DharmaWantsYou.com

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The logo seen at Comic Con.

The website homepage upon passing the test.

Dharmawantsyou.com is a website launched as part of the presumed new Lost alternate reality game running during the hiatus between Seasons 4 and 5. A newsletter email from Octagon Global Recruiting identified the site as a place where volunteers may be assessed for their eligibility to join their project. It has been stated that this will be available for a limited time only, though the specifics are not yet known.

The site opened fully on July 29th, allowing fans to take the online test.

“

From the "What Is This" section of DharmaWantsYou.com: Dharma Wants You is an online experience connected to the ABC TV show LOST. The story follows a fictitious scientific community from LOST, The Dharma Initiative, as it attempts to recruit and assess volunteers for a secret research project. By completing an 'Eligibility Test' and registering on dharmawantsyou.com audience members enroll as volunteer recruits for the Dharma Initiative. Each week audience members will have the opportunity to complete a test that assesses their abilities in a particular skill.

”

Pre-launch

07/18 email

The following email from Octagon Global Recruiting first mentioned and identified DharmaWantsYou.com:

“

ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS DHARMA HEAD OF RECRUITING TO ATTEND LAUNCH Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, is pleased to announce that Dharma's Head of Recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, has confirmed his availability for the launch of our latest recruiting drive at Comic-Con 2008. "My colleagues at Octagon Global Recruiting assure me that Comic-con hosts some of the brightest minds in the country," said Mr. Van Eeghen. "As Head of Recruiting it is my intention to personally assess the very best of this talent in the hope that they may join us." The Dharma Initiative will be conducting eligibility assessments at Booth 3529 at Comic-Con, San Diego between July 24th - 27th. If you are attending Comic-Con and would like to submit your name for a randomly selected drawing to secure one of ten (10) pre-release appointments with one of our recruiting officers, please click here. The volunteer eligibility assessment will be available online from July 28th for a limited time at www.dharmawantsyou.com The Dharma Initiative hopes you will spread the word. Invite your friends to join the team at www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com

”

Comic Con

After taking the aptitude test as part of the Octagon Global Recruiting drive, participants were given an ID card with a code on the back. This can be entered on the Dharmawantsyou.com website to enter "phase 2" of the application process. Flyers given out at Comic Con also reiterated that if you cannot get an appointment in person, applications can be made online from July 28th.

"Coming Soon"

The first set of black dots.

• In the weeks leading up to the site's launch, its homepage displayed only the phrase, "DHARMA WANTS YOU: Coming Soon", with small dots incrementally appearing on a daily basis to form an octagon identical to that which was advertised at Comic Con as the Initiative's new logo.

By July 28th, all the dots had been included, outlining the DHARMA logo.

• This new logo uses a different method to display the same eight trigrams seen in the original one; instead of 3 sets of lines, solid shapes are used. However, the trigrams are not arranged in the same order as in the standard logo: the new one is rotated one quarter-turn clockwise.

Launch

Dharmawantsyou.com launched on July 29th for most time zones, a day later than originally planned.

Upon entry to the site, a short intro is played rhetorically questioning your desire to establish a better tomorrow. Afterwards, the main page presents three options: to register as a new user, to log in as a previously registered used, or to register as a user having been present at Comic Con. There is also a small menu in the top left of the page, displaying three additional links: Home, About Us, and Login. Along the bottom of the page is information regarding ABC and other legal terms.

Launch email

To mark the launch of the site, Hans Van Eeghen sent out a newsletter:

“

THE DHARMA INITIATIVE WANTS YOU! Recruiting Volunteers NOW. Join the Dharma Initiative's latest groundbreaking research project. Visit www.dharmawantsyou.com and complete an 'Eligibility Test'. Our innovative research has brought together some of the brightest minds on the planet. And we'd like you to join us. APPLY TODAY. HELP GUIDE THE WORLD TO A BETTER TOMORROW.

”

The message's webpage source code contained two clues:

• "Banks claw," an anagram which translates to "Black Swan." The Black Swan theory describes a highly random and unpredictable event, the term being derived from the ancient Western conception that 'All swans are white.' In that context, 'black swan' is a metaphor for something that could not exist. Some examples of a Black Swan event include the Internet and the 9/11 attacks.
• A YouTube link to the "Bluetooth Video" from Comic Con, rendered in high-quality. The uploading user is in fact RuckusGuy.

The code of 29.7 e-mail.

Test

Upon test completion.

Participants who first sign up must take a test to determine if they can "pass". (It is likely that all recruits, in fact, pass as part of the ARG.) After the test is completed, the recruit must create and configure an account by entering certain personal information. Once this is done, the new user can then check their own Progress, view the Top 10 Recruits on a Leaderboard, or view their own Profile. Recruitment assessments are said to begin soon.

During the test, the background audio loop contains an Icelandic phrase, spoken repeatedly by a woman. She says: [1]

“

Þeir sem koma að dharmaverkefninu munu þurfa ferðast yfir hafið um langan veg á umtalsverðum hraða. Vinnan mun fela í sér útiveru og líkamlegt athæfi. Þú munt jafnvel einnig geta upplifað [óstöðleika á tímanum á samfylgdinni]. Vonandi ert þú sem og margir sem finnst vinnan mikilvægari en persónulegt öryggi þitt. Those who come to the Dharma Initiative must be transported a long way across the sea at a considerable speed. Work will include being outdoors and physical labour. You may also experience some instability of time along the way. Hopefully you, like many others, feel that your social duty is more important than your personal safety.

”

Questions

Picture associations

The first question.

This image is of Little Red Riding Hood, drawn by Gustave Dore.

An image with Lost connotations.

“

1.Tree with "Surprise" and an arrow on it A.Trap B.Party C.Turn D.Disclosure 2.Strange red picture, looks like blood A.Wound B. Essence C.Candy D.Leech 3.Little Red riding hood A.Vulnerable B.Deceive C.Naive D.Awakening 4.Tree stumps in a barren wasteland A.Evolution B.Devastate C.Opportunity D.Rehabilitate 5.Bones, spinal cord A.Calcify B.Blend C.Seize D.Guitar 6.Weird Carrot (looks like a arm) A.Metamorphose B.Nutrition C.Amputate D.Eat 7.Girl getting sprayed in the face with water A.Sting B.Humid C.Sibling D.Fright 8.Dark Road at night A.Exit B.Enter C.Isolate D.Ambush 9.Teeth Diagram A.Decay B.Grind C.Extract D.Smile 10.Old Capsizing Ship A.Reef B.Rust C.Abandon D.Tide

”

Hypothetical situations

A question about stealing.

Another question with possible Lost connections.

“

11.A spider is biting your arm. You don't kill it. Why? A. It is not poisonous B. You have a prosthetic Arm C. You are Buddhist D.you are paralyzed with fear 12.You just stole a sick childs toy. Why? A.The child was choking on it B.To replace the batteries C.To wind it up D.You are a child too 13.A tortoise is on his back in the sun. You are not helping. Why? A. The tortoise is already dead B. You are herpetophobic (afraid of reptiles) C.The tortoise is locked in a cage D.You are filming a wildlife documentary 14.You are crawling across a stormy beach. Why? A.You're shipwrecked B.You've lost a contact lens C.You are a crab D.You are a soldier on a beach invasion 15.You are running down an unfamiliar street. Why? A.You are in a marathon B.You are in a Spanish Bull run C.You are chasing an icecream truck D.You are on the run from the police 16. You are lying face down on the edge of a cemetary. Why? A.You are sleeping in an adjacent park B.You fainted from grief C.Your body fell out of the hearse D.You suffer from narcolepsy 17.You are sitting on you bed with a sharp knife. Why? A. A burglar is in your house B.You are about to cutoff the tag of a new pair of shorts C.You are eating breakfast in bed D. You are rehearsing a scene from MacBeth

”

Trivia

• Question 13 could be construed to be a reference to Blade Runner. The nature of the hypotheticals mirror that of the Voight-Kampff tests.
• In the registration form, the default date of birth is 17th July, 1978. That is approximately (perhaps exactly) the time the Dharma booth video is supposed to have been made. The default gender is also female, which may reference the woman named "Jennifer" in the DHARMA video.

Unanswered questions

Unanswered questions
Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: DharmaWantsYou.com/Theories

• Why is the default birth date on the registration page July 17th, 1978?
• What is the significance of the background audio phrase having been rendered in Icelandic?

External Link

• 'Dharma wants you' Website