get goofy and joke around. Sometimes butts get hurt and apologies are made. Sometimes things go too far. You will find this on any forum. I’m not saying gang mentality is right and in general I’m the friendliest antisocial person you will meet in a month of Sundays. But it happens.
And you are correct, division and factionalizing is absolutely a mechanic of the narrative. But the awesome part is that we co-create and shape as we go. Our decisions/actions bear actual consequences. Where else are you going to encounter such an environment on such a grand scale? Yes you put up with other human beings (and I still struggle with that) but trust me, it is worth it.
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I popped in and out of Yelp a bit last year and I don’t think I ever saw anything like what you’re describing. I saw some bad reviews and some people who thought the good reviews were fake, but I never saw anyone attacked for bad reviews. I’m also really unable to think of anyone who *might* have attacked a stranger for it. That isn’t to say it didn’t happen but…it wasn’t on my radar, and I documented Tension pretty thoroughly.
My advice is just to jump in and be present with us this year, and let questions/preconceptions about things from last year go. We’re all really excited to jump in to this year’s experience and trust me (or don’t, as Susie said) it’s by and large an extremely positive one and supportive group of people.
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You’re brave to ask this question, Justin (if that’s your *real* name… :D). Community is an interesting notion, and one that has permeated this experience since the beginning. From the start, it was a rag-tag bunch of curious folks who were trying to figure out what sort of mysterious organization was trying to communicate with them, and whether or not the apparent manipulation of various factors within their lives was a malevolent push for control or a playful nudge to remind them that they are indeed there. Sociologists would call this an “in-group” and an “out-group.” The tension that was built therein rested entirely on the idea that a person might have an allegiance to one group and be infiltrating the other in order to mine data which might be used to further the aforementioned control/playful noodge of manipulation. This is not specific to Tension, but, as @monkeymuffin333 mentioned, just sort of how human beings seem to operate, based likely on epigenetic transmission of information that leads to a construction of the world in a binary of fight/flight instincts hovering around in our unconscious like a little monkey-brain grenade, threatening to be set off by the notion that we might be surrounded by an unacceptable ratio of folks who would gladly throw us to the impending pack of proverbial wolves…
And here’s where it gets interesting, because when you think about it, it’s *all* groups and information, all the way down. Our entire existence is dependent on a ground-level binary of self/other, and how far we extend our “self” before drawing that circle of salt and calling everything else “other” is really the name of the game. So, for the first few hundred thousand years or so of human existence, it was pretty simple – information is traced back to a source, and based on its content integrated into a network of constructed identities – family, friends, acquaintances, etc., all of whom are either for or against “you.” Sometimes the information is simple – someone physically attacks you, and you either fight back or flee to safety. But information became logarithmically complex as societies have developed, and our present situation finds us mired in less than obvious forms of data-streams as the modes and means of communication have become exponentially abstract. Writing, for one, made it possible for messages to be communicated without any apparent author, and thus the concept of “anonymity” was born.
This is where it gets tricky, though – anonymity is an illusion.
These message boards, this forum of words tied to avatars and monikers, it’s a convenience that leads to a false sense of security, and when people test this apparent tool of obscured identity, they tend to discover that it is always and eventually discovered.
So, yes: it is likely that those who attack an enterprise in the attempt to discredit it will be found out and held accountable to their actions. This has always been the case, and most likely always shall. Perhaps there is a watchful eye from outside all in-groups and out-groups, keeping tally and meting out justice in ways not clear to us right now… perhaps not. If nothing is random, then it would seem to be a logical conclusion that the pattern of events we experience is driven by a causality that we can never hope to truly understand in this dimension, and we must submit to the idea that all our words and deeds will come back to us in some way, and our hearts will be weighed against the feather by some unknown power… or maybe even ourselves.
But it seems unlikely that the creators of an immersive ARG and theatre experience would risk the sullying of their reputation by becoming involved in such miching mallecho as that which you mention. An artist who seeks to test limits and boundaries of comfort would not harbor resentment toward those who react negatively to such things, but would rather welcome such feedback as a source of valuable information about what, exactly, triggered these feelings. They want to know this – they need to know it, I imagine.
And as we move forward into the unknown, we must all remember the lessons we have learned along the way, and that there is as much value in our discomfort as there is in safety – perhaps even moreso.
Thank you for being brave and airing your discomfort.
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@prufrock5150 this response reminds me of the first ever PM I got from you, and I believe I responded something like “are you part of the game?”
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We’re *all* part of the game…
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Hey @justintime, I went and sifted through the old negative Yelp reviews and I believe the comments you are referring to are from David and Kristen, who went through together. David has since updated his review showing that the harassment he received was from a rabid fan. I’m not seeing anything that suggests anyone had their personal information (outside of getting messaged on Yelp) compromised, but I’m not doubting that it happened.
My interpretation of the Yelp events are as follows: David and Kristen were the winners of Tension’s free ticket Facebook event. They went, but did not like it and posted accordingly. A rabid Tension fan attacked them personally, presumably because they wanted to defend their obsession and because they were either jealous of the free ticket or felt that David and Kristen weren’t thankful enough over these tickets. David made the claim that clearly this was a Tension employee attacking them, Darren stepped in to refute that. David’s final revision updates that he believes Darren.
This is unfortunate, but this is not a phenomenon unique to Tension. Tension is the type of event that some people love and focus a great deal of effort into. Yelp provides a public avenue for people to attack events or locations. Some less tactful people may see Yelp’s attacks and try to respond and defend which is a big no-no on Yelp. They are not right to do so, but in their mind they are defending what they love. I’ve seen this happen in Tension reviews, movie reviews, gym reviews, and even my local apartment complex’s reviews.
We as a group absolutely and categorically do not condone cyber stalking or personal attacks. If ever you see or experience any please make them public and we will do everything we can to self correct.
As for the story, our understanding is that the story is written already, but not in a conventional way. The branches are laid out, but we as a group can influence which branches die and which are played out, or in some cases, if new branches need to be written altogether. We find story developments slowly, through a multitude of ways. I’ve tried to distill Lust into just the major events in my recaps on the Subreddit.
This has gotten too long already, but I hope this helps clarify some.
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Very much so. Thank you for your time and input. In the storyline comments I made, it has been my opinion on my research that the creators have to have deep lore, structure, characters fully developed, and main story beats. I’m actually a writer/director and interested in the story styling. It appears that everything created is to allow changes to happen when people begin to believe that they’re figuring things out only to have things turn into new direction. It’s definitely more of a creation of a world that allows the characters to truly exist and make choices within. It reminds me of the work of John Cassavetes.
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