[arg_discuss] [players] Communities and resources

[Jonathan Waite]

As a response to this, and also to Mike's comments:

ARGN has always been, and continues to be, a news site/ARG network that 
is staffed and maintained by volunteers.  As senior editor, I do try to 
make sure we get stories out on a timely basis -- either I ask the 
writers to investigate a lead, discussion thread or ongoing game, or I 
write the article myself.  Often, the stories we preview come directly 
from game tips that are sent in to us through our contact page.  
Sometimes, the stories we feature come directly from the threads in the 
News & Rumors section of the Unfiction forums.  Rarely do we get a 
'heads-up' insider's view from a creative team or a publicity manager.

As far as the comments from Mike that the site seems to be "written 
purely from a player's perspective" that "puts ARGN behind the curve," I 
think this is a valid and truthful statement to make.  However, take 
into consideration that the writers on the site are, for the most part, 
players first and writers second.  Also, the fact that the writers are 
volunteering their time and energy, and (to the best of my knowledge) 
are not professional journalists means that ARGN, for the time being, 
may always be "behind the curve."  If that means that players are going 
to have to go elsewhere for comprehensive, daily news about Alternate 
Reality Gaming, then that's the way it goes.  I don't see that sort of 
resource out there currently, so I guess ARGN is as good as it gets.   
Is that a bad thing?  Not in my opinion.  I believe (all biases being 
what they are) that we are keeping track of ARG news as best as anyone 
out there can, and have done more than our fair share of 'digging' to 
make sure that all ARGs get their fair shake on the site.  But we are 
certainly not perfect.

This is not to say that we aren't growing, as we have recently brought 
on two additional writers, and our presence at recent events (GDC, SXSW) 
show that we are serious about this sort of reporting.  We can't yet 
support our staff financially (either fully or in part), but we are 
making a meager ad revenue, which in turn, is currently keeping ARGN's 
hosting costs covered.  ARGN is one of the news sources that is indexed 
in Google News, and our articles are often featured in the Google News 
Alerts for ARG-related search terms.  We have been in touch with some of 
the creative teams that will be releasing games this year, and continue 
to do our best to get information out in a way that is opportunistic to 
not only the the Puppetmasters and the existing ARG community, but to 
the world as a whole.  Our writers create texts that are easily 
accessible and to-the-point, and I could not be happier with their 
dedication to the site.

I think as a representative of the site, we would ask the people 
involved on this board the same questions Wendy asked:  Would you let 
someone from ARGN have a sneak peek at your next project?  If so, at 
what point?  Our writers are comfortable (and professional) enough to 
know that all information shared by the ARGN staff about a particular 
game is kept in-house and not released to the public, even if those 
writers are playing the game, or planning to.  I have talked to other 
people involved in this industry about this very same thing (Adrian Hon 
comes to mind) but would love to know how other creators of these games 
feel about sharing information with ARGN.  So, in short, we welcome any 
open, two-way communication any of you want to set up with any of our team.

If this sounded like an advertisement for ARGN, I apologize.  I just 
wanted to address some of the open questions what were present in the 
recent threads, and in particular, respond to Wendy and Mike about their 
comments.  Thanks for your time!

Jonathan Waite
Alternate Reality Gaming Network

From: despain at quantumcontent.com
> Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] [players] Communities and resources
> To: "Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG" <arg_discuss at igda.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<3653.69.144.84.21.1144480533.squirrel at webmail.quantumcontent.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
>
>
> "Michael Monello" <mike at haxan.com> wrote:
>   
>> If ARGN got inside the games and broke stories that were more
>> exclusive (i.e. not observations that any player could make) then I
>> imagine it might become a more critical read to people in the
>> advertising, marketing, and gaming industries.
>>     
>
> So I'll ask. Would you let someone from ARGN have a sneak peek at
> your next project? If so, at what point? Days before launch? After launch,
> while it's still in the early days?
>
> In other industries, it's easy to find out what projects are coming down
> the line. Reporters can go to their press contacts and get the backstage
> access they need. Does the ARG developers community need to start inviting
> people in for sneak peeks?
>
> Wendy Despain
> quantumcontent.com
>
>   
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