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

[Brian Clark]

I was hoping there might be more discussion on this thread Monello started
before I poked in on it (since I tend to be pretty damn close to Monello in
perspective) ... but here goes :)

>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.

To some extent, but there is still some subtle range in there. For example,
I know there were some Unfiction regulars that didn't play Stove because
they don't like characters to be too accessible -- a personal taste, but not
one that I've seen anyone extend to "this is not an ARG" type arguments. But
I agree with you that there are narrower limits on that range of taste than
I have. 

>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.

Others have commented on this, but it bears repeating. The UF community
seems to appreciate when games bring in new audience rather than relying
upon UF as the audience, but at the same time those new audiences are a
"strain" on the community of UF. Whatever the relationship of UF, it doesn't
seem to override the community that forms around game (or project) to game,
it overlaps with it ... somewhat.

>It requires designers to actively decide to engage an audience
>that's not necessarily already formed, with its own set of tastes.

Maybe that's another way to approach the problem ... maybe "ARG" as a term
isn't the equivalent of "Music" or even the equivalent of "Rock" but is more
the equivalent of "Punk Rock"?

ARG is to Punk Rock
As X is to Rock
As Y is to Music

What might the terms for X and Y look like?