[arg_discuss] Talkin' about UF (was: Communities and resources)

[Michael Monello]

Splitting this off to a new thread, as there are so many different  
threads already happening in the original post.

And sorry for the disorganized nature of this post -- most of it was  
actually written while on a conference call.

First, I love UnFiction. I think it is an amazing community and the  
passion they exhibit, the way they self organize, is wonderful.  
Everyone I've been in direct communication from UF has been  
incredibly smart, open, and genuinely enjoyable people. I'd like to  
eventually work with most of them on projects as they have brilliant  
ideas.

But, I'm going to talk about UF the community, not the individuals --  
the large mass of audience, and the particular "hive mind" that  
powers UF, recognizing that many in the community don't always (or  
even ever) agree with that "hive mind." Nevertheless, UF most  
definitely has a community personality, and just as we might have  
trouble stepping outside our families to view them with an objective  
eye, I will argue that active members of UF or those who identify  
themselves as members will also have trouble stepping out from behind  
that self-identification to see what others can see (i.e. newbies).

And I will argue that PM's see another side of the community hidden  
from themselves and newbies. It's "Rashômon."

What I find problematic with UF is the idea that they represent a  
community of people who simply love "ARGs." Some of them do, of  
course, and all of them like to play ARG's, obviously, but I think we  
are already seeing where the UF community's tastes lie and they do  
have certain tastes within the great big world of ARGs.

Has anyone ever come across a community of people who simply claim  
they just "love music?" Of course not -- you have communities for  
people who are indie rockers, jazz fans, classical hounds, metal  
heads, etc.

But because ARGs are essentially a young art form, we have UnFiction,  
which stakes it's claim to simply loving ARGs. And in general they  
do, but when they try to define an ARG, they tend to define it in  
relation only to their own tastes and experiences.

Where that becomes an issue for the ARG community at large is when  
those outside the ARG community look at UF and imagine it speaks for  
all ARG's rather than say a specific style of ARG. What happens is  
the UF community's tastes become scene as the dominant form.

If all you knew about music was from reading Pitchforkmedia, well  
then you would know an awful lot about a very broad range of music  
that can all be fit within one basic genre -- indie rock. You would  
no nothing of classical, jazz, country, etc.

Now, ARGs are obviously a much younger art form, which makes the UF  
influence that much stronger (and thus worthy of looking at from all  
angles).

The community at Unfiction was borne out of The Beast, so it's  
natural that the majority of the community would gravitate to that  
style of game. In fact, if you look at the community's idea of the  
history of ARG's they would even define the beginning as stemming  
from "The Beast" not because it was the first, but because it was  
THEIR first ARG.

The reality is that [EGO ALERT  ;) ] Blair Witch Project had all the  
elements we commonly refer to as an ARG, but because the phrase  
wasn't coined at the time, and the UF community didn't form out of  
the BW community, it is called into question. Here is some of what BW  
had when it was live:

1. Fractured interactive narrative with a central mystery for the  
audience to work through, presented in what we now call an ARG format.
2. "Real time" presentation of the story online, which changed and  
grew based on audience reactions and responses.
3. Hidden journal pages, "Heather's Journal" that players  
collaborated to find and piece together, revealing more of the story.
4 A massively huge community that built out the world and took the  
story in directions we never anticipated.

I would say the difference between Blair Witch and AotH is that BW  
took place on a much larger scale, and so the game element FELT like  
it was in the background because it was overshadowed by the book, the  
comics, the tv special, all the hype, and of course the film itself.

But here is an even bigger difference -- the community that  
surrounded BW (which is world-wide, still active and still quite  
large), probably would not identify themselves as "gamers" even  
though they actively and passionately played the game.

And there lies the potential direction for the future of ARGs, in my  
opinion -- there are much larger audiences to create for and play to  
than Unfiction, but it will require designers looking at the projects  
way outside what the UF community prefers or even wants. It requires  
designers to actively decide to engage an audience that's not  
necessarily already formed, with its own set of tastes.

If I want to play Jazz, I'm not going to go on a tour of punk rock  
clubs and play to those audiences, but I'm going to try and find  
where my audience is and go get them to listen. When I want to play  
punk rock, I'm going to go to the punk clubs.

The danger is in trying to play jazz that appeals to the punk rockers  
-- more than likely you will create something unsatisfying for both  
audiences.

Best,

Mike
__________
haxan | films | http://www.haxan.com