To the surprise of some (but not many), it was revealed that the Simeon Hobbes alternate reality game, which began May 15 on Twitter, has been confirmed to be unofficial by the very creators of the game themselves.In a blog post posted a few hours ago, the "character" of Elliott Graves stated that "in response to the recent news that this ARG is unofficial, I will confirm it." It is unknown who exactly is behind Graves, but whomever it is thankfully came out into the open, saying that they "felt the need to address it in light of the recent controversy and hijack attempts, because I don’t like the word “hoax.”
Of course, there is no harm in continuing to follow the unofficial ARG, which the creator has stated that they will continue, regardless of the loss of many followers. Honorably, the creator also stated that "in order to distance ourselves the controversy, and leave the way open for a possible official ARG revelation at Comic-Con, please refrain from using the #lostarg hashtag on Twitter. #simeonhobbes will do, in order to prevent any confusion."
While I must admit I am disappointed that the ARG is not official, I must applaud the creator for coming out into the open about it all. I'm sure all the players of The Lost Experience remember the strange annoyance that was BigSpaceShip1, one of the largest hoaxes the Lost community has seen. Thankfully, this ARG (which the creator is calling WISH?, an acronym for "Who is Simeon Hobbes?") did not become another one of these.
While Lostpedia will no longer report on this ARG, we welcome you to continue playing it to tide you over this long break until the beginning of the sixth and final season (or at least Comic-Con). However, don't feel like there's nothing to do; Lostpedia and friends have something very special coming soon for all of you.
