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)?