This Is Not a Game with Marc Fennell cover art

This Is Not a Game with Marc Fennell

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This Is Not a Game with Marc Fennell

By: Marc Fennell
Narrated by: Marc Fennell
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About this listen

This Is Not a Game is the extraordinary untold story of the internet’s first conspiracy theory, the legend of Ong’s Hat.

Marc Fennell will dive deep into a previously unexplored world of tech hippies, eccentric web subcultures and simmering paranoia, uncovering how this tongue-in-cheek artistic experiment backfired on its creator and went on to influence much of what’s wrong with the internet today.

Hosted and co-produced by Marc Fennell

A BBC Studios production for Audible

©2024 Marc Fennell (P)2024 BBC Studios Productions Ltd. Best of 2024 History History & Culture Media Studies Social Sciences

This is like nothing you've ever heard before...

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About the Creator and Performer

Marc Fennell is a Walkley Award-winning journalist, presenter, and documentary maker. A seven-time medalist at the New York Festivals TV and Radio Awards, Marc has been nominated twice for Europe’s prestigious Rose d’Or. He is a recipient of America’s coveted James Beard Foundation Award, an Asian Creative Academy National Award, and Webby Award Honors. The Times (UK) has called Marc the "cheerful Aussie version of Louis Theroux."
Marc is the creator of the popular, award-winning television series and podcast  Stuff the British Stole  for ABC Australia and CBC Canada. He is also seen each weeknight as the quizmaster of SBS TV’s (Australia) iconic game show Mastermind.
Marc has fronted groundbreaking docs like the Logie & AACTA nominated School That Tried to End Racism (ABC 2021), The Kingdom (SBS 2023), The Mission (SBS 2023), Rose d’Or shortlisted art-heist docuseries Framed (SBS 2021), as well as the hit Audible Original Podcasts It Burns (2019), Nut Jobs (2020), and House of Skulls (2023).
Marc is the dad of two kids and lives in Sydney, Australia.

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This is an amazing tale from the wild frontier of the early days of the internet, told with Fennell’s usual flair. A thoroughly enjoyable listen.

Great story-telling and a wild ride!

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loved this dive into the internet's first crazy conspiracy - a hippie's dream that spiralled out of control - the original qanon it seems -

a must listen!

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I don’t know why but this one made me scared to go to the toilet in the night. Something spooky and eerie about it, even though I know none of the Ong’s Hat stuff was even true!

A fascinating story, very atmospheric and really had me feeling creeped out, a bit sad, curious, optimistic…so many emotions!

The first episode was a bit of a drag, and took me a while to get into it. But after that it picked up rapidly.

Gave me the creeps!

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A great telling of how this particular series of events played a part in shaping the internet as we know it today. Designed for audio, it’s an engaging listen with various interviews used to bring the story to life.

An engaging story.

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Great reflection on how we got where we are with the internet. Good characters and as above, Mark delivers a funny and interesting approach to the story.

Great narrative as with all Mark Fennell series.

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Interesting cautionary tale. Very well researched, produced and narrated. Makes you wonder what rabbit hole AI could take us down.

Great listen.

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I’m really enjoying the originated content from Australian names. Marc Fennell does a great job pulling this together.

Good fun beautifully crafted

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This is an unexpected blast!
Start weird and slow but holy mackerel hang on for the ride !

Trippy as magic shrooms

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He’s done it again. Another interesting internet story from Marc, I’ll happily listen to another 20 stories like this

Marc never misses

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interesting history of the early intent and BBS's etc. insight into early internet conspiracy theories

when a good idea goes bad

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