ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize, Game Over

[xavier46930]

So now I and others have to depend on those who actually play MC?

OP: Sorry but you lost it. ARGs are about knowledge, mostly.
Not having to play another game to continue yours.....
Disappointed at you girl......

EDIT: I know you are reading this Alice, so, ARGs are also about freely available info, so long as you know or know how to search for them.
Once again, disappointed at you.

Maybe I feel differently because I know and like MC and bought it a long time ago when it was cheap, but I think it's cool that we're had some of the interesting jumps that we've had. I've also played ARGs that require small amounts of money to play, or at least to get past certain steps.

My one concern about MC is that the server is deformable and I showed up late to the party, so I have no idea what the world looked like in its original state.

edit: and that concern is apparently not a real concern due to the regular server reset! heh.

Just because you and many other people like MC doesn't change the fact that this is not ARG anymore IMO.
Like I said ARGs are based on FREELY available information.
BTW, you seem to have just joined when the game started and actually provided a lot of valuable clues....
Thank you for that

Dude, don't be so butt hurt. I'm sure this is just a piece of the puzzle. Chillax, bro. http://www.unfiction.com/compendium/2006/11/10/undefining-arg/

So, what about: Having to play another game to continue another makes me butt hurt to you?
Have you ever played ARGs before?

Yeah, I have, I've played them from the unfiction forum. They're all different. There's no rules, only un-rules.   Suck it up, you big baby.

[1715197574]

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[Mitchell]

So, we found a underwater maze and we think that it could be another part of the QR code, however, we need to map it before we can be sure. (You don't have the same view as with the other parts).

EDIT: To the two people above, please quit your useless argument, we are trying to figure out a puzzle here. Thank you.

[S4VV4S]

So now I and others have to depend on those who actually play MC?

OP: Sorry but you lost it. ARGs are about knowledge, mostly.
Not having to play another game to continue yours.....
Disappointed at you girl......

EDIT: I know you are reading this Alice, so, ARGs are also about freely available info, so long as you know or know how to search for them.
Once again, disappointed at you.

Maybe I feel differently because I know and like MC and bought it a long time ago when it was cheap, but I think it's cool that we're had some of the interesting jumps that we've had. I've also played ARGs that require small amounts of money to play, or at least to get past certain steps.

My one concern about MC is that the server is deformable and I showed up late to the party, so I have no idea what the world looked like in its original state.

edit: and that concern is apparently not a real concern due to the regular server reset! heh.

Just because you and many other people like MC doesn't change the fact that this is not ARG anymore IMO.
Like I said ARGs are based on FREELY available information.
BTW, you seem to have just joined when the game started and actually provided a lot of valuable clues....
Thank you for that

Dude, don't be so butt hurt. I'm sure this is just a piece of the puzzle. Chillax, bro. http://www.unfiction.com/compendium/2006/11/10/undefining-arg/

So, what about: Having to play another game to continue another makes me butt hurt to you?
Have you ever played ARGs before?

Yeah, I have, I've played them from the unfiction forum. They're all different. There's no rules, only un-rules.   Suck it up, you big baby.

Sorry but your an idiot and there are rules.
Read up on the subject

[S4VV4S]

So, we found a underwater maze and we think that it could be another part of the QR code, however, we need to map it before we can be sure. (You don't have the same view as with the other parts).

EDIT: To the two people above, please quit your useless argument, we are trying to figure out a puzzle here. Thank you.

Correct.

Full stop

[Yemmster]

I've made the last one black and white too. Posting both in an imgur album.

http://imgur.com/a/i2Njp

[Mitchell]

Those are 100% QR codes. Now we need to find the other two.

[franky1]

hurry up minecrafters i want to join the QR code parts together

[mirth23]

overall progress notes for those who are just starting up:
- the original image yielded morse code message using the red and green dots as dash/dot and the other characters as delimiters, which translated into "THEY CAN NOT ATTACK WHAT THEY DO NOT SEE" after taking the first letter of each word in the message
- googling the above phrase led us to the minecraft wiki enderman page, and an image that we were able to overlay over the original image, which highlighted certain characters in the puzzle
- manipulation of these characters from the OP image yielded a bitly link to a page with a QR code*.
- the QR code sent us to a page with a binary code which was the IP address of the minecraft server we're currently grabbing QR code fragments from.

a few loose ends:
- there's more characters left over in the original puzzle, it isn't clear if they will or will not be used
- there's a lot of unexplained noise in the original puzzle, which some of us think still implies stenography

Also worth noting is that no step has required cryptographically/mathematical manipulation of any data that we've been presented with. I'm enjoying how OP's ideas have made this a fairly accessible puzzle. I bet she was amused by the somewhat wrongheaded brute force we were applying to it early on.

* IMO, we short-circuited the actual puzzle a bit here here, there was a hint to use the game contra (maybe the well-known cheat code) but we basically ended up dropping a couple characters because they were yellow and then rejiggering the rest. (I'd love an official comment from OP at some point regarding how this step was supposed to be solved, it's the only one that has seemed strange at this point)

[steelboy]

S4VV4S - Looks like you're not enjoying it as much now you don't want to get mine craft to play but i think it's good that different people can use different skillsets to move forward. You were doing some crazy stuff at the start and gave lots of useful ideas.

If the game is to work as a team then the game is progressing as planned.

[Kangaderoo]

finally I can participate  
It helps to be an expert in QR.. I figured out the size, mask and error correction level......



Decoded ....

http://qr.w69b.com+g/rLp

The "+" is allready faulty... too many errors to complete... sorry

[Kprawn]

I tend to agree, it's part of a QR code - Find the other 3 and we in? 3 x skulls?

4 pieces of a puzzle.  

Yea .. thought so, brilliantly done.  

My compliments to the creator, it was excellently done. At first I thought it was a gimmick, and then I stopped to sleep and started seeing it in my day dream. HeH.

Do not rely solely on Users for solves, double check solves for user errors: #checkuser404 - Does this mean, there are still problems with that part?

[micaman]

finally I can participate  
It helps to be an expert in QR.. I figured out the size, mask and error correction level......



Decoded ....

http://qr.w69b.com+g/rLp

The "+" is allready faulty... too many errors to complete... sorry

I can't decode it with my QR reader, is it complete yet?

[Mitchell]

I can't decode it with my QR reader, is it complete yet?

It is not. We have only found 2 out of 4 parts.

[Kangaderoo]

finally I can participate  
It helps to be an expert in QR.. I figured out the size, mask and error correction level......
--snip --
Decoded ....

http://qr.w69b.com+g/rLp

The "+" is allready faulty... too many errors to complete... sorry

I can't decode it with my QR reader, is it complete yet?

This code is missing the last parts and the error correction, but the part with the actual content is
already displayed. If there is no fault in the data.. (cannot be confirmed) then I can read it what is there....
Just need size, errorcorrection and mask... And the tools I developed over the last two years  
if bottom left pop's up, 3 parts might be sufficient........

[S4VV4S]

S4VV4S - Looks like you're not enjoying it as much now you don't want to get mine craft to play but i think it's good that different people can use different skillsets to move forward. You were doing some crazy stuff at the start and gave lots of useful ideas.

If the game is to work as a team then the game is progressing as planned.

You couldn't be more correct.
But still, this is not an ARG anymore.

But I will continue following because I spent a lot of time on this.....

[Kprawn]

Well, I have got to sleep.. Work tomorrow, cannot think straight anyways, to late here.

Good luck guys and gals, great work today. Was great to share, this experience with you. Kinda hope you not going to solve it now, so I can help with it again tomorrow,
but I think the QR code will solve the private key and the pass phrase will unlock it. So it's game over soon.

C ya *wave.

[scribe]

Wow, finally catching/caught up with this thread - good going.

Did I miss something? What was the bitly link in the end? I worked out up-up-down-down = bit. Don't get where the rest of the URL comes from though.

[S4VV4S]

Well, I have got to sleep.. Work tomorrow, cannot think straight anyways, to late here.

Good luck guys and gals, great work today. Was great to share, this experience with you. Kinda hope you not going to solve it now, so I can help with it again tomorrow,
but I think the QR code will solve the private key and the pass phrase will unlock it. So it's game over soon.

C ya *wave.

Goodnight bro/sis.
Hopefully we have more for you tomorrow  

[newuser01]

finally I can participate  
It helps to be an expert in QR.. I figured out the size, mask and error correction level......



Decoded ....

http://qr.w69b.com+g/rLp

The "+" is allready faulty... too many errors to complete... sorry

Hello QR expert,

add this please:

http://bildr.no/image/UEdMTmF1.jpeg
http://bildr.no/image/SFFiYmMv.jpeg
http://bildr.no/image/eURxVEt5.jpeg

it's from the water place

[Yemmster]

Updated the album with the latest part we've found. Sorry it took a while, got a bad angel on my Screencap.

Please keep in mind, I have no way of knowing if they are "facing" the right way. We might have to rotate them to get the right qr-code out of it.

I've made the last one black and white too. Posting both in an imgur album.

http://imgur.com/a/i2Njp