alternate reality games

A LT E R N AT E R E A L I T Y G A M E S

J O U N I S M E D – U N I V E R S I T Y O F T U R K U

P L E A S E , F O L L O W M E …

I N T R I G U E D ?

A LT E R N AT E R E A L I T Y G A M E ( A R G )

• interactive narrative which uses the real world as a platform

• utilizes often different media and game elements

• intensive player participation

• the story happens in real time

• can change according to the players’ ideas and choices

• game designers create characters that can be controlled by a human or an AI

T H E P L AY E R S

• interact with the game characters

• solve challenges and puzzles related to the plot

• work often as a community to analyse the story and to co-ordinate events in the real world and in the net

A R G T E R M I N O L O G Y

• puppetmaster(s)

• the curtain

• rabbithole

• trailhead

T I N A G A E S T H E T I C S

• “This is not a game” – TINAG

• the game does not behave as a game

• anything in the game really works (e.g. email addresses or phone numbers)

• the players are not provided with an over-designed game environment or a strict set of rules

D I F F E R E N C E S T O O T H E R G A M E F O R M S

• computer games: ARG can reside outside of computers and does not require any game-specific software

• RPGs and LARP: the players do not assume any role but are themselves

• MMOGs: no avatars nor specific software required

• viral marketing: does not hide real products but implicates indirectly its fictitious nature

H I S T O R I C A L E X A M P L E S A N D I N S P I R AT I O N S I N L I T E R AT U R E

‣ G. K. Chesterton: “The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown”, 1905

‣ John Fowles: The Magus, 1966 (revised edition 1977)

‣ Thomas Pyncheon: The Crying of Lot 49, 1966

‣ Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson: The Illuminatus! Trilogy, 1975

‣ Samuel R. Delany: Triton, 1976

H I S T O R I C A L E X A M P L E S A N D I N S P I R AT I O N S I N O T H E R M E D I A• movies

‣ The Game, 1997

• urban legends

‣ “Paul is dead” (The Beatles)

• conspiracy theories

• others

‣ Pink Floyd: Publius Enigma

E A R LY E X A M P L E S O F A R G S

• 1996: Dreadnot: a web game by the San Francisco Chronicle

• 1997: Starlight Travel: a web site promoting Douglas Adams’ computer game Starship Titanic

• 1999: the marketing of The Blair Witch Project

• 1999–2005: Nokia Game

T H E B E A S T & M A J E S T I C

• Majestic

‣ produced by Electronic Arts and EA Online

‣ development began 1999; launch 31.7.2001; discontinued 30.4.2002

• The Beast

‣ produced by Microsoft

‣ connected to the Steven Spielberg movie A.I.

‣ lasted 12 weeks in the spring/summer 2001

T H E B E A S T

• a murder mystery

• comprised hundreds of web pages, e-mails, faxes, fake commercials and voice mails

• gathered over 3 million active participants

• the players formed Cloudmakers community to collect and co-ordinate the solution efforts

T H E T R A I L H E A D

T H E R A B B I T H O L E

• Jeanine Salla is a character in the ARG taking place in 2142 (in the world of the A.I. movie)

• the players could find Jeanine's biography at the website of a fictional university and personal sites of some of her family members and friends

• from the material the players could find Jeanine’s phone number and email address

• contacting Jeanine returns a message revealing that her friend Evan Chan has died in a boating accident aboard an AI-enhanced vessel

• the players also found evidence that Evan was actually murdered

T H E G A M E

• featured characters like anti-robot activists, rogue AI trackers and robot sympathizers

• game development happened at the same time as the players explored it

• the developers incorporated many of the players’ actions into the plot

• in the climax, players were invited to Anti-Robot Militia rallies in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles

• online players co-operated by solving special puzzles (e.g., keywords being shouted by rally leaders or an email address found on a bathroom mirror)

• at the end, news broke of the passing of legislation that recognized the civil rights of robots

I L O V E B E E S

• developed by 42 Entertainment (the creators of The Beast)

• July–December 2004

• promoted the Halo 2 video game

• trailhead: Video

• rabbithole: http://www.ilovebees.com/

I L O V E B E E S ( C O N T ’ D )

• 5½ hour radio drama divided into one minute segments that were being sent to public pay phones

• the players had to answer the phone in the right place at the right time

• the drama was reconstructed from the segments by the player community

O T H E R A R G S

• The Art of Heist (2005)

• Last Call Poker (2005)

• World Without Oil (2007)

• Why So Serious (2007)

• Year Zero (2007)

• Traces of Hope (2008)

D E C O N S T R U C T E D N A R R AT I V E

• begin with a story with interesting characters and setup

• decompose the story into pieces

• analyse the pieces and create evidence that would exists had the story happened

• hide the evidence into puzzles

• when the players find a piece and share it with the community, the community reconstructs the story

A R G O R H O A X ?

• in-content clues (e.g. takes place in a fictive world or has unrealistic claims)

• around-content clues (e.g. rabbithole through a fictive world, registrations, disclaimers)

T H E S T R U C T U R E O F A R G S

• exposition

• interaction

• challenges

S E A N S T E W A R T: T H R E E I N T E R A C T I O N S T R AT E G I E S

• how the players can affect the narrative

‣ power without control: give the players the control over the narrative only in specific situations; give up the power but not the control

‣ voodoo: let the player to create “raw material” where you create the story components

‣ jazz: build in enough empty spaces and leave yourself enough time and resources to go towards the players

N O W, W H AT E V E R H A P P E N E D T O A R G S ?

• the reality-TV trap: each new production must outdo its predecessors?

• not a mass entertainment: more successful as a subculture?

• elitism: ARGs are getting beyond the skills of average players (cf. Cicada 3301)?

• funding: too costly to create a globally spread game?

• monetization: players willing to pay or to crowdsource for the ARG?

• lack of developers: “traditional” game genres are more interesting (and lucrative)?