Story (Full) 3

Johnisdead shares many elements with Ben Drowned - an ARG created by Alex Hall in 2010. The first few sections of this story recap will be dedicated to covering the story of Ben Drowned so that readers will have full context required for Johnisdead.

The story so far...

In the previous section, players discovered the Moon Children - a cult that worshipped a moon goddess named Luna. The cult was supposedly led by an individual named "Mr. D" - also known as "The Father". Its various members included Matt, Chris, Spencer, and Kevin. As players explored the website, they learned of Ascension - a ritualistic suicide that's believed to connect one with Luna and grant them spiritual powers.

Players eventually managed to contact Matt, who revealed that not only was Ben somehow connected to the cult, but that he was also Matt's brother. He also implied that Alex was a member of the Moon Children as well. Shortly after this, Matt was confronted by Kelbris - a deceased Moon Child who supposedly died in 1998. Around this time, Alex reemerged and uploaded a video of the "Song of Time". Much like its effect in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the song caused the Moon Children's website, YSHDT.net, to revert back to how it was three days prior - rewinding time back into another three day cycle.

Unfortunately, Matt was absent during this new cycle. Thankfully, players managed to contact his sister, Rosa. During this time, players discovered that the possessed the power known as "The Ocarina" - the ability to submit various songs, items, and images from The Legend of Zelda series to effect the world of the ARG. Unfortunately, some poorly timed submissions led to both Rosa and Alex disappearing. As the website entered its third cycle, something unexpected occurred...

On September 20th, 2010, YSHDT.net entered into its third cycle. However, before much could be explored, the website changed once again. It now contained an out-of-character update from Alex Hall - the creator of the ARG.

Alex

"Hey, Jadusable here. Consider this the 'real' TheTruth.txt. A lot of you may hate me for this, but I've decided that I can no longer continue the Majora's Mask story the way I originally wanted to."

Alex claims that the ARG is now on hiatus. The main reason for this is the lack of funds to keep YSHDT.net online. The website will be transformed into an archive of the story, though it will likely go offline near the end of the month due to a lack of funds. However, he is now accepting donations.

Alex describes himself as a "closet dork", going into his interest regarding videogames and films. He claims that he wanted the horror of his ARG to stem mostly from psychological games rather than morbid gore. He was interested in toying with the "fourth wall" and involving the players with the story more directly, believing it to be a creepy idea in general. He also claims that it's possible that this entire out-of-character post was actually written by BEN in an attempt to trick the players into not caring anymore, though he quickly brushes this off with "Probably not".

Alex apologizes to the fans for having to place the ARG on hiatus, noting how much it "kills him" to have to do it. He also apologizes to /x/ for their board being taken over by posts relating to the ARG, claiming that it will all go back to normal "Not too much longer". He also claims he'd like to continue the ARG at some point, noting that "This isn't the end". A transcript of Alex's entire post can be found below:

Alex's YSHDT.net Post

Hey, Jadusable here,

Consider this the 'real' TheTruth.txt

A lot of you may hate me for this, but I've decided that I can no longer continue the Majora's Mask story the way I originally wanted to. Even as I'm typing this I can feel the disappointment and the "OH MY GOD YOU ASSHOLE" cries as you guys read this, and really, it kills me. A lot of people have initially surmised that this must be some kind of viral marketing effort from Nintendo, or some kind of marketing ploy, and while I can't tell you how flattering that is I can assure you that it is neither. I'm just a sophomore in college who came up with this elaborate idea and as it stands I simply don't have the manpower or the funds to continue this in the direction that I wanted it to go (now I realize why it took a team of talented individuals to do Marble Hornets as opposed to just a one-man-army).

Perhaps too ambitious, I purchased the cheapest webhosting service I could find given my budget (aka nonexistant), and with all of the people attempting to access the site (since the website opened two days ago, I've gotten over 300,000 visits and I've spent probably half that time in maintence) - it was almost consistently down. If you're going to involve a website this closely in your interactive story, then you can't have your website crashing or unavailable for the majority of your users; you would need a service that could handle that many viewers. Unfortunately this was something I simply could not afford being a broke college student. I paid for the site out of my own pocket (in retrospect probably not the most sound finanical decision), and with the insane amount of traffic I was getting the server host wasn't cutting it and I didn't want to "break character" by putting Google ads in to generate revenue. I didn't have the money to upgrade and I knew that I wouldn't be doing this story justice if I continued on as things were. Even if the money issue was solved, there's still the matter of the updates taking too long - I simply did not have the time to devote enough attention into the project for speedy updates. So I was presented with two options - either wrap up this game in a lackluster ending that would feel contrived, or stop here and resume it later.

A bit of backstory: Writing/story-telling has always been a hobby of mine - I actually have a TV show that I'm currently finding an agent for - and being a closet dork, videogames have always interested me as a kid with Majora's Mask ranking among my favorite. I've never attempted writing anything remotely scary before, but MM aways had that "creepy" vibe to it and so on a whim I decided to try my hand at it. Maybe it wasn't everyone's forte, maybe a little cliched to some, but the concept of a videogame - a device that only reacts to what the user tells it - suddenly going outside its coding was something I wanted to explore and something that could engage the reader and have it relatable on more than one level. I wanted to make the story creepy not because of severed heads or morbid descriptions, but on a more psychological level with a fair amount of mindfuckery, for both the poor bastard protagonist and the reader.

I view this whole story as two separate stories - the original "Haunted Zelda Cartridge" - which ended with TheTruth.rtf - that is my original work and story. The second story - involving the website - would pick up where "Haunted Zelda Cartridge" left off. However, it obviously isn't completed and may seem too "out of place" for people to really get the whole picture, thus subject to a lot of "jumping the shark" claims. I know that there were some of the original fans who weren't happy with the direction it went in after the website came out and that it seemed like two different concepts entirely - they were, but I feel had this thing run its course the way I intended those same people may see the "second part" of the story in a new light. This explaination will not do it justice, but perhaps clears things up as to what my overall goal was:

The story was just as much of an experiment to me as it was an adventure for you guys. Being new at this genre, I wanted to try and bring a new kind of feel to the standard "creepy" stories; one that had to do with shattering the fourth wall and that sense of security. When you read a scary story, there's no doubt that it can be creepy, but in the back of your mind you know you're safe behind your computer screen on the internet connected to millions of other people. You've used the internet for years and you know how it works inside and out - and as a result you have this built up sense of security because of how familiar it is. I attempted to shatter that "fourth wall" with BEN. I wanted to write a story that involved the reader so they would feel more connected to the story. The biggest example of this is the big reveal at the end of TheTruth.rtf where the reader suddenly realizes that BEN has not only tricked the protagonist, but the reader as well, making them personally feel betrayed and uneasy at the same time. Obviously Cleverbot isn't haunted, but the way it works is that if a bunch of people start chatting with it saying specific words, the program will notice a pattern and start to associate them together, making it a perfect choice for leaving that lingering doubt of "what if?", especially now that BEN has leaked out into the internet and could theoretically control exactly what you're reading now. Maybe he just wants you to think this was all fake so you stop worrying about it and continue on with your normal lives. Probably not.

As I played with the concept of having the reader become more and more involved, the story sort of evolved into an Alternate Reality Game. I had always admired the unique sense of impending disaster and the three day concept in the videogame, and I wanted to take Majora's Mask and incorporate it into reality without copy/pasting it, which would make it lose all sense of believability. Instead, I opted for a more "modern" take, on how Majora's Mask would be if it happened in real life - there would be no goofy giant moon with a nasty face on it, there would be no floating mask that can possess said moon, etc. Instead there was a cult worshipping a moon that is destined to fall, a hero from another world, an evil entity that has crossed over into another dimension (Majora into Termina, similiar to BEN's entrance into the real world), a three day time cycle, as well as other parallels that would have become available further in the story. I wanted to capture and recreate the same feelings that we all got when we were playing Majora's Mask for the first time as kids. That feeling when you first went back in time, realizing that everyone else was oblivious, that was something that I wanted to try and bring to life. After that, with new knowledge of the events that will unfold, you then set out to change what was about to transpire.

I eventually introduced a "Link" to the viewers, with a second Youtube account, and my idea was to have him decide what kind of actions he'd take based on reponse videos. These response videos would require the user to boot up their own copy of Zelda and preform an action, not only making them feel more apart of the story, but directly in control of it. The viewers now served as Link's guide - or Navi as it was in the game. The main example of this is how Link is killed because of a bad video response on Youtube to a video put up by Jadusable (an incorrect song played). Link then posts a video on his account of the game over screen and nothing more. Yet not even 30 minutes later another user records a video - without any hints from me whatsoever - of him playing HIS Zelda game and releasing a fairy (which revives the player if killed) - which prompted me to revive Link and continue as him. This was only the beginning of what I originally had in mind - Link was the only person who could save our reality despite him being in a completely different dimension, but the players could dictate his actions. So in a sense, they were the guide, yet they were also the actual "player" controlling Link. I'm not going to reveal entirely what would have happened to the main characters or the plot, because I do intend to pick it up again some day and continue this.

I'm still experimenting, but I feel like the genre of "ARGs" is something that should be explored more often; the level of interactivity between the viewers and the creators gives the story a much more "personal" feel. I really hope that we see a rise of them in the coming years - if one single busy college student like me got this far - with an actual team the sky's the limit. The one major issue that I've noticed though, is fraud - no matter how many times I'd subtly try and remind my viewers "in character" that the only people they should be taking information as canon are accounts/websites linked to the original Jadusable Youtube account, every time some new guy claiming to either be a player in the story or be in contact with someone who is came to light, immediately people would swarm them and they'd end up throwing everyone else off because of bad information. I suppose I can't blame them, some of them were pretty damn convincing with their explainations of how they got into the story.

I expect that some of you are pissed now, and I can completely understand why - I can't tell you how much it kills me to have to cut it short like this because I know I'm letting you guys down, but hopefully you can see it from my perspective. I would like to thank my fans - it's because of your support that has motivated me to get this far. If I had it my way, it wouldn't end like this, believe me. But I'm still amazed at how big this has all gotten - its really surreal browsing the internet and seeing an article about something you've written up on Digg, Kotaku, and what-have-you, or overhearing a conversation in class and doing a double-take when you realize what they're talking about.

I would also like to extend an apology to a certain message board who has literally been taken over by people analyzing, exchanging theories, and discussing all aspects of what all this could mean or what the next move is. Haha, I'm sure there are quite a few people who can't wait until this is all over so things can go back to their regularly scheduled programming. Not too much longer.

I am going to leave the website up, but modify it so that it now serves as an archive of the story, and include a timeline of events (I know a few members have been keeping a record, if you could forward that to me at the address below when it's done that'd be much appreciated). Unfortunately being as broke as I am, I don't have the funds to maintain the website for very long, and donations would be appreciated just for the sake of keeping the website up as an archive for future viewers, otherwise the website will probably have to be taken down by the end of the month. If you are legitmently interested in making a donation to help host, there is a donate link at the top of this page. Don't feel obligated at all - knowing that I've kept you guys entertained all this time and provided something fun is reward enough, as lame as that sounds.

As I said before, this has been an experiment, and I've learned a lot of lessons from this for the future, and this is something that I would very much love to do again if given the resources. But, just know that this isn't the end.

If you need to get in contact with me or write me a nasty letter, my email is jadusable@youshouldnthavedonethat.net

Thanks again guys, it's been a wild ride. Loved every single second of it.

Jadusable



inb4 obligatory "FAKE AND GAY" response

This marked the ARG entering into its first "OoC Era" - or "Out-of-Character Era". Most of the updates that took place during this time are considered non-canon. Because of this, they will not be covered in great detail here. However, archives of most of them will be presented when available. Around the same time Alex made the post above, most of the canon content found on YSHDT.net was removed. Later that night, Alex partook in a QnA on /x/ - the transcript of which can be found below:

Alex's /x/ QnA

Jadusable: Hey guys, you probably already heard the news, again I'm sorry it had to end like this, I hate the feeling that I'm letting down a lot of people that have devoted so much time into this; I just couldn't keep up with it all.
I dont have class for an hour or so and figured there would be a lot of unanswered questions, so feel free to speak your mind/hate me/call me a troll/ask a question

Ryukaki: What was the use of the username/password I got from Rosa?


Jadusable: That would unlock The Truth section of the website when the time reset and the site came back up.

Anon 5711159: How were we supposed to save Chris?

Jadusable: There was no way to reach Chris, like the Skull Kid hitting Tael, no matter what Tatl said or did it happened every time, you would simply have to watch him Ascend every time reset.

Anon 5711159: That's horrible, yet realistic, to hear. I was really hoping we could save their lives, even though they were obviously fictional. Now, my other question. On the site there was a picture of Kelbris on the drowned page. Before that was even revealed, someone started a creepy pic thread with that same image. Did you start that thread, was that a preexisting image, etc?

Jadusable: Strangely it resembled what kind of image I wanted for Kelbris, well, what I wanted you guys to view Kelbris as. So yeah I decided to use it

Anon 5711160: Personally, I think you're awesome. Well done. :3

Jadusable: Thank you - it means a lot man. I had a lot of fun doing this, it was very consuming, but in the end I'm glad I could provide entertainment to you guys.

Anon 5711161: Why did you fuck up /x/ to the point where the entire front page were all BEN!!11!!1? Why did you write another damn videogame creepypasta when you obviously have the skills and devotion to make something original and cool?

Jadusable: Was never my intention to do that, I can totally understand how the "vets" of /x/ probably loathe my guts for hijacking their board for two weeks. I was new at writing creepypasta, had no idea videogame thing was a cliche.

NickSayre: What was the main plan going to be. Let's say were were smart (ish), and actually did the right things. What would have happened?

Jadusable: Mirrored Majora's Mask, the next step was to play the Song of Healing, but for "Link/Alex", giving you the Fierce Deity mask. I tried hinting at it in the contact/alex page and implying that you could trust him because he was the lone wolf. The story was flexible enough so you could fuck up, lose main characters (like Rosa), but still manage to beat it. It was flexible, nothing was stagnant.

Anon 5711166: What is your opinion on the popularity the videos gathered?

Jadusable: Depends. A lot of them are smart people and I'm impressed with the theories they've come up with, but there's a small percentage of the fanbase that represent everything I hate about the internet.

Anon 5711169: So what caused the whole Kelbris front page freakout last night? Was it The Song of Healing or the New Wave Bossa Nova?

Jadusable: Song of Healing. Playing the Song of Healing to Jadusable/BEN always fucked shit up.
Jadusable: Oh, and about the plot and stuff - I'm going to pick it up later, I'd rather not spoil everything here.


Anon 5711173: You had more videos, didn't you? Children.wmv and MATT.wmv? Did you plan to release those yourself eventually, or only after we triggered something in the story?

Jadusable: Yes I have children.wmv, and the first part of matt.wmv (jadusable.wmv was the second part of matt.wmv, just renamed and spliced by BEN)

Anon 5711175: I have one: How long did you think the ARG was going to last? Link obviously didn't beat all 4 dungeons in 3 days.

Jadusable: Probably until next weekend, I surmised that you'd be able to complete it in 4 resets, one for each "giant".

Ryukaki: Will you promise to return my e-mail? :D

Jadusable: Haven't checked my email yet, but yes. Probably later tonight though.

Anon 5711198: we all spent a lot of time on this, and you don't owe us anything obviously but give us a little closure on the story! also, give a link for donations? I got at least 5 bucks w/your name on it, but for the entertainment I got i'd say it's worth way more then I've got to give :P

Jadusable: Haha much appreciated, but really, if you're honestly serious toss me an email at jadusable@youshouldnthavedonethat.net but I don't want you to feel oblidgated in any way, I'm just glad people have been entertained by this - reward enough.

Anon 5711205: Jad, we got a bunch of people in here that would like to talk to you. If you could please join us when you're ready, that would be awesome tinychat link

Jadusable: Dear god, I'd get swarmed with text, haha. Can you guyss come here?

Anon 5711210: How much control of the story did we have? Like, if for example, another vid was posted beating Dark Link, would the hunt stop? If we used certain items (like the fairy) and posted those in response, would something happen? (Like going to OOT and getting light arrows to help defend the hunt), etc.

Jadusable: You wouldnt be able to beat Dark Link just by posting a video, at least not yet in the story. Playing songs, using items (like fairy or a poe), going to certain places (like talking to navi at Link's house), would be valid actions though.

Anon 5711220: Who was Matt? It's what Ifrits email said, but the site said he was Rodney. Ballpark figure of when you can start the game again?

Jadusable: Matt was Ifrit. Rodney was a fake name on the website to cover his own ass. And no idea on when it might be, but I'll make sure you guys know.

Anon 5711222: Did you actually plan to incorporate the VTM Rosa and Prototype Consume kills videos or did that just kind of happen? If yes, what was the point of the Prototype one, because besides "Consume! Consume everything!" nobody managed to find any connection.

Jadusable: I sort of planned my story loosely around what Rosa said, I had those videos uploaded a year prior for some reason and decided that it would be pretty insane to use them and have her predict the future. Prototype was mainly used for keywords, with kind of a vague metaphor for how BEN operated.

Anon 5711215: Dude, you're fucking slow to answer. Now that I mention that... How did you choose who to answer when you gave the email adress? What did we have to ask?

Jadusable: I answered people who sounded "normal", people who were genuinely good at typing and sounding innocent enough. But with the sheer amount of emails I got it was hard to answer every single one that fit that category.

Anon 5711: What is the main goal of the story? What did we have to do?

Jadusable: Stop BEN, essentially. Kind of hard to explain

J4C3: the story was great my friend, bravo. I rather quite enjoyed it. I wouldn't mind being a member on your team when you do create the next creepypasta/ARG.

Jadusable: I may take you up on that, all I know is that I definitely need a team next time around.

Anon 5711242: Jadusable, would you mind clarifying whether or not it is true your name is Judas/Abel in scrambled letters?

Jadusable: Good eye.

Anon 5711314: I'm pretty sure they were trolling but did you really change some of the tags in the videos to Dead Brot, The grifter, who was phone etc. because somone was sure that you did, if you did though, why?

Jadusable: No, I never did that. Wouldnt even make sense.

Anon 5711245: Would you have ended this with a "happy" ending? Or one that would leave us thinking, or anything in between?

Jadusable: I had two endings in mind, I wanted to give you guys a sense of accomplishment for beating the ARG if you did, but given the nature of the content it wouldn't just be a "straight win".

the guy who fucks things up!: Do you share your address with other people trying to help you for your next projects?

Jadusable: If I start recruiting for a team to do an ARG with, I'll come to /x/, right now I'm not really concerned with it, just looking for some time off. It's taxing work haha.

Anon 5711266: really good arg, but totally though it was going to turn out to be a new real nintendo game :3 like ZeldaBlack,BEN edition or something silly. If you ever got the chance, do you think you'd like to go into game design and make a game creation as complex but involving as this ARG? (: it'd be such an awesome game~

Jadusable: If i would, I would do it in a heartbeat. I've always wanted to create a game moreso than a movie because you have an actual connection with the game, you're interacting in it and you feel apart of it. I would do an Eternal Darkness style horror where its more psychological than just "jumpscare jumpscare jumpscare" which seems to be too common these days.

nKoshi: What were the most important things you've learned? Since you mentioned you learned a good amount of things for the future.

Jadusable: How to cover your bases with frauds, honestly this really started annoying me, because I didn't want to break character and say "durr hur I dont have a twitter", but he was leading everyone astray and it was annoying. This kind of stuff happened a lot. Also, I realized how much work these things do take, and a lot about writing horror / filming horror in general, like pacing, setting the atmosphere, etc. Learned a lot about what people thought was scary too, just by the reactions on the different majora's mask videos. I tried to do different things with each one (Jadusable.wmv had no jump scares, all atmosphere and creepy elegy following you around).

Anon 5711283: Is that really you in the tinychat channel?

Jadusable: No. Its not. Not in any chat.

Anon 5711303: Jadusable! An odd request, and one that's not truly relevant to the story, but I was wondering if we could get a peek at the face of the man who revived /x/ from the depths of succubi summoning, who was phone, and ded bort. ALSO, did you, a friend, or someone else create this picture? I love it, and if it's part of a set, or something, I'd love a link!!!!

Jadusable: Yeah I'll grab a picture, hang on. Pic related, its me. And i found [the inkblot] off google surprisingly


wariatka: Hey, just wanted to tell you that for the last week or so my thoughts were on /x/ when I was at my job, outta my flat, anywhere far from the web. You gave me nearly sleepless nights, but most of all, you awoke emotions in me. Anticipation and excitement are something very rare for me, recently I've had lots of it. Thank you. You're a one man army of pure, liquid internet genius. Hats down. Regards and best wishes from Poland.

Jadusable: God, thank you. I really love reading comments like that. Thank you to everyone, I can't individually say it to you - it's hard enough typing all these responses as it is, but yeah.


Anon 5711346: What's your real name? Also, did you shamelessly tip off sites like kotaku or was it someone else?

Jadusable: Haha, dont know how comfortable i feel about posting my real name, but no I didn't tip off any sites actually, like I said, never expected this to get so big.

Anon 5711351: What role did "The Father" have?

Jadusable: Happy Mask Salesman

A: Can you put up a donate link? I'd be more than willing to help out when i get paid next, even if it just goes towards your college instead of the story, you earned it bro and i personally would not mind one bit.

Jadusable: I'll get a donate link up on the website probably later today, I just don't want to come across as a pompous douchebag.

Anon 5711370: Why did you post that video so close to stopping the ARG, was it an impulse decision or? (Note: this is referring to huntyoudown.wmv)

Jadusable: After posting that, I kind of realized what path I had set this down on and there wasn't really any way of backing out without making it seem like a cheap cop-out. It kind of made me realize that there was no way I could reasonably spread myself far enough to finish this.

Jadusable: Everyone posting their email: Just so you know I am saving them and your details, dont think I'm ignoring you guys.

Anon 5711387: So if Song of Healing brought out Kelbris, what did New Wave Bossa Nova do?

Jadusable: Made Rosa speak to you guys

Anon 5711402: Jad can we have links to download all the music you used on your site? Or could you put them on it somewhere to download? I loved them all especially the Lost In My Thoughts one. They really got me into it and have to have been one of my favorite parts. Also I know you have probably a million emails and a million people who would want to help with something like this, but I'd love working on a ARG as well. sormo8i3@hotmail.com, I emailed you one of the pastebins we were using to keep up with things.

Jadusable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j911HD2OiE I'm sure if you ask him he could give you an mp3, I dont personally know him



Anon 5711393: You sort of forgot about the old man at the start of the story, who he was and his importance. Obviously he's the happy mask salesman, but why? the story only took place on the web, was/is the story gonna come back to that?

Jadusable: He was going to come back into the story, sort of foreshadowed it with the protagonist mentioning he saw him and then the next entry he said he ran.

Anon 5711458: was f3tusrape a part of the story at all?

Jadusable: No he was not.

Anon 5711452: Did you ever post as anonymous? Giving us hints and what not?

Jadusable: Hah, only like twice and the hints were for nothing monumental. You guys figurd it out pretty quick.

Anon 5711404: Was thetruth.txt becoming thetruth.rtf a genuine fuckup due to poor preplanning with that last character or was there another reason?

Jadusable: Was originally planning to hide text in there, plus .rtfs just looked nicer.

Anon 5711414: I have one: What the fuck is that The Genies song that u posted? I REALLY not get that. and, again, you're a genious, really.

Jadusable: Just a hint about the knocking, thats all

Anon 5711426: What would have happened if a vid were posted of Link playing the Song of Healing backwards? Anything?

Jadusable: You couldn't play the song of healing backwards in the game, so no.

Anon 5711438: Theoretically, what if someone had uploaded the moon finally crashing? Would that have fucked things up?

Jadusable: You only controlled Link, with the exception of playing songs to BEN, so no, not really.

Anon 5711486: Were there any cameos in it, such as rl friends names that you used just to pay homage, or any general easter eggs in the story you care to share?

Jadusable: My real life name is Alex - sort of a play on the fact that Link was named "Alex" and was the "link" to you guys and the story. Lame, I know. Funny though, I showed my friend, who's name is also Ben, the story I had been writing (it was right after TheTruth.rtf came out), and I totally didnt make the connection - didnt really pay it any mind - until he said "did you name the character after me?", we had a good laugh about it after.

Anon 5711491: Jad, you are confirmed for Bro tier. Really, I'm proud of you for doing this. And was it you in that thread with the gary coleman picture before? You're a classy motherfucker, and thank you for coming up with all this.

Jadusable: Yeah , that was me hah.

Anon 5711505: Had Elegy of Emptiness been the first and most posted video, how would you have gone with that?

Jadusable: Huh, what do you mean?

Anon 5711505: As in, had we done the stupidest thing, and posted the Elegy of Emptiness, how would you have gone with that creative/story wise?

Jadusable: Turned Link into an elegy probably. To be honest I didnt expect anyone to do that, if they did they'd be trolling and I'd ignore it.

Anon 5711303: Jadusable, guy who asked for your pic here. I have one other question. I haven't been analyzing the story as much lately, I started getting confused when YSHDT was introduced, but tell me. Is Kelbris supposed to be a boss, one of the four giants, or something else entirely?

Jadusable: One of the four giants

Anon 5711539: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm1FnpHUJCQ have people seen this alternative account video? not a troll btw

Jadusable: wat

Anon 5711543: I've only read the first story and visited the "Moon Children" website a couple of times but I absolutely loved all the effort you put into this. Especially the videos. I'm not sure if I can think the same of my favorite game as a child the same again. So even if I wasn't involved in the story much, I can still appreciate the hard work you put into this. Did you mod the zelda game or what for the videos? it was rather impressive.

Jadusable: Everything I did was through gameshark cheats and sneaky video editing. No modding involved, unfortuantely, which is a shame, because if I could mod, I would so release the ROM to you guys in a sort of "now you have to save BEN/the protagonist" twist.

Anon 5711545: Would you mind posting all the videos you've made so far?

Jadusable: They're all on youtube, under Jadusable and TheLinkMissing. I'm going to rearrange the website later today (tomorrow) to host them there as a reference.

!DOCTORl4Wg: Just thought I'd pop in and say you have my respect. I disliked the effect this had on /x/, but it was an entertaining story and I appreciate that you've done the right thing here. Kudos!

Jadusable: I'm not a huge fan of the tripfags here on /x/, but you are among the few actual decent tripfriends here. Sorry for cluttering your board again, and sorry for the Cleverbot spam. I knew people would go to Cleverbot, but I didn't realize everyone would be spamming /x/ with their own chat logs (funfact, I emailed the creator of Cleverbot and turns out their traffic had gone up 20% since I mentioned CB).

Ryukaki: In the future: Keep player interaction like with Rosa to about the same degree as you did this time. When I was speaking with her and got that information from her, I wasn't even thinking. I was shaking and worried and filled with fear and hope and resolve and just acting on impulse, which is why I spammed caps and made so many typos. It was so incredibly immersing, but if you do it too much, people will abuse it. God that was the most terrifying few minutes of the last few years.

Jadusable: Oh that was YOU, huh? Haha oh wow. Well good, that's what I was going for!

Ryukaki: Yeah, I was involved in both the first and second contacts with the gmail address. The first one with "Alex" left me cussing and wishing I'd just acted a few minutes sooner, that I hadn't fucking hesitated, and that made me resolve that I wouldn't lose another one. Losing Rosa, too, or even just the thought of it really fucking screwed with me, total suspension of disbelief. It was awesome.

Anon 5711553: Any details on how the story evolved? I'm sure there were rewrites here and there yeah? Was the original concept more or less the same, or perhaps completely different?

Jadusable: Not really any rewrites, except for a few. I didn't like the ending of the original TheTruth, so I redid it. All from scratch too =\

Anon 5711605: Why'd you pick Majoras Mask? It could have been anything right? It coulda been any of the games, hell something even completely different like a Mario of Final fantasy game. Is it just your favourite or did something spurr you on to do it. especially keeping in mind Wii virtual console sales probably rocketed all because of you.

Jadusable: Majoras Mask was one of my favorite games, and there's something just so bittersweet creepy about it that I figured it would be perfect for this kind of setting.

Anon: When you have some time, and you're feeling down, check your facebook page: ARG FB Fanpage Everyone is thanking you. Some guy even made new lyrics for the clasic zelda song.

Jadusable: Haha, a facebook group? Geez... really cool.

Anon 5711649: Quick question: Was Ifrit always gone, even after the Song of Time was played? Could we have saved him?

Jadusable: He was like the giants. If you defeat them, they stay defeated when you go back in time (well, you keep their remains, which is a sort of paradox that had to be modified for this story)

Anon 5711659: Were Passadore and whatserface actually part of the story or just some faggots trying to steal your thunder?

Jadusable: No they werent involved.

The Abyssal Zone: Alex, I see. Although I have same chances of being ignored as everyone else in the thread, I want to tell you that your story was great, even greater if you worked everything by yourself, and although you can pretty call me a pussy because of it, the story really got into me, enough to have to sleep with lights on and even then, wake up in the middle on the night just to be staring aimlessly around my room. I really hope that maybe you'll make something new in the future, until then, congratulations mate, I salute you gentleman, you did a good job. If you need any help, emails always work. Until then, see ya and take care

Jadusable: /salute

Anon 5711667: I'm actually halfway through setting up an ARG, any tips?

Jadusable: Plannn. If you have outcomes that you know will happen eventually prepare them ahead of time. Make sure to cover your tracks to prevent people from posing as you, like "dont listen to anyone who doesnt post from <XYZ>" or something. Always have some kind of cliffhanger or a "what a tweest" ending to the updates or whatever to keep people fishhooked.

omfgitstabitha: @Jad: I "know people" in the community, would you be interested in doing an interview? I could probably arrange that with ZeldaInformer.com. =/

Jadusable: Haha, absolutely. That'd be pretty neat.

Anon 5711768: What do you think of people that did shit like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwMiHogUVHw

Jadusable: /shrug, I'm usually too caught up in my thing to pay attention to what other people are doing with their videos

Ryukaki: Hey Jad, don't forget to put up a "donate" button on the website, damn you. You deserve it.

Jadusable: Ahhh fine. I'll have it up either later today or tomorrow :P

Raixsarin: Jad, this thing was amazing. While I admit, I am slightly dissapointed at this ending, I understand completely and it's totally cool. All in all, you've done a splendid job and I hope you will try to pick this up again in the future. One thing I am curious about though... During the night the countdown was supposed to end, I received a text on my phone that read: Warn them. Warn them all. The End comes with Luna tonight. I've never posted my number to anyone online and it freaked me the fuck out for a while. It came from an ip address too. It probably was one of my friends fucking with me, but still, it was cool noneoftheless. Anyway, thanks for the awesome week. I had a hell of a time trying to figure this all out. Posting my email as well, for giggles.

Jaudsable: LOL. That wasn't me, that's for sure.

Anon 5711783: Hey jad are you a full blown /x/file or did you just stumble upon the site by chance?

Jadusable: Hmm.. Depends, really. I've lurked /x/ on and off for about a year or so, never triped. I only donned this trip to post the story and the followup.

Anon 5711920: I was following this damn story religiously until we were waiting for the countdown, when I kind of got busy and then lost track of everything. I must say though, this was amazing, and I was pretty pleased and spooked the entire time. Thanks for making this, I know a ton of us enjoyed it a lot. Also, there were a few people on your Jadusable youtube account talking about calling the police about the school shooting stuff on YSHDT.net, when the site was discovered. Did you expect that kind of thing?

Jadusable: No, I did get kind of freaked out though.

Anon 5711615: Did you ever get nervous that maybe after your first post you wouldn't be able to sustain a following, if the story had flopped what wouldve been your plan of action

Jadusable: I didnt really think about it honestly, as soon as i was done writing the first part of the creepypasta i just posted it and the reaction was pretty quick. And for those of you asking, yes, I decided to put a "Donate" tab on the website. Don't feel like you have to though, at all.

Q: I can't explain how awesome the past days were, Alex. The story was... brilliant. The cult, the riddles, everthing. Can't figure how could you think in this all. Anyway, i have some questions, but i will understand if you don’t answer them. (i have bad inglesh, so, sorry, i will do my best) First of all, the video posted by F3TURAPE. What was the role of it? It's oddie, seemed be fake, but i don't know. There is something like the Majora's Mask moon in the background xP. Second, September 18 (Saturday) was the International Observe the Moon Night, (exactly the day of the creepy countdown) like said in this link: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/1006/ Was it part of the plan? And about Jadusable (the person in the story), which is his connection with the Moon Children? Who's the person advertising us with messages like "You need to warn them"? Thanks again. You made my days much better. I wish all the best for you. Kudos.

Jadusable: The Fetus thing was fake, and the lunar moon watch was a fortunate coincidence when I was planning this whole thing out :) Also Jadusable (the protagonist) is not related to the Moon Children

Q: (This question disappeared)

Jadusable: I'd be happy to host it if you need someone, and thank you for the donations guys, it means a lot. I'm so glad that this is well received.

Summary

• Ryukaki is present in this QnA. Here, he asks Alex what the point of the login information was, who confirms that it would have unlocked "The Truth".
• Ryukaki asks Alex to respond to his email. He claims that he will later in the night.
• Ryukaki urges Alex to put a "Donate" button up on YSHDT.net.
• Alex claims that there were still two videos that the players hadn't seen yet - "children.wmv" and the rest of "jadusable.wmv" - "matt.wmv".
• The direction the ARG was going to take after the upload of "huntyoudown.wmv" was supposedly too complex for Alex to do at this point - adding to what caused the hiatus.
• A user named "Tabitha" offers to set up Alex with an interview with ZeldaInformer.
• Alex claims that the character "Alex" is not connected to the Moon Children.

Sometime later that night, a "Donate" Page was added to YSHDT.net, where users could send donations to Alex.

On September 21st, 2010, Alex posted three separate announcements on YSHDT.net. Here, he reiterates that the ARG is not cancelled but instead simply on pause. He also notes that he's hoping to have the website's story archive pages online by tomorrow. Alex then proceeds to go over a few other small details, claiming that he's designing some T-shirts, asking users to create banners for the website, and sifting through emails. However, most importantly, Alex reveals that several generous donations from fans have ensured that YSHDT.net will remain online. Moreover, the ARG will be able to continue sooner than expected. An archive of these posts can be found here:

Alex's YSHDT.net Posts

((Post One))

I have a ridiculous amount of mail right now, but rest assured I will get to each and every one of your letters. Thank you for your interest in this story and thank you for supporting it.

Just so everyone is clear - the story is not over yet, but it is paused for now. Check the menu bar for new links being put up of the Archive/Stories/Q&A, these are all coming tomorrow.



((Post Two))

Because of the sheer volume of requests, I am currently working on making a few t-shirt designs for you guys should you feel the need to have them. Stay tuned for updates on that end. Also, I am updating the site to include the full history of the story so far, I'll let you know when the "Chapters" section is completed. Also, I am needing new banners to post up here, whether it be a custom image or a collage or what have you. I have seen a LOT of amazing artwork from you guys, so if you are artistically talented feel free to submit a 800x192 JPG or PNG to my email. Title your email something along the lines of "Banner image submission", I'll be sure to credit you accordingly if I use it. Thanks again guys!



((Post Three))

Due to the donations of several extremely generous people, the website is no longer in danger of going offline. Not only that, but it looks like I'll be able to continue working on the story in the near future. I can't tell you guys how excited this makes me, expect to hear some new developments soon. Thank you again for being so supportive, I couldn't have done this without you all. I'm not going to discourage continued donations, but just know that your donations are not going to keeping the site up, but rather, your donations will be going towards hiring assistance and purchasing a bigger website and other goodies I've got in store for you guys.

On September 22nd, 2010, various pages cataloging the story of the ARG were added to YSHDT.net.

On September 23rd, 2010, Alex conducted the aforementioned interview with ZeldaInformer. This interview was split up into two parts, with the second half being uploaded a few days later on September 26th. The entire interview will be archived below:

Alex's ZeldaInformer Interview

Haunted Majora’s Mask Creator Opens Up in Exclusive Interview

As anyone who has been on the internet the past couple weeks, the Haunted Majora’s Mask story has spread around like wildfire. Unfortunately, because of a few reasons, the creator, Jadusable, had to cut it short. He explained why on the site. (http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/) A few days ago after he cut the story short abruptly, Tabitha, one of our forum members, got a hold of him through e-mail. She passed him along to me and I got to ask him some questions about the story. Hit the bump to read the interview.

Before we start, Jadusable wanted me to inform you that the whole story can currently be viewed at his website at http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/chapters/

And now, the interview:

Zelda Informer: How long would the story be and what would the story have been if it were to run its course?

Jadusable: Originally I was planning on having the story end in four resets, one for each "giant", sort of a throwback to the original game and how many resets it originally took the average player (excluding the first reset as a Deku). That would probably put the story at ending around the 26th or so.

ZI: Any chance of it continuing at some point down the line or do you plan on using the experience to make something new?

J: The generous donations from people who have supported this creation have made it possible for a continuation to be a reality. I can't divulge too much right now, but we've got something big in the works. I'm always looking for new ways to approach the concept of immersing the viewer and taking away the fourth wall and I think that this next project is going to blow the Majora's Mask story out of the water in terms of that.

ZI: What tools did you use to modify Majora's Mask and create the videos?

J: Hah, I get this question a lot. As many people have proved, it was a combination of elaborate gameshark codes and sneaky video editing. It was pretty time consuming, but ultimately I'm satisfied with the finished product.

ZI: At what point did you realize the story has taken off and how surprised were you?

J: When I say that I decided to write this on a whim I wasn't kidding, I was really taken aback at how quickly this blew up. When I originally posted the first chapter I was pleasantly surprised at how well-received it was considering this was my first attempt at writing scary material, but that paled in comparison to when I saw that my first video had gotten over 100,000 hits on Youtube in less than three days. I really had a hard time believing the success of this at first, to be honest. It pretty much picked up right off the bat and held its audience until I had to discontinue it.

ZI: What are some random hints and clues that you added that viewer have missed, if any?

J: Time and time again my viewers surprise me with how perceptive they are, I honestly think there are maybe one or two clues that are still out there that no one has picked up on to my knowledge... of course I can't tell you what they are, they're a bit of foreshadowing, haha.

ZI: Who is BEN and how did he DROWN?

J: Pass :P

ZI: Who/what is contained inside the Majora's Mask cartridge?

J: From what is implied in the story, "BEN" is. How he got there is something that hasn't been explained yet.

ZI: Did the explanation of the capture device being unusually clear organically stem off of the fact that the videos were being recorded from a ROM and you needed to explain the clarity?

J: Oh yeah, most definitely. I had never recorded Nintendo 64 games before on a capture device so I had no idea that the difference between an actual game and a ROM would be so significant until people started pointing it out. Looking back, that was my biggest regret in making the story believable.

ZI: What made you choose Majora's Mask as the framework for the game? Was the inherent creepiness of the Elegy of Emptiness Link a contributing factor?

J: Majora's Mask had always been one of my favorite games. I loved everything about it; the ambiance, the atmosphere, the darker setting for a Zelda game. What really sticks out to me is the mystery part of it, Termina is such a mysterious land filled with odd people. There's something about trying to save a doomed world that you already know the ending to that always stays on your mind when you're playing the game. You could be rescuing the Deku Princess and saving her life and yet in the back of your mind you realize "This doesn't mean anything; the moon will crash and I'll go back in time and none of this will ever have happened," That feeling that you get when you have to leave everyone behind and travel back in time is a unique one, I think. Like disturbing but there's hope at the same time, almost. To me its a masterpiece of a game.

ZI: What specifically caused you to cut the story short?

J: A number of factors - money was a big issue - the whole thing just got too expansive for me and the cheap webhosting I had wasn't able to handle more than a few thousand people at once on the website without going down. If I was going to involve my website this throughouly in my ARG, then I would need a better host, and those cost quite a pretty penny. Also I needed more manpower, given that all this time I had been doing the writing, filming, managing, updating myself I couldn't balance that, school, and retaining a social life. Something had to give and regrettably it had to be the ARG. It didn't help that there were people out there who were posing to be me as well. Like weeds, it seemed that whenever one was discredited more would pop out to take its place and they would end up throwing off people with false clues (who would then go back to everyone else and say "yeah but we know [x], so [y] CAN'T be right!", when in reality there was no such thing as [x], causing a sort of domino effect). It got quite discouraging after a while, but I've learned how to take measures to prevent this kind of behavior in the future. It's funny - even now after this is all over - I recently found out there was some guy pretending to be me and selling shirts based on the story/catchphrases and making a profit off them... it's like I can never catch a break haha. It seems like I always have to remind people to not believe anything that isn't posted by me on the website or by my Youtube account.

However to me, I just needed to regroup and redouble my efforts, which is exactly what I'm in the process of doing.

ZI: What do think of the people who took the story SUPER SERIOUS like bleachfan (link)?

J: Hah, oh wow. Reading that article made me almost feel guilty. I suppose on one hand its kind of a compliment, but on the other I hope I didn't cause too many people to have similar reactions. While I was writing this whole thing, I didn't expect a lot of people would really take it so seriously (seriously in the sense of "Wow, this is actually happening omg"). My hopes were that the audience would suspend their disbelief just as they would at a movie/videogame and play along, but seeing stories like this make me wonder if something like this wouldn't have happened to a guy like that sooner or later. I guess he's one of my biggest fans. I salute you Jarrod, where ever you are. Keep on truckin' bro."

Note: I sent him a few more questions after this, so look for an update soon with the extra questions

The Man Behind the Haunted Majora’s Mask Answers a Few More Questions

ZeldaInformer: If you feel comfortable with it, tell us a bit more about yourself.

Jadusable: Well, I'm not really the kind of person you'd envision writing this sort of thing or being an avid gamer, but yeah. I've been into film and writing since I was a kid, I've participated and won state-wide competitions for films I've directed/wrote, and I've currently got a TV show that I'm trying to find an agent for. Also, my greatest role model is Arnold Schwarzenegger. A lot of people scratch their heads and laugh when I say that, as I'm sure the readers of this are doing right now, but his mentality and determination is something superhuman that I want to adopt 100%.

There's a story of how a journalist once met an aspiring Arnold Schwarzenegger in a cafe in Arizona. Arnold was promoting his newest movie - some unremarkable B-movie that did horribly - and the journalist asked him what he was going to do from here. Arnold simply replied in a calm voice, completely straight-faced as if he believed it 100%, that he was going to become Hollywood's #1 movie star. Of course at the time no one knew who this guy was - he was some bodybuilding Austrian foreigner with a goofy accent, and this idiot thought he was going to be famous. Instead of trying to change his goofy qualities that people viewed as weaknesses, Arnie turned them into iconic strengths and if he wasn't Hollywood's #1 movie star, by the end of his acting career he was one of the most famous/infamous actors in all of Hollywood. And then he goes on to become the governor of California with that same mindset faced with similar criticism - how does the Terminator get into politics? And he blames it all on his mental attitude. It's remarkable - he views life as his playground and that there was no reason why he couldn't accomplish anything he wanted. Regardless of if you like him or want that same career path - you have to admire his mindset, and that's something that as someone trying to break into the industry I try every day to have. Think and you shall become.

ZI: Have your plans for the story changed at all because of the recent influx of donation money?

J: Yes, I'm thinking much broader now and the additional ideas that I had making the story ("Damn, it would be cool if I could do -this-") have suddenly become reachable.

ZI: Do you plan on branching out into Ocarina of Time as well, as some of your videos include sections of it?

J: Depends on where this new project takes me. Just to clarify - the new project I keep talking about *is* a continuation of the story, but in a different way than one might expect.

ZI: Have you recruited any help for the story going forward to help you organize and keep things in line?

J: Yes and no. I have a lot of people who have been emailing me offering their services on my next project and I've actually been in touch with a game developer company about taking the next step. Regardless of whether or not that goes anywhere or whether or not I'm able to hire a few of their members, the next step for me is evolving into that medium. And to clarify - I use the term "videogame" extremely loosely, it wouldn't be a standard videogame by any means (or rather, one that we're used to); my vision is something that will take the whole viewer-interactivity to the next level. I have a dozen concepts and game mechanics that - to my knowledge - have never been explored in the horror genre that are literally sitting right in front of us to use. All of the aspects that played a big role in the previous ARG will be present here (looking for clues, discussing theories, a sense of community, etc), the "videogame" will be just a part in the whole experience, similar to how the videos were just a part of the whole experience.

I can't really reveal my plans just yet, but just know that this will be big and should my plans come to fruition, it will re-define a lot of what it means to be a "scary" game.

ZI: So far, what part of the story is your favorite or most enjoyable to make?

J: I'd have to say booting up Majora's Mask or Ocarina and running around looking the different environments/playing with the different animation codes, kind of just scoping them out to see what I could do with them and letting my imagination wander. "Oh THIS would be scary" or "Hmm, can I use this?", that definitely was a lot of fun. In addition, I really enjoyed sneaking into several popular tinychats and just eavesdropping on how people were reacting to the newest video/update, but I would never talk in them. Also, learning to write horror was a fun process and something that was very much a learn-as-I-go experience and it helped me understand the human psyche a little bit more than I did before I attempted this. Very fun stuff all around.

Thanks again, Judusable, for answering our questions. I'm sure we all look forward to anything else you have up your sleeve and I, personally, cannot wait for what's next. Anyway, that's all for now.

Summary

• Alex claims that he's working on something big for the ARG that will further experiment with immersion and the fourth wall.
• Alex reveals that, in addition to money troubles and the growing complexity of the ARG's direction, the ARG was also put on hiatus because it was simply difficult for Alex to juggle college, ARG work, and his social life.
• Alex says he's an avid writer and film fan. He's won several state-wide film contests in the past and he once again mentions the television show he's hoping to get off the ground.
• Alex claims that his next project will be an expansion of the ARG - though in a way that one might not expect.
• Alex reveals that he's in contact with a game development company for the final part of the ARG, revealing that the story will likely involve an interactive videogame.

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