[arg_discuss] ARGs as scams?

[despain at quantumcontent.com]

Last week I had the chance to go to a lecture by a college prof on the
subject of the Da Vinci Code and conspiracy theories. It turned into an
interesting group discussion. I hadn't thought of it before, but I think
the book Da Vinci Code is really an ARG - with the author standing by his
fiction-as-reality.

What do you guys think? A lot is made about the prologue of his book
starting out with an itemized list of things labeled as FACT. That's
exactly the kind of think I do at the beginning of the creation of an ARG.
I make a list of facts that are true in this alternate reality I'm
building. Usually one or more (like fact: aliens publicly came to earth
three years ago) would be obvious to the casual observer as a part of some
alternate/fictional reality.

The professor was essentially concerned that too many people can't tell
the difference between reality reality and alternate reality. She teaches
a class each year where she lists Da Vinci Code as a work of fiction and
she says a substantial number of her students are shocked to discover it's
not real. She also referred to ARGs as "scams."

Then today I ran across this, which has been in the news a little bit:
http://www.qwantz.com/posterchild/

Mario Bros. blocks on a city street as terrorist threat - are ARGs
inherently sinister? Does mixing realities together invite backlash from
people who haven't opted in? We're intentionally crossing that line of
fact vs. fiction. Do we need to be more careful about that, in order to
grow the art form?

Wendy Despain
quantumcontent.com