Narrative caches with video elements

[Mythmaker1972]

I'm a noob to the forum (1st post) so please be gentle…

 

A little background as well as my credentials: I work professionally in the film, tv and new media world in Canada. I'm a produced screenwriter and have won numerous awards at festivals etc. In the last few years I've grown more and more interested in the transmedia world (I've worked on a couple of big video game titles too) and after discovering Geocaching a couple of years ago I've been thinking a lot about the possibility of caches that incorporate great storytelling and include video elements etc.

 

I've searched and read through pages and pages on these forums to see if anyone else is doing this but can't seem to find very much information. Does this mean nobody is creating these kinds of caches or are they simply not allowed? I'd love to see a multi-cache that tells an intriguing and engaging story that perhaps even includes QR codes and/or passwords/links to private Vimeo videos that expand and advance the story to the next cache. Or is this regarded as being in contravention of the guidelines in terms of solicitation?

 

Apologies if there is already a post on this elsewhere, I searched but could find very little other than things on Wherigo and the Labs. I have checked out Wherigo and it seems very buggy and very under-supported - closest one to me is 8 miles away and in 3+yrs only 300 or so people have attempted it. Looking forward to hearing from the community here. Are caches that contain a greater narrative element (as well as entertainment value) something you folks are even interested in?

[+ngrrfan]

I'm a noob to the forum (1st post) so please be gentle…

 

A little background as well as my credentials: I work professionally in the film, tv and new media world in Canada. I'm a produced screenwriter and have won numerous awards at festivals etc. In the last few years I've grown more and more interested in the transmedia world (I've worked on a couple of big video game titles too) and after discovering Geocaching a couple of years ago I've been thinking a lot about the possibility of caches that incorporate great storytelling and include video elements etc.

And just how is a person with a GPS supposed to see the videos, assuming they are found in the field someplace.

[+TriciaG]

Whereigos or Intercaches (maybe) would be the platform.

 

It would be tough to do for those without smartphones or data plans.

 

The guidelines that might apply:

 

Geocache listings that require additional website registration, installs or downloads are generally not publishable.

 

Cache listings that require a cacher to visit another website will not be published if the finder must create an account with, or provide personal information to, the other website. In the interest of file security, caches that require the installing or running of data and/or executables will likely not be published. The use of memory sticks and similar devices is not permitted.

 

Certain files (specifically .TXT files, .PDFs and all audio files) may be acceptable inclusions on cache listings in the interest of allowing greater cache creativity. These downloads must adhere to all geocaching guidelines and include the following text above the link:

 

"Alert: You are about to download a file that contains further details needed to find this geocache. As the cache owner, I represent that this file is safe to download although it has not been checked by Groundspeak or by the reviewer for possible malicious content. Download this file at your own risk. [insert link here]"

 

Commercial geocaches are disallowed.

 

Cache listings perceived as commercial will not be published. A commercial cache listing has one or more of the following characteristics:

 

It has overtones of advertising, marketing or promotion.

It suggests or requires that the finder go inside a business, interact with employees and/or purchase a product or service.

It contains links to businesses, agencies, commercial advertisers, charities, or political or social agendas.

It contains the logo of a business or organization, including non-profit organizations.

It contains the name of a business or commercial product.

 

There may be others I'm missing.

[+kunarion]

Are caches that contain a greater narrative element (as well as entertainment value) something you folks are even interested in?

Videos for cache descriptions can’t be stored on the site. But there are some cool story caches (in text), and if you have a link to a video, people may watch it, and there’'s just the matter of listing it per the guidelines.

 

Trackables have fewer restrictions, and they can be most any object. So you could tell a story with a video, posting the links on the Trackable’s page.

 

You might follow a family on a caching trip, to show the adventure, or to tell a story. I’d highly recommend not showing the container or its hide style, regardless of how tempting that may be. Unless it’s your cache, no spoilers -- show just the log being signed, or use a stand-in container. But if it’s a great video of the fun (or scary or creative story-telling) trip, most people will like that.

Edited June 6, 2014 by kunarion

[+niraD]

Another option might be to use the video as part of a puzzle cache. I've seen that done a couple times.

[Blue Square Thing]

This is a really interesting idea. I'm not sure it'd ever be totally practical to implement on a large scale, but it's one that I think I'd enjoy doing! Whether you'd ever be able to be within the guidelines is another question - perhaps with puzzles and inter caches and so on. Combine it with a night cache and even better... :-)

 

Here it would be very difficult to access video in the field - there's just not good enough wifi connection in general to do that.

 

But I'd love to see an attempt to tell a really interesting story in this sort of way.

 

Btw, 300 attempts at a Wherigo is quite a lot by standards here. This one (which looks really interesting and the cacher has other similar trade and so on iirc) has less than 100 in the same sort of timeframe and is the third favourite Wherigo in the country.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Blue Square Thing

[+kunarion]

perhaps with puzzles and inter caches and so on.

One format that seems to have been approved is "Intercache", a browser-based interactive story cache for smartphones, which leads players to a Geocache. Since people need a data plan anyway to use that, a video could be part of it.

Edited June 6, 2014 by kunarion

[+Chief301]

Obviously there are many puzzle caches that are more easily solved sitting at the computer in the comfort of one's home than trying to figure it out in the field. Would it be acceptable to make it a Puzzle to be solved, and the answers could be found by viewing the video linked from the cache's page?

[+Walts Hunting]

Obviously there are many puzzle caches that are more easily solved sitting at the computer in the comfort of one's home than trying to figure it out in the field. Would it be acceptable to make it a Puzzle to be solved, and the answers could be found by viewing the video linked from the cache's page?

I have done a couple like that but the videos were on youtube not a private server. I seem to recall this being discussed a couple of times and the public server was a necessity;.

 

Also on the comment about no video in the field because of a lack of wifi you can just your data plan. Yes it does eat up bits but it is doable.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Walts Hunting