[arg_discuss] is ARG just a marketing technique to the press?

[Dan Hon]

This is a fascinating thread - I just wish I had the time to dive into  
it. Fortunately, it's holidays soon, which means that when I'm  
avoiding family obligations I'll be able to get stuck in :)

For now, I'll throw this in:

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_args


--
* Please ask before forwarding this email.
Dan Hon, CEO, Six to Start
{dan at sixtostart.com and +44 7870 600 828}




On 19 Dec 2007, at 12:16, Brian Clark wrote:


> One part of me thinks it would be ridiculously fun to play the  

> "angry indie"

> to Monello's "corporate suit". Mike normally hogs the "angry indie"  

> role (he

> wears his "I made the Blair Witch Project and all I got was this lousy

> t-shirt!" t-shirt to ad agency meetings) and leaves me playing the  

> suit! Did

> you know that Google has over 360,000 matches on the phrase "theory  

> slut"? I

> just know Monello and I are in there somewhere.

>

> Getting into why the statistics of ARGs are fuzzy beasts is almost a  

> derail.

> Let's just say with a phrase like "story participants" you are at a  

> number

> somewhere between "how many people clicked a banner bar and came to  

> one of

> the sites" and "active players". If you wanted to be particularly  

> cruel

> instead of particularly kind, I think we had fewer than 2000 people  

> posting

> in the in-game forums. If you wanted to be even crueler, you could  

> say that

> 7 whole people looked at the rich media production for the "last  

> layer of

> Virgil King of Code" -- I shudder to think of the production cost  

> per viewer

> of that page, even though it was the grand reward of a long and  

> frustrating

> puzzle. That's only 2 more people than came to West Virginia for a  

> day-long

> event in the wilderness on Eldritch Errors: I'm not sure which was  

> actually

> more expensive on paper (but I suspect the Heist example.)

>

> The big numbers, though, that's just advertising, has nothing to do  

> with a

> small game or a large game. Has nothing to do with the press  

> tendency to use

> a phrase like "movies and cars" in a slightly-negative fashion, when  

> the

> body of work would just as easily allow you to make "marketing  

> television

> shows and video games" as the label of the cliché. That might have  

> something

> to do with level of overall marketing, not the success of the ARG at  

> all.

> Maybe it is a collective memory of past marketing abuses by those  

> particular

> categories?

>

> I guess I'm just willing to accept that when a potential client or

> collaborator says "we want an ARG" it is kinda like them saying "and  

> we want

> it be VIRAL" or "and we want a WEBSITE TOO!" It is more important to  

> know

> what THEY mean when they are saying that, rather than what you as a

> practitioner know it means. Frequently, those same ad agencies hire

> filmmakers to shoot television commercials, sometimes television  

> commercial

> directors harbor secret dreams of making feature films! You'd be  

> surprised

> at the challenge of language in reaching shared goals. The ad agency  

> on

> Heist used to say, "So this is what it is like to make a film." Mike  

> and I

> thought, "No, this is what it is like to make an ARG for an ad  

> agency."

>

> So who's the one that really controls the definition? If you buy  

> reader

> response theory, it is the player community who controls that. If  

> you buy

> the auteur proposition, it is the artist's intent that controls  

> that. If you

> buy marketplace economics, it is the demands of the marketplace that  

> define

> that. If you buy into peer review, it is academic papers that define  

> that.

> If you buy into dialectics, it is the discussions happening like this.

>

> Right now, it looks to me like the press and bloggers with mixed  

> feelings

> about the genre might be the ones defining it. That means it is just a

> matter of time until someone realizes that if they can just get the  

> press to

> interview them enough, they could reshape the definition to whatever  

> they

> want. Call it the Seth Godin Scenario (bless his bald brilliant book- 

> writing

> heart.) Or maybe it will be someone who isn't as smart as Seth.

>

> Tragedy of the Commons incoming?

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org 

> ] On

> Behalf Of Michael Monello

> Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 11:56 PM

> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] is ARG just a marketing technique to the  

> press?

>

> Very true, Mark, but you don't even need to make the point from a

> reach argument. If you look at the history of 'ARGs' as they are

> commonly defined, you could argue that the genre started as a

> marketing tool, and it's the filthy artists and indies who have tried

> to strip away its capitalist origins!

>

> ;)

>

> Best,

>

> Michael Monello

> Partner, Campfire

> 62 White Street, 3W

> New York, NY 10013

> 212-612-9600

> http://www.campfirenyc.com

>

>

>

> On Dec 18, 2007, at 4:19 PM, Mark Heggen wrote:

>

>> (a great discussion all around, nice kick-off Brian)

>>

>>

>> It seems a little strange to me that we would be upset that someone  

>> is

>> spreading the notion that ARGs primarily advertise cars and movies,

>> when in

>> fact ARGs are (by a staggering margin) being used to advertise cars

>> and

>> movies. If one takes a step back and really looks at the numbers of

>> how many

>> people are actually playing these things, the games that aren't

>> promoting

>> products become a tiny little slice of the pie.

>>

>> Looking at Christy Dena's numbers (

>> http://www.christydena.com/online-essays/arg-stats/) (thanks yet

>> again for

>> compiling those!) it become apparent that the big games are big

>> while the

>> small games are very very small:

>>

>>

>> Art of the Heist had 2 million visitors and 500,000 story  

>> participants

>> The Beast had 2.5 million players

>>

>> vs.

>>

>> MeiGeist had something like 16,000 total visitors to the main site

>> World Without Oil had 1,850 players

>>

>>

>> And it should be noted that MeiGeist and WWO were pretty big for  

>> small

>> games. The total number of people who actually played other games

>> like The

>> Human Pet or Deus City (just for example) are very very very small.

>> The "car

>> and movie" games are measuring in the millions while most grassroots

>> games

>> are measuring in the hundreds. This is no trivial difference. In the

>> end,

>> when looking at the total amount of people who have played an ARG,

>> most of

>> the smaller games become almost statistically insignificant.

>>

>> Now of course this is not meant to be a knock on small grassroots

>> games! I

>> repeat; I'm not saying that small games are without merit or somehow

>> not

>> worth discussion. I am absolutely interested in looking at all kinds

>> of

>> games at all different sizes

> (http://markheggen.com/heggen_noncasual_ARG.pdf

>> )

>> and for me there is something particularly interesting and exciting

>> (noble

>> even) about people investing great deals of time and energy in the

>> crafting

>> of experiences for a very small audience. However, I am saying that  

>> we

>> should not be upset or surprised when mainstream writers talking to

>> mainstream audiences focus on those aspects of ARGs that are

>> statistically

>> dominant. A large majority of all the experience with ARGs on the

>> planet

>> have had something to do with selling a car or promoting a product,

>> and that

>> is a fact.

>>

>> _mark heggen

>> _______________________________________________

>> ARG_Discuss mailing list

>> ARG_Discuss at igda.org

>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss

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