Main Points

Today in class we discussed ARG (Alternative Reality Games). ARG's are used most often to help advertise a product, such as the release of a new film or album. The creators of the ARG release a number of clues, such as hidden url's or flash drives for the public to find and decipher. Unlike most detective games, these clues get deciphered on forums and message boards where thousands of people can analyze them. The creators keep a close eye on forums to see exactly how the public is doing, and when it is time to release a new clue.

ARG's differ in most other forms of gaming or interactive literature thorugh the use of the real world as a platform in addition to the use of other more traditional forms of eletronic media. Consequently, the 'playing' of ARG's often includes aspects in the real world such as the finding of tangible objects in hidden locations in tandem with the use of email or communication on messages boards. ARG's are highly multi-medial and often require the use of obscure mediums in order to uncover more clues (i.e. the use of a spectographic analysis on a found piece of information). Also, ARGs are non-linear; there is no real set-in-stone plot, and often things can become unhinged (hence, why the game developers need to stay in the thick of things).

Because of the scope of the games, no one person can solve them. They require the presumably infinite skill set of a global community which in turn may indicate that no puzzle is too hard to solve. Gamers communicate and interact with each other in order to solve problems and discover new clues that may have been uncovered in other parts of the world. Furthermore, gamers do not just interact with each other but also with the designers. A designer must remain intune to the progress of the players in order to fix problems or efficiently pace the placement/timing of new clues.This is different than other forms of media such as hypertext, in which there is no collaboration between creator and viewer. ARG's, by design, require the collaborative interface between the two realms in order for the game to flow properly.

ARGs are also often scrutinized because of the question:  but can you win? Despite the name, ARGs are not something that can be won; it's not like monopoly where one person reigns over the gameboard. Instead, there is a system of mini-rewards throughout the process of playing the game.

Passages

All quotes are from the WIRED article "Secret Websites, Coded Messages: The New World of Immersive Games" by Frank Rose.

"During the development of that first ARG, Weisman argued that no puzzle would be too hard, no clue too obscure, because with so many people collaborating online, the players would have access to every conceivable skill set. Where he erred was in not following that idea to its logical conclusion. "Not only do they have every skill on the planet," he says, "they have unlimited resources, unlimited time, and unlimited money. Not only can they solve anything, they can solve anything instantly."

This passage explains why ARG's are possible and why they can be so complex. With such a large number of players, the creators can make the game as difficult as they can imagine. 

"Reznor was stepping into a new kind of interactive fiction. These narratives unfold in fragments, in all sorts of media, from Web sites to phone calls to live events, and the audience pieces together the story from shards of information. The task is too complicated for any one person, but the Web enables a collective intelligence to emerge to assemble the pieces, solve the mysteries, and in the process, tell and retell the story online. The narrative is shaped - and ultimately owned - by the audience in ways that other forms of storytelling cannot match."

This passage shows that ARGs are a new form of storytelling. The key words here are interactive fiction. The stories are told in many different mediums, such as the internet, phones, puzzles, and actual events. This gives the story an endless amount of sources to draw from while keeping the interest of the players by being so interactive. The players also have the power to decipher the clues as they wish and in turn, this allows them to take the story to different directions. As the game is being played, the makers have to shape the stories through the different interactions of the players. The makers have to see how the players react and they also have to see if the players are on the right track. As the article states, other forms of storytelling cannot come close to the features of the ARGs becuase the players determine the next step and the next chapter of the story.

"But when the cricket sounds were run through a spectrograph, they yielded a series of blips that gradually resolved into a phone number in Cleveland, Ohio. People who dialed this number (and some 1.7 million did) heard a horrific recording from a mysterious organization called US Wiretap: a young woman on her cell phone at an underground nightclub, with shrieking and gunshots in the background, screaming hysterically that someone had come into the club and killed her friend and that the cops had locked everybody inside and she was going to die."

This segment of the article (including the sound file of the recording) are representative of the sorts of clues ARG players can find with a little online communication and snooping around. The fact that one individual managed to decipher the cricket chirping with a spectograph demonstrates how individuals need to collaborate and make use of their individual skill sets in order to solve the puzzle.

Terms

ARG: Alternate Reality Game

Massively Multiplayer Fiction (MMF): a story, immense in scale, that is a collaboartive and interactive effort between reader(s) (or players) and author(s) (or designers) in order to uncover and further the story itself. In some ways, the process may be more interesting than the actual narrative or end product.  

TINAG: This Is Not A Game: indicates a game that transcends the reality fabrication of other games by immersing the player with items and scenarios that are a part of the real world. Consequently, game and reality become blurred. For example, phone numbers can actually be dialed or videos may show telecasts of an actual event. May be similarly connected to the blurring of reality within Voodoo Cyberspace and Dark Dreams from The Hacker and the Ants. 

Ubiquitous Gaming: similar to TINAG in which one is not sure whether you are playing the game not. For example, the flash drive you found in the library could be another clue or it could be the property of someone who genuinely lost it.

Rabbithole: the entry or starting point into the alternate reality of the game. Can often be hard to find.

Viral Marketing: a marketing strategy that encourages email recipients to pass along messages to others in order to generate added exposure. (courtesy of independency.wordpress.com/reklamas-vardnica/)

Links

Year Zero Case Study: A comprehensive synopsis of the Year Zero ARG done by 42 Entertainment. Click on the links at the bottom to learn more about the game.

ilovebees: an ARG used to promote Halo 2.

Perplex City: a failed attempt at an ARG. In a communitive gaming effort With only one winner, who wants to be a part of that?

Alternate Reality Gaming Network: A great news source for those in the ARG-circuit. It has updates, links, and other information for ARG fanatics.

ARGology: A website dedicated to ARGs. Includes a FAQ, a definition of an ARG:

Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) tell stories through narrative elements that are distributed across various platforms. These game variables are carefully concealed from players until appropriate moments determined by the game designer(s). Game play involves players working collaboratively through email, phone/sms contact, real-time interactions and extensive online engagement. Players generally react to narrative cues that are projected across numerous forms of media. These include media technologies that are not traditionally associated with games that, unlike ARGs, rely on a single platform for communication (eg console games). In doing so, ARGs make players step outside the restrictions of mono-genre game boundaries.

Instead of requiring the player to enter a fictional game world, ARG designers attempt to enmesh the game within the fabric of the player’s real world by harnessing as many media technologies and interfaces as possible. By doing so, ARGs expand the frame for the game beyond the computer monitor or television screen, effectively making the entire world the “game board.”

and other materials for aspiring ARGers.

'This is Not a Game': Immersive Aesthetics and Collective Play: An article written by Jane McGonigal. Primarily, this article talks about the development of the social network via online/collective gaming.