1 / 29

The Beast

The Beast. 2001, A.I. Movie poster:. What is an ARG?. An immersive storytelling experience Multimedia: Blogs, youtube , forums, phone calls, text messages, audio, GPS, IM, games-within-games, puzzles, discussions, twitter, facebook , apps, collaboration, meetups , text, secret ops…

neena
Download Presentation

The Beast

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. The Beast • 2001, A.I. Movie poster:

  2. What is an ARG? • An immersive storytelling experience • Multimedia: • Blogs, youtube, forums, phone calls, text messages, audio, GPS, IM, games-within-games, puzzles, discussions, twitter, facebook, apps, collaboration, meetups, text, secret ops… • The real world is the publishing medium • Collaborative • “No one knows everything, everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity” • Pierre Levy, Collective Intelligence

  3. Why this kind of game? “All my game career I’ve been looking for ways to make game stories more immersive, and a key way to do this is to reduce the number or the height of the leaps of abstraction between the player and the story. By leaps of abstraction I mean “things you have to do different because it’s a game.” Using a controller is an abstractive leap, using button combos is another, and so on. Each leap makes the game less immersive and leaves potential players behind as a result. So when I came to Alternate Reality Games in late 2004, it was like coming home. There’s no controller, no avatar, nothing between you and the game. So I just knew I had to start working in that area.” -Ken Eklund

  4. Example: I Love Bees • 2004, promoted Halo 2

  5. Example: The Dark Knight • 2008, http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/02/26/viral-recap-the-dark-knights-why-so-serious-campaign/

  6. Vocabulary • “Rabbit Hole”: The method of an ARG’s launch • “Puppet Master” (PM): A person running an ARG • “This is not a game”: Many ARGs don’t explicitly admit they are games.

  7. Tiers of play Source: http://42entertainment.com/see.html

  8. Real-world crossover

  9. Anatomy of a puzzle • Mysterious audio file:

  10. One spectrograph later…

  11. Anatomy of a live event

  12. Synchronous vs. Asychronous • Players can come together • Players can collaborate apart OR

  13. ‘Viral’ vs. ‘Experience’ vs. ‘Game’ • Same tools used in all three • ‘Viral’ is often a one-time event or production • ‘Experience’ is a trail of puzzles & interactions, linear, repeatable • ‘Game’ is more collaborative, longer term

  14. Why participate? • Swag! • Recognition • Immersion • ‘Wow’ factor • Interesting stories

  15. Community

  16. ARGfest: http://2011.argfestocon.com/

  17. Serious Game: Year Zero • 2007, Nine Inch Nails • Civil Resistance

  18. Serious Game: World Without Oil • 2007, non-promotional • http://worldwithoutoil.org/ • Asychronous, collaborative, explicitly educational • Worked on a limited budget • Lesson plans: http://worldwithoutoil.org/metateachers.htm

  19. Serious game: Skeleton Chase • IU Bloomington, Fall 2008 • Structured around physical fitness

  20. Serious Game: Ghosts of a Chance • Smithsonian, 2008 • www.GhostsofaChance.com • Final report: http://ghostsofachance.com/GhostsofaChance_Report2.pdf

  21. Serious Game:Should Brandon and Nicole get Engaged? • UNC, 2010 • moviestar2b.blogspot.com/ • http://www.youtube.com/user/ShBANGE • More info: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1878335.1878376&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=15009796&CFTOKEN=80479239

  22. Serious Game:Urgent Evoke • Online, 2010 • http://www.urgentevoke.com • Repeatable! • Story?

  23. Experience Vs. Story

  24. Tangential Learning • Expose a player to new ideas and potential for learning, without forcing it on them • (source: http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/the-power-tangential-learning ) • ARGs can take it even further: learn new skills along the way

  25. So you want to play an ARG… • Brief Experience: • www.Love-Resurrected.com • Community: • Unforums: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/ • www.ARGN.com

  26. So you want to make an ARG... • Allow far more time than you think • Complete everything in advance • Target a core audience to start • Structure around the tiers of play • Story is key • Monitor your community of players

More Related