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"'''Iris' is a spiral campaign designed to take gamers on an incredible journey through the Halo Universe,''" a spokesperson for Microsoft said. "''Led by an 'unknown' hand, users will discover bits of previously unknown information about the Halos, the Flood, the Forerunners, and the true origins behind the Halo trilogy.''"
{{Title|''Iris''}}
{{Status|RealWorld}}
{{Quote|Look for the signs, keepers of the flame. They will lead you to war, and perhaps, to victory.|Iris Email}}
[[File:1203845202 Iris wp 1280.jpg|thumb|300px|Iris Glyph.]]
'''''Iris''''' was a ''[[Halo 3]]'' viral marketing and public relations campaign; more specifically, an ARG or [[Wikipedia:alternate reality game|Alternate Reality Game]] designed to give people more information on how the great conflict behind the Halo franchise began, and the climactic conclusion.


It's designed to give people more information on how the great conflict all began, as we build up to the climactic conclusion of the series on 25 September.
==Overview==
A part of ''Halo 3''{{'}}s marketing campaign, Iris was an [[alternate reality game]], which involved cross-media interactions and player participation. It was designed to give people more information on how the great conflict behind the ''Halo'' franchise all began, as it builds up to the climactic conclusion of the series on September 25, 2007, the release date of ''[[Halo 3]]''.


Bungie content chap Frank "Frankie" O'Connor has written most of the material, with help from community manager Brian Jarrard and artist Aaron LeMay.
It began on June 11, 2007, with the mysterious AI [[Adjutant Reflex]] posting on the [[Bungie.net]] forums, and officially ended on August 23, 2007, with short communications from the Adjutant Reflex account on Bungie.net till September 18, 2007.


The campaign's due to run for several weeks throughout the summer and is promised to be a compelling experience to uncover valuable information. Unfortunately Microsoft won't say whether there will be any other rewards for participating.
==Episodes==
Iris had five episodes during the campaign period,{{Ref/Note|Iris during its run had no episode structure. On January 14, 2008 AKQA released a post-game overview of the campaign and it was grouped under episodes. We on Halopedia have opted to organize the campaign under this episode structure for ease of organization}} and a short post-episode epilogue that connected to ''Halo 3''{{'}}s [[Terminal (Halo 3)|Terminal]] narrative. Each episode was bookended by the [[Bounce Path Control]] and a [[Server]] that expanded the theme of the episode.


===Episode 1 - The Unknown Helper===
{{Main|The Unknown Helper}}
Beginning on June 11, 2007, the first episode began with the mystery of Adjutant Reflex and several mystery events on Earth, with Adjutant warning something was coming, and that it could not stop it. Due to the mysterious events, this caught the attention of the Society of the Ancients (SOTA) a conspiracy group dedicated to the many unexplained. There was also the discovery of the [[Cradle of Life]] comic, a parallel path to the SOTA one that lead people to the first server. During those events Adjutant Reflex was then taken over by the entity it warned the community about leading to a mystery of what that entity wanted to tell us. Before the first server was unlocked the mysterious entity spoke giving people "keys" to unlock the server. The first server detailed the firing of the Halo Array, and a log that gave the hope that someone would hear the warning.


==History of Events in the "''Iris''" Viral Marketing Campaign for ''[[Halo 3]]''==
===Episode 2 - Flood Control===
(Information taken from [http://args.bungie.org/index.php ARGS.Bungie.org]
{{Main|Flood Control}}
The second episode of Iris began with mysterious postings on several job listing sites and MSN, leading to the discovery that a group named Flood Containment Control was hiding data about something on several kiosks behind a "false menu item". The information on these kiosks lead to the discovery of a report named "Report 206" which assisted people in finding the second server. The second server detailed the Flood, revealing information about the initial thoughts the Forerunners had about them.


===Episode 3 - Echoes Through Time===
{{Main|Echoes Through Time}}
The third episode quickly began with a piece of audio from the second server that revealed an image. MSN released Iris-themed items, that featured imagery that looked like the image revealed from the second server's audio. When the audio was played on a hidden screen on Halo3.com, an animation played leading people to the third server. The third server detailed the problems the Forerunners faced while trying to deal with the Flood, while also giving a direct message from the mysterious entity.


'''June 11, 2007'''
===Episode 4 - The Great Connection===
{{Main|The Great Connection}}
The fourth episode began with a strange equation from the third server, and a strange poem was posted onto Halo3.com by a mysterious entity called "When We Two Parted". This poem was modified to read "CASTAWAYTHEORYVOLMAN" which lead users to find a book named [[The Castaway Theory]] with the equation matching the one from the third server. In the book's forums, a close friend of the author indicated that the author went missing a while back, and over the next several days the friend indicated the author had returned and had given a way for people to talk to him. This led the author to link to the fourth server. The fourth server went over the Conservation Measure and pondered the mystery of the Flood's origins.


At 10:26 AM PST on June 11, 2007, a mysterious message appeared in the Halo 3 forum on Bungie.net with a subject line entitled, "System Integrity Confirmed." The thread was created by a user named "[[AdjutantReflex]]", whose system security role is "CompoundIntelligence."
===Episode 5 - The Artifact===
{{Main|The Artifact (Iris)}}
The fifth episode began with people putting together star images from all of the servers, revealing the phrase "The Artifact Location". This led people to a website that directed them to locations in New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles. At those locations,  the final server link was revealed. The fifth server detailed the mystery of Earth, how Humans may answer the Forerunners' own mysteries, and revealed the identity of the mysterious entity who hijacked Adjutant Reflex as "MB05032" and that they will be waiting on the [[Installation 00|Ark]].


http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11263399 - AdjutantReflex's first Bungie.net thread, titled "System Integrity Confirmed"
===Epilogue===
{{Main|Iris Epilogue}}
On September 13 to 18, "MB05032", still hijacking Adjutant Reflex, communicated with people, prepping them for ''Halo 3''{{'}}s release by having it countdown to the minute, and having it leave the Adjutant Reflex body as it was too small to contain itself.


AdjutantReflex's text is gold.
==Credits==
Iris was written by [[Frank O'Connor]], with help from community manager [[Brian Jarrard]] and artist [[Aaron LeMay]].{{Ref/Site|Id=Eurogamer|URL=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ms-explains-halo-viral-campaign|Site=Eurogamer|Page=MS explains Halo viral campaign|D=25|M=2|Y=2021}}


In response to a post wondering if this was the work of a hacker, AdjutantReflex confirmed that it entered Bungie's systems "by force," but stated that it was irrelevant because there was no hostile intent.
AKQA was involved with the project also, dealing with the Flash elements of the ARG.{{Ref/Site|Id=Webby|URL=https://winners.webbyawards.com/2008/advertising-media-pr/advertising-campaigns/integrated-campaign/153569/halo-3-iris-alternate-reality-game|Site=winners.webbyawards.com|Page=Halo 3 "Iris" Alternate Reality Game|D=25|M=2|Y=2021}}


AdjutantReflex edited the first reply by another user, showing a system ability to edit other posts.
Artist Garson Kwan helped created several design elements for the Iris campaign such as the primary symbol used throughout the campaign.{{Ref/Site|Id=GarsonKwan|URL=https://garsonkwan.com/digital-advertising|Site=garsonkwan.com|Page=AKQA: DIGITAL EXPERIENCES|D=25|M=2|Y=2021}}


After exactly 100 excited and confused replies from forumgoers, AdjutantReflex locked and stickied the thread, showing that it has other moderator powers as well. The thread was open for about two hours.
Matthew Law was put in charge of the environments the server sites were housed in and also the videos that accompanied them. The videos were edited with "Final Cut Pro" and tweaked, colored, and effected in "After Effects", with assets that couldn't be bought as stock footage or shot locally being done in "Maya".{{Ref/Site|Id=Matthew Law|URL=http://matthewlaw.blogspot.com/2008/09/halo-3-iris.html|Site=matthewlaw.blogspot.com|Page=Halo 3: Iris|D=25|M=2|Y=2021}}


AdjutantReflex then moved to http://www.halo.bungie.org, posting a similar series of mysterious writings in the halo.bungie.org (HBO) forum.
==Reception==
In 2008, Iris was nominated for a Webby Award.{{Ref/Reuse|Webby}}


http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=808840 - AdjutantReflex's HBO thread, titled "System Integrity Confirmed"
==Notes==
{{Ref/Notes}}


==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}


'''Beware of Imposters'''
{{Navbox/Media/Audio/Iris}}


The same day that the original AdjutantReflex posts were created, a regular forum user created an account named "AdjutantRefIex" with a "capital eye" instead of a "lower-case ell" in the word "Reflex." That user attempted to make more mysterious posts, although the style of writing was inferior and distinctly different from the original and real AdjutantReflex's.
[[Category:Canon]]
 
[[Category:Alternate reality games]]
Forum Ninja "just another fan" banned the imposter.
[[Category:Iris]]
 
Shortly thereafter, another account was created on Bungie.net entitled "ReticentAxiom". This user began creating posts nearly identical to the fake AdjutantRefIex, pretending to be another AI. Once again, they are recognizable by lack of gold text and inferior writing style -- not to mention a distinctly different "style" and "feel" to the posts from the originals.
 
The best advice follows: don't believe it if it's not in gold text.
 
 
'''June 12, 2007'''
 
At exactly 11:00 AM PST, AdjutantReflex created another thread entitled "Archive/Resource Estimate," with its first post stating that "Archives/Resources will be compiled in approximately 38 hours [1:00 AM PST on Thursday, July 14]." Another several posts followed, but no further substantive information was gleaned.
 
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11278044 - AdjutantReflex's second bungie.net thread, titled "Archive/Resource Estimate"
 
'''June 13, 2007'''
 
At 3:43 PST, AdjutantReflex posted an addendum to his locked thread entitiled "Archive/Resource Estimate" with the text "Tick Tock."
 
'''June 14, 2007'''
 
In the hours counting down to the 1 AM PST deadline there were two other posts by AR.
 
Shortly after 1 AM PST, an email was sent to all recipients of the [http://www.xbox.com/ Xbox Flash] newsletter with a cryptic poem inside. It was titled "Look for the signs, Keepers of the Flame".
 
[[Image:Forerunner Email.png]]
 
(The Forerunner Email image)
 
 
 
 
Forerunner glyphs were noticed, not only inside the email (seen above), but also on Master Cheif's visor at Halo3.com (seen below).
 
[[Image:Halo3.com AR image.jpg]]
 
 
 
 
The third glyph found is AdjutantReflex's new avatar on Bungie.net.
 
[[Image:Chrysopteron.gif]]
 
(AdjutantReflex's new bungie.net avatar)
 
 
 
The fourth glyph found on the last page of www.halo3.com/comic.
 
[[Image:Halo_3_-_TCOL_AR_symbol.jpg]]
 
(Strip Three of the last page (Page 4) of [[Halo 3: The Cradle of Life|The Cradle of Life]])
 
 
 
 
The fifth was found on a website connected to the IP address found in the Halo3.com comic strip. The last digit is a 3 instead of a 5. http://206.16.223.63/
 
[[Image:SOTA symbol.jpg]]
 
 
 
 
The sixth was found in a newspaper ad to debut in the US on Sunday, June 17th.
 
[[Image:Halo3.com_comic_ad_with_AR_symbol.jpg]]
 
 
 
 
On June 14, 2007 at 3:43 PM PST AdjutantReflex began another thread at Bungie.net entitled, "Who?" with one other post following before going back into hibernation. This posting corresponded to a change at [http://www.halo3.com halo3.com] where the main page had been turned into five darkened pictures labled Servers #1-5. All five servers were locked at this time.
 
[[Image:SilhouettesOriginal.JPG|500px]]
 
(halo3.com at the time of Servers #1-5 being locked)
 
 
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11314735 - AdjutantReflex's third bungie.net thread, titled "Who?"
 
 
Another section of halo3.com was uncovered (http://halo3.com/comic/) with an intriguing comic. Intrepid searchers discovered that the last page of this comic could be manipulated to give an IP address. "[http://206.16.223.65/ 206.16.223.65]" (Apparently all IP addresses listed 206.16.223.0 through 206.16.223.225 belong to Microsoft corp). (It should be noted that the timer that is (at the time of this edit) on the said site, is in the base 7 counting system).
 
Shortly after, the IP was manipulated (206.16.223.63) to lead us to a site associated with the (presumably fictional) organization entitled Society of the Ancients, or SOTA. A few minutes after this discovery a myspace page was discovered with references to this organization.
 
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=1000322121
 
Not much is known about this page, or other myspace or facebook profiles at this time.
 
 
 
 
 
'''June 15, 2007'''
 
Members of the SOTA organization were spotted in Times Square in New York City wearing yellow shirts and holding picket signs with the glyph eblazoned on them. They were also handing out flyers.
 
[[Image:SOTA.jpg]]
 
(SOTA flyer)
 
 
 
 
 
[[Image:SOTA application.jpg|500px]]
 
(SOTA Membership Application [http://societyoftheancients.com/sota_images/SOTA_membership.pdf])
 
Beware, email address above returns:
 
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
 
DoYouGrok@societyoftheancients.com
 
Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 13): 550 relay not permitted
 
 
 
'''June 16, 2007'''
 
SOTA members were spotted in Vancouver, Canada and London, England, and many other places. More sightings and rumors seem to come by the hour.
 
 
 
 
'''June 17, 2007'''
 
Another new glyph seems to have been found in this image here.
[[Image:Possible_glyph.jpg|500px]]
 
 
 
AdjutantReflex posted again at bungie.net, this time with a quote from "''Macbeth''" and telling us it is being attacked somehow. And once more stating it would only be able to deflect assault for 22 hours, giving us a deadline around 10:06 AM PDT on June 18, 2007.
 
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11359444 - AdjutantReflex's fourth bungie.net thread, titled "Stop it."
 
 
 
'''June 18, 2007'''
 
AdjutantReflex posted on bungie.net again (it's fifth thread, titled "That Old Life"), telling that someone stronger than him was going to defeat him (the details were unclear as to whether this meant destroy or corrupt, or some other method). In the last sentence of the same post, AdjutantReflex said "''I will seek one of you out and leave my legacy in a small space.''" Twenty-five minutes later AdjutantReflex replied to the thread saying "''He has had millennia for reflection, but what image does he see?''".
 
 
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11372502 - AdjutantReflex's fifth bungie.net thread, titled "That Old Life"
 
 
 
The countdown on the http://206.16.223.65 website sped up.
 
 
'''June 19, 2007'''
 
AdjutantReflex apparently contacted one of the users on bungie.net via a personal message with the subject "Help Me." The text of the message was "''He's here. With us. I am already defeated. Security is failing. Peril is near. Warn them.''" In proof of the user's claim, the thread he created (same title as the subject of the message) to convey the information was stickied.
 
Shortly thereafter, AdjutantReflex posted on the thread saying,
 
"''The stain on his hands will not wash. That damned spot as old as rock and time. What has he learned in Eon’s slumber? I doubt it’s mercy or sorrow. I am diminished. Outranked.''"
 
The user AdjutantReflex contacted responded by asking what che should do. AdjutantReflex's response, once again in a personal message, stated "''Tell them I am failing. And that he is stronger. Tell them that security cannot be guaranteed. Tell them that there is little time. And that I am crumbling.''"
 
In yet another private message to the user, AdjutantReflex said,
 
"''He was always better than I. More powerful. More intelligent. A better machine. He is not who you think he is. And I do not know his intent.''"
 
Later, AdjutantReflex's avatar on the bungie.net forums changed once more. When a forum was created to point this out, AdjutantReflex posted a short message with the word "''STERILIZING.''" Also, it appears that his posts on the forums are vanishing.
 
 
This is all that has happened so far in the "''Iris''" viral marketing campaign for ''[[Halo 3]]''.
 
==Related Links==
'''Internal'''
*[[Forerunner Email]]
*[[Halo 3: The Cradle of Life]]
*[[Society of the Ancients]]
'''External'''
*http://www.bungie.net/Account/Profile.aspx?memberID=2437447 - AdjutantReflex's profile page on www.bunige.net
*http://halo.wikibruce.com/Home
*[http://www.bungie.net/fanclub/118020/Group/GroupHome.aspx CompoundIntelligence] - the largest group dedicated to discussing the AdjutantReflex incidents
*[http://args.bungie.org/ Discussion forum] - hosted by [[Halo.Bungie.Org]]
*[http://bungie.wikia.com/wiki/AdjutantReflex Bungiepedia's detailed history of the AdjutantReflex events]
*http://www.halo3.com/
*http://www.halo3.com/comic/
*http://206.16.223.65/ (countdown webpage)
*http://206.16.223.63/ (SOTA webpage)

Latest revision as of 12:46, April 12, 2023

"Look for the signs, keepers of the flame. They will lead you to war, and perhaps, to victory."
— Iris Email
Iris Glyph.

Iris was a Halo 3 viral marketing and public relations campaign; more specifically, an ARG or Alternate Reality Game designed to give people more information on how the great conflict behind the Halo franchise began, and the climactic conclusion.

Overview[edit]

A part of Halo 3's marketing campaign, Iris was an alternate reality game, which involved cross-media interactions and player participation. It was designed to give people more information on how the great conflict behind the Halo franchise all began, as it builds up to the climactic conclusion of the series on September 25, 2007, the release date of Halo 3.

It began on June 11, 2007, with the mysterious AI Adjutant Reflex posting on the Bungie.net forums, and officially ended on August 23, 2007, with short communications from the Adjutant Reflex account on Bungie.net till September 18, 2007.

Episodes[edit]

Iris had five episodes during the campaign period,[Note 1] and a short post-episode epilogue that connected to Halo 3's Terminal narrative. Each episode was bookended by the Bounce Path Control and a Server that expanded the theme of the episode.

Episode 1 - The Unknown Helper[edit]

Main article: The Unknown Helper

Beginning on June 11, 2007, the first episode began with the mystery of Adjutant Reflex and several mystery events on Earth, with Adjutant warning something was coming, and that it could not stop it. Due to the mysterious events, this caught the attention of the Society of the Ancients (SOTA) a conspiracy group dedicated to the many unexplained. There was also the discovery of the Cradle of Life comic, a parallel path to the SOTA one that lead people to the first server. During those events Adjutant Reflex was then taken over by the entity it warned the community about leading to a mystery of what that entity wanted to tell us. Before the first server was unlocked the mysterious entity spoke giving people "keys" to unlock the server. The first server detailed the firing of the Halo Array, and a log that gave the hope that someone would hear the warning.

Episode 2 - Flood Control[edit]

Main article: Flood Control

The second episode of Iris began with mysterious postings on several job listing sites and MSN, leading to the discovery that a group named Flood Containment Control was hiding data about something on several kiosks behind a "false menu item". The information on these kiosks lead to the discovery of a report named "Report 206" which assisted people in finding the second server. The second server detailed the Flood, revealing information about the initial thoughts the Forerunners had about them.

Episode 3 - Echoes Through Time[edit]

Main article: Echoes Through Time

The third episode quickly began with a piece of audio from the second server that revealed an image. MSN released Iris-themed items, that featured imagery that looked like the image revealed from the second server's audio. When the audio was played on a hidden screen on Halo3.com, an animation played leading people to the third server. The third server detailed the problems the Forerunners faced while trying to deal with the Flood, while also giving a direct message from the mysterious entity.

Episode 4 - The Great Connection[edit]

Main article: The Great Connection

The fourth episode began with a strange equation from the third server, and a strange poem was posted onto Halo3.com by a mysterious entity called "When We Two Parted". This poem was modified to read "CASTAWAYTHEORYVOLMAN" which lead users to find a book named The Castaway Theory with the equation matching the one from the third server. In the book's forums, a close friend of the author indicated that the author went missing a while back, and over the next several days the friend indicated the author had returned and had given a way for people to talk to him. This led the author to link to the fourth server. The fourth server went over the Conservation Measure and pondered the mystery of the Flood's origins.

Episode 5 - The Artifact[edit]

Main article: The Artifact (Iris)

The fifth episode began with people putting together star images from all of the servers, revealing the phrase "The Artifact Location". This led people to a website that directed them to locations in New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles. At those locations, the final server link was revealed. The fifth server detailed the mystery of Earth, how Humans may answer the Forerunners' own mysteries, and revealed the identity of the mysterious entity who hijacked Adjutant Reflex as "MB05032" and that they will be waiting on the Ark.

Epilogue[edit]

Main article: Iris Epilogue

On September 13 to 18, "MB05032", still hijacking Adjutant Reflex, communicated with people, prepping them for Halo 3's release by having it countdown to the minute, and having it leave the Adjutant Reflex body as it was too small to contain itself.

Credits[edit]

Iris was written by Frank O'Connor, with help from community manager Brian Jarrard and artist Aaron LeMay.[1]

AKQA was involved with the project also, dealing with the Flash elements of the ARG.[2]

Artist Garson Kwan helped created several design elements for the Iris campaign such as the primary symbol used throughout the campaign.[3]

Matthew Law was put in charge of the environments the server sites were housed in and also the videos that accompanied them. The videos were edited with "Final Cut Pro" and tweaked, colored, and effected in "After Effects", with assets that couldn't be bought as stock footage or shot locally being done in "Maya".[4]

Reception[edit]

In 2008, Iris was nominated for a Webby Award.[2]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Iris during its run had no episode structure. On January 14, 2008 AKQA released a post-game overview of the campaign and it was grouped under episodes. We on Halopedia have opted to organize the campaign under this episode structure for ease of organization

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ Eurogamer, MS explains Halo viral campaign (Retrieved on Feb 25, 2021) [archive]
  2. ^ a b winners.webbyawards.com, Halo 3 "Iris" Alternate Reality Game (Retrieved on Feb 25, 2021) [archive]
  3. ^ garsonkwan.com, AKQA: DIGITAL EXPERIENCES (Retrieved on Feb 25, 2021) [archive]
  4. ^ matthewlaw.blogspot.com, Halo 3: Iris (Retrieved on Feb 25, 2021) [archive]

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