Alternate Reality Games

What do you think about alternate reality games? I think it would be really fun to become involved in one, but I would like to know a little more about them. For instance, how intrusive can they become in a person’s life? I would rather play when I choose to play instead of recieving phone calls or anything like that.

For instance, in the April 2006 Computer Gaming World magazine there is an article about Perplex City www.perplexcity.com with a link to www.recedaresorts.com and a clue add to www.cognivia.com/testing. I also found links to http://www.perplexcityacademygames.com and http://www.perplexcityacademy.com/. I cannot help but feel that I would not have much of a chance in winning since I’d be joining rather late – not to mention it seems a lot of it is in Europe, where I am not.

However, I do feel it would be a lot of fun to go on such a crazy journey. What are any of your thoughts on this?

— Edit —
Call me slow, but I just realized that www.ilovebees.com was part of an alternate reality game! I always thought it was just some strange site with weird stuff.