Everything You Need To Play OpAphid

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Disclaimer: The OpAphid alternate reality game is no longer an official part of lonelygirl15 and may no longer be active.
This page is preserved for historical interest.

If you are new to ARGs, IRC, and OpAphid, Please read this article. Everything you need to get caught up is here. This should answer most of your questions regarding the two. Happy playing!

Please bear in mind the following information. All the sites featured by OpAphid will be public locales. At no point will the personal details of any of the Creators, production staff, actors, and/or crew of Lonelygirl15 be considered to be "in-game". This ARG will never compromise their privacy. We ask that all participants use discretion, common sense, and courtesy in this regard.

Thank you and have fun!

OpAphid.jpg

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The OpAphid ARG's Character Accounts:

IPOD OPERA (What is it?)

When viewing OpAphid's profile we can see they are a member of:

  • Group Name: ipod opera - a hint?
  • Description: mimic unto nonchalance
  • Tags: ihit dan poor ape
  • Created: September 27th, 2006

Name anagrams to: OPERATION APHID

  • Description anagrams to: COMMUNICATION CHANNEL
  • Tags anagram to: OPERATION APHID

Known members (11 total):

OperationAphid is also a member of the groups:

  • operationaphid
  • aphid
  • All three groups were created the same day but the last two have no other members.
  • All groups are invite only
  • All group members have the same green layout and have their names in brackets.

Note: War Pylol alerted OpAphid of Brother's location.

Communication/Working Together

Working Together To Solve Clues:

The whole story of OpAphid is followed and progressed by solving strings of clues. In order to solve these clues, everyone involved must work together. There are two ways in which the players of OpAphid work together to solve clues, the first being IRC. This is very beneficial during a drop or during a clue which requires immediate solving. That IRC is a wonderful way to work with the others, and a fun area during down time, but information is very easily looked over, and people often get off topic.

The second form of communication is via the forums. The forums are the easiest, most beneficial way to solve the clues. Information is not lost or looked over, and it can be organized in an understandable manner, unlike in the IRC. Also, the forums give everyone involved an opportunity to follow along. ALL the information regarding OpAphid, Tachyon, 10033, and etc. can all be found on the forums.

Guys, I can not stress this enough. Please read the forums and get a good understanding of what is going on before entering chat. If you have general questions, the IRC is not the place to ask them. The IRC is meant for solving and discussing clues and videos. If you have general questions, please send a private message to either a moderator, or veteran player.

Communication with Opaphid, Tachyon, and 10033:

There are two ways of communicating with the characters of OpAphid. The first way is via their YouTube profiles, but as most know, YouTube is not the most reliable at delivering messages.

If your message does not need to remain private, please utilize the In Character Communication threads. They are located here:

Keeping Record:

All correspondence that you wish to share with the forums must be screencapped. To do this please do the following:

  1. Hit the PrtSc/Print Scrn/Sys Req key
  2. Open up Microsoft Paint
  3. Edit>Paste
  4. Crop
  5. Upload to a photo hosting site. http://www.photobucket.com/ or http://www.imageshack.us/
  6. Post the image URL in the corresponding thread.

For a Mac:

  • You hold down COMMAND(Apple key) SHIFT 4. That gives you a target. You click and drag that over the area of the screen you want to capture. When you let go, it takes that picture and saves it to your desktop.

The Drops

What Is a Drop?

A drop is a physical clue that the PM of the game leaves for players to retrieve. Sometimes these clues are more vital than text clues. A drop is made known when Tachyon uploads a video on her YouTube profile with the phrase "Tag you're it." It usually shows distinct landmarks, signs, buildings, and a brief pan of the general area of the drop to help identify the location. Drops can be a lot of fun, even for those not going to retrieve it. Drops are taken seriously, however, and rules are expected to be followed.

The Drop Rules:

  • If you are near a drop, and would like to retrieve it, you MUST inform both the forums AND the chat that you will be going. You need to let them know where you are leaving from, how long it will take you to get there, and any other arrangements. You also will need to make prior arrangements with the others who will be going to retrieve the drop as well.
  • Once you have confirmed that you are going to retrieve the drop, pick somebody who has access to the forums AND the IRC to be an operator. Make sure that you have a mobile phone with you at all times, and that they have the number. Please stay in touch with your operator for as much of the drop as possible. Communication is the key!
  • Bring a flashlight! Most drops happen in the dead of night, in VERY dark locations. A flashlight is not only beneficial for finding the drop, but also for your safety.
  • No hats. After the Pea Soup incident, it has become a rule that hats should NOT be worn to a drop.
  • Meet with your group AWAY from the drop. People retrieving the drops should meet in a public area away from the drop, and leave together. This way everyone arrives at the drop at the same time, and introductions will have already been made.
  • All drop retrievals must be recorded! There are no exceptions to this rule! Everything that happens at the drop site must be recorded. Walking to the site, walking around, searching areas, finding the drop, opening the drop, and so on, must be on video recorded. After finding the drop, ALL items MUST be photographed. Every side, marking, symbol, sentence, etc. MUST be on film. Video needs to be uploaded to YouTube in a fast, timely manner. And pictures need to be hosted as well. If this isn't done quickly, Opaphid will ask you for them herself.
  • After all this action, SLEEP! Everyone else can wait. Your health and safety are most important.

For Those Not Retrieving the Drop:

You are just as important as the group retrieving. After a drop is confirmed, those not retrieving will be doing several things.

  • The forum and the IRC chat will work together (All of us -- because in those heated, frantic moments there is no division between followers of OpAphid or Tachyon; we all work as a unit) to uncover the locale of this drop. Once we feel that the location is verified to our satisfaction (and believe me, we're picky), we will find who is closest to the drop and is willing to take a trip. In the past drops the closest people have been from fifteen minutes to several hours from the location of the drop.
  • We will make sure that the brave soldiers have swapped phone numbers with someone in our group. We will also confirm that they are able to videotape their recovery.
  • In some cases, we will need to help direct those on the mission.
  • Follow along closely, because once something is found, it all happens quickly.

Previous Drops:

  1. La Cienega Park, Beverly Hills - 10/28/06
  2. Pea Soup Andersen's, Central Ca. - 11/02/06
  3. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco - 11/11/06
  4. Phoenix Theatre, Petaluma, Ca. - 11/26/06
  5. Sea Bowl, Pacifica, Ca. - 12/03/06
  6. Phoenix Theatre, Petaluma, Ca. Revisited - 12/11/06
  7. Yokayo Bowl, Ukiah, CA - 1/25/07

The Puzzles:

Many sleepless nights have been spent solving puzzle after puzzle for the OpAphid crew, some taking minutes to solve, others taking literally days, but the end result has always been a huge reward for those who engaged in solving it.

  1. Set of Five
  2. The Test (USA Today) - 11/01/06
  3. Adventures in New Phone Lines: The Musical - 11/15/05
  4. High Complexity: A John Cusack Puzzle - 12/01/06
  5. Step By Step Puzzle (Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine) - 12/10/06
  6. Puzzle (Language Labs) - 12/16/06
  7. Dancing In The Dark - 2/27/07

Some Very Important Puzzle Solutions:

  • (213) 814-2839 - Tachyon's phone lost at her "last job"
  • (310) 933-6263 - Temporary line used for mash up
  • (310) 933-5901 - Brother's phone
  • (415) 670-9198 - Tachyon's latest phone
  • (415) 287-0211 - The number for the "dry cleaners'" that Bree calls
  • (213) 985-3597 - Bree's "father's" phone

Puzzle Solving Tools:

OpAphid is a puzzle-based game. You will solve puzzles of different types, styles, and difficulty. Many will be in text, mathematical, picture, hex, base64, etc. form, and it is up to everyone to solve these puzzles. There are many tools and tutorials throughout the Internet to help aid in puzzle solving. Also, in some cases, research will be needed in order to solve a puzzle at hand.

Research:

IRC

What Is an IRC?

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of real-time Internet chat. It is mainly designed for group (many-to-many) communication in discussion forums called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message.

For more on IRC's, please refer to this article.

How To Get Into IRC:

To use Java:

If you do not wish to use Java Chat, you will need to use a chat client. Chatzilla and mIRC are two suggestions.

For chat clients:

  • Server: irc.freenode.net (Channel: #operationaphid)

For Chatzilla:

If You Are Using mIRC:

First off, mIRC is an application you can run on your computer to connect to IRC chatrooms. This will give you much more versatility and reliability in the chat. Here are the steps to get started:

  1. Download the mIRC client at http://www.mirc.com/get.html
  2. Install mIRC with the default settings.
  3. Follow the directions to setup mIRC found here: http://www.mirc.com/install.html
  4. Go to the Options menu, under the Connect->Servers category and if FreeNode is in the IRC Network dropdown menu, select it and move to the next step. Otherwise, hit the Add button. Input the following information in the corresponding boxes:
    • Description: FreeNode Main
    • IRC Server: irc.freenode.net
    • Port: 6667
    • Group: FreeNode
    • And then select FreeNode from the IRC Network dropdown menu.
  5. Go to the Options menu, under the Connect->Options category and hit the Perform button.
  6. Hit the Add button and select FreeNode, then click ok. Ensure FreeNode is selected for the Network. Then in the perform commands text area, put "/join #operationaphid" (Ensure the "Enable perform on connect" option is selected).
    After signing in with your chosen username, I recommend that you register it. You can do this by typing:
    "/ns register yourpasswordhere"
    If you get a message saying "That username is already registered," this means someone already has that name and you will have to come up with a new name. You can change your name by typing:
    "/nick yournewnamehere"
    After registering your username, it is required that you identify yourself each time you sign on. mIRC makes this easy but auto-identifying yourself if you follow this step:
  7. Go back to the perform menu from step 6, and add the following line after the "/join #operationaphid" line: "/ns identify password"

Following these steps will set up the client to automatically join the channel on connecting to FreeNode and identify you.

Some FAQ's:

  • Q: How do I do an emote?
    • A: To emote, simply type: "/me texthere"
  • Q: How do I join another chat channel?
    • A: To join another chat channel, type: "/join #chatnamehere"
  • Q: Why does my username have a number after it?
    • A: Your username may have a number after it if you are disconnected and rejoin. This is called ghosting. You can remove the ghost by typing: "/ns ghost yourusername yourpassword" then change your username back by typing "/nick username"
  • Q: How do I change my password?
    • A: You can change your password by typing: "/ns set password newpassword"
  • Note: where "yourpasswordhere" is written, you insert your own desired password.

Rules of the IRC:

  1. On-topic when work needs to be done. When no clues are being solved, have fun.
  2. Basic human decency shall prevail at ALL times.
  3. As needed.
  4. Abusers of the watchbot or sparklebot shall be summarily disemboweled by the ops.

Common Chat Abbreviations:

  • PM- Private Message
  • AFK- Away From Keyboard
  • BRB- Be Right Back
  • ATM- At The Moment
  • FTW- For The Win
  • RL- Real Life
  • IMO- In My Opinion
  • TBH- To Be Honest
  • IIRC- If I Remember Correctly

Falling Behind:

If you miss a day or two, or even a few very eventful hours, please utilize the forums. Most puzzles are updated as solved, in the first post of each puzzle thread. Sometimes, when a major puzzle is solved, people create their own summary videos, which will help aid in catching you up. A few users who are (or have) created summary videos are:

Were useful but now have had videos taken down:

Thank You

Special thanks to Romanceismusic, Tigerlilylynn, Sad_Panda, Tiltingwindward, Shifty, Acidfingers, and everyone that helped make this possible.