Do we have to watch OpAphid or not??

JayHank · Post by **JayHank** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 5:30 pm

When I watched today's video I was super confused. Midway through this video, Jonas says "so, Gemma and Lucy are buddies."

WHAT?! I thought Gemma was in LA.

And then he shows this video clip of Gemma and Lucy.

WHAT?! Where did that come from? Who took that? Why does Jonas have this tape?

The Creators wrote:Dear Fans,

We want to clarify the connection between OpAphid and lonelygirl15. Simply put, OpAphid is supplemental material that adds to the lonelygirl15 experience. It is not required viewing. If you watch lonelygirl15, you will experience an engaging, compelling story, full of plot twists and character development. You will not be left out if you choose not to play the OpAphid game (the official ARG).
The Creators

I'm responding to this quote. I watched today's Jonas video and I felt completely left out by not following the OpAphid game. I had no clue what was going on.

So here's the question -- do we have to watch OpAphid?

In other words -- is today's video an isolated incident where those of us uninterested in ARGs will be confused? I really, really, really want this show to be a success -- which is why I'm sometimes so vocal about my concerns. And I worry by making OpAphid so mandatory the appeal of Lonelygirl15 (to anything but a very niche audience) will be severely limited.

Post by **The Creators** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 5:44 pm

No, you do not need to watch OpAphid. Any events which occur in OpAphid and become relevant to LG15 will be shown/discussed in the the LG15 videos. Sorry if this was edited a bit abruptly. We're doing our best to makes things smoother.

iamcool · Post by **iamcool** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 6:07 pm

well when the babysitting video came out, they never said much about it in the ransacked video

if i never watched the op vid i'd be like

huh?

glowe126 · Post by **glowe126** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:50 pm

Well, this is all kind of new. I think we should watch whatever is entertaining and not hold the creators to any type of rules. Just for innovation's sake.

Ashley · Post by **Ashley** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:34 pm

If I didn't watch Tachyon's latest videos, I wouldn't have any clue where Jonas got that footage of Gemma and Lucy.

We can watch the Op vids, but that doesn't mean we have the play the game.

Terryfic · Post by **Terryfic** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 9:33 pm

I just hope you can keep the tone of the story consist between OpAphid and LG. It seems to me the people watching just LG are seeing a very different story than those watching both. The way one would read DBs last video is completely different if you had seen the videos by Op or not.

Danielle · Post by **Danielle** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 11:44 pm

As an Op Player, I am impartial to the game. So keep this in mind.

Though the series can be watched without paying attention to the OpAphid ARG... I would highly recommend following along. Even if you just do it sparingly (you don't need it to be you opium or anything).

If you are finding that the experience is lacking because you are missing out on OpAphid... I'd do the following;
-Watch the vids that you think may be relevent (Gemma vids, etc)
-Skim through summary forum threads and stickies
-Every now and again just check it out in general.

I just think that this ARG heightens the whole series for me and it adds a lot more depth to my understandings, but to each his own.

-Dani

JayHank · Post by **JayHank** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 12:26 am

First, thanks to the Creators for the quick response. I didn't want to stir up a firestorm (this time!), but wanted to register a bit of the confusion that I think a lot of fans who haven't been following OpAphid may have felt.

I've definitely noticed that in the past month in particular you've made an extra effort to be responsive to concerns and complaints. I sincerely appreciate it.

Danielle wrote:If you are finding that the experience is lacking because you are missing out on OpAphid... I'd do the following;
-Watch the vids that you think may be relevent (Gemma vids, etc)
-Skim through summary forum threads and stickies
-Every now and again just check it out in general.

I just think that this ARG heightens the whole series for me and it adds a lot more depth to my understandings, but to each his own.

-Dani

I'm not suggesting that anybody take the ARG away. I think it's great that people who like it have it. But for me, and a lot of people who are interested in the film aspect, it's been difficult to keep up with. I've tried to read the OpAphid threads from time to time and I just find them super-confusing trying to jump into it late.

It's a matter of time. I'm sure if I gave up working on the LGPedia, for example, I'd have the time to focus on OpAphid. Lonelyworld is a big enough buffet table that I've found I have to pick and choose if I want to continue to function in real life.

trainer101 · Post by **trainer101** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 12:35 am

I'm trying to keep the pieces together here:
http://www.lonelygirl15.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3927
Specifically for those who are not ARG players. I'm not a player either. Just a Watcher.

covedweller · Post by **covedweller** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 4:13 am

Tachyon has been mentioned by Daniel once now, and Jonas as well.

Seems easy to get the info from the mentions, but obviously there is more to it if you watch Tachyon's videos also.

And wasn't OpAphid's ransack addressed since in the next Bree video their room was ransacked?

It seems consistent so far to me. I think some people just don't like that there is more to find out in the other videos they don't feel like watching. Even if the essentials are in LG15. That's what makes the ARG and OpAphid/Tachyon videos a supplement, or a bonus.

JayHank · Post by **JayHank** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:25 am

Thanks for the link trainer, I'll try to keep up with things via that thread.

Covedweller, I was referring to the latest Jonas video in my post. Sorry if that wasn't clear. For those of us not following OpAphid (And remember, there are 3,000 people at this forum, compared to almost 70,000 LG subscribers on YouTube) we had no idea where that video footage about Gemma and Lucy came from.

I'm not complaining about OpAphid fans knowing first. I just think it's important that non-Op fans can tell what's going on too. After all, if it ends up with only the 3,000 people in the forum watching LG -- that might not be a big enough audience for LG to keep going -- and I think we can all agree that we don't want that!

Kasdeja · Post by **Kasdeja** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:56 am

JayHank wrote:Thanks for the link trainer, I'll try to keep up with things via that thread.

Covedweller, I was referring to the latest Jonas video in my post. Sorry if that wasn't clear. For those of us not following OpAphid (And remember, there are 3,000 people at this forum, compared to almost 70,000 LG subscribers on YouTube) we had no idea where that video footage about Gemma and Lucy came from.

I'm not complaining about OpAphid fans knowing first. I just think it's important that non-Op fans can tell what's going on too. After all, if it ends up with only the 3,000 people in the forum watching LG -- that might not be a big enough audience for LG to keep going -- and I think we can all agree that we don't want that!

I agree...the solution could have been as simple as Jonas saying "Look what a fan sent me" or "look at what I saw on YT", etc...but it just came out of nowhere in Jonas' vid. I don't mind watching the aRG, but you are right...not everyone does and not everyone even knows about it. The two should be able to mix or stand alone and make sense.

PushedButton · Post by **PushedButton** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:41 pm

The Creators wrote:No, you do not need to watch OpAphid. Any events which occur in OpAphid and become relevant to LG15 will be shown/discussed in the the LG15 videos. Sorry if this was edited a bit abruptly. We're doing our best to makes things smoother.

Don't try too hard, I like being thrown the odd curve ball and if I have to look around a bit to find out what is going on then all the better.
If I wanted to just sit and watch something I'd turn my tv on.

Lurker · Post by **Lurker** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 1:36 pm

JayHank wrote:Covedweller, I was referring to the latest Jonas video in my post. Sorry if that wasn't clear. For those of us not following OpAphid (And remember, there are 3,000 people at this forum, compared to almost 70,000 LG subscribers on YouTube) we had no idea where that video footage about Gemma and Lucy came from.

I'm not complaining about OpAphid fans knowing first. I just think it's important that non-Op fans can tell what's going on too. After all, if it ends up with only the 3,000 people in the forum watching LG -- that might not be a big enough audience for LG to keep going -- and I think we can all agree that we don't want that!

I think it would be a mistake to make a major distinction between OpAphid fans and LG15 fans. OpAphid fans are still LG15 fans -- Op is, after all, part of the story. And those LG15 fans who aren't really Op fans would still be able to gain the benefit of the story aspects offered there without playing the ARG. Of course, there probably is a few people who became interested only because of the ARG, but it is an ARG that is an aspect of LG15.

And -- contrary to what anyone might say -- it's an important part. As someone who doesn't play the ARG, I still have no problem staying up to date with it all. I still watch every new Op and Tach video. I'm subscribed to them on YT, and I am personally glad to see that they've got a greater relevance to the main plot now. I don't think the Creators should be afraid to use them to further the plot.

That said, I do think that they need to feature the Op and Tach vids more prominently. As you said, JayHank, there's something like 70,000 subscribers on YT -- and a whole lot of them were confused when Jonas suddenly had that footage of Gemma with Lucy. I think the Creators are making a mistake by not featuring the Op and Tach vids on the main page here the same way they feature those from Dan, Jonas, Gemma, and Bree.

I don't think the answer to all this is to make the Op and Tach vids less important. I think the solution is simple: just feature them as prominently as the other videos. Sure, this will require going back on their word that viewers who ignored Op and Tach wouldn't miss out on anything, but that's already been proven to be inaccurate. When you make a mistake, you make a mistake, and you just have to fix it. At this point, making the ARG vids go from vitally important to meaningless would be an even bigger mistake. The only solution is to put them out there in the spotlight with the vlogs.

robtomorrow · Post by **robtomorrow** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:09 pm

The Creators wrote:No, you do not need to watch OpAphid. Any events which occur in OpAphid and become relevant to LG15 will be shown/discussed in the the LG15 videos. Sorry if this was edited a bit abruptly. We're doing our best to makes things smoother.

Come on, I have argued that OpAphid is either part of the story or not, that you can't have it both ways. The latest videos by OpAphid, Jonas and Tachyon are making that clear.

In any case you have to start making the Tachyon and OpAphid videos more accessible, most people who are trying to follow the story are using YouTube be find the Tachyon and OpAphind videos.

It would make much more sense to have the videos easier to find on the Lonelygirl15.com website.

Either list them all on the main page with all the other canon videos or else make a separate page like the main page for OpAphid with easy to find links to navigate between OpAphid and Lonelygirl15

Do we have to watch OpAphid or not??

Do we have to watch OpAphid or not??

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