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

[Christy Dena]

Yes, it is a great thread and I've been keen to jump in but been snowed
under as usual. 

The issue for me is twofold:

1) The no-longer appropriate bundling of marketing and non-art. There are
great projects that are commissioned for marketing purposes but which are
IMHO great works of art. But that is a greater cultural issue that is deeply
embedded within many parts of society. Something I am consciously working to
alter in my writing.

2) The lack of information about ARGs as a unique design. I'm not wording
this well...but what I mean is. There really isn't that much information,
beyond the major marketing experiments, for media to refer to. There is
information within the community, but little for those outside to reference.
As has been spoken about before, what is needed is a concerted effort to
raise awareness of ARGs. 

Here are a couple of ideas:

1) A fund to help raise the awareness of ARGs. This fund could raise
awareness in a few ways, here are a couple of ideas:

a) I've mentioned this on the list before: an ARG Award. The (annual?) award
would recognize great moments in ARGs -- irrespective of whether they
happened in marketing campaigns or in independent or even edu or govt ARGs.
Awards that would recognize great puzzles; and/or, great community moments;
best rabbit-hole; best innovation...whatever! I think if the community
values its successes then this can spill over into other parts of society.

b) Videos (or something) that explain an ARG after it is has been created.
We all know an issue with ARGs is that they are mostly real-time and
fragmented across media. Videos that describe the design, experience and
impact (?) is a good way for people to get a sense of what happened and how
they work. Companies are able to fund such exercises -- McKinney-Silver's
video is interesting (http://www.mckinney.com/A3_H3ist/), so is
CampfireNYC's various case-study videos they put on their website
(http://campfirenyc.com/category/case-studies/) and 42 Entertainment has
some videos as well (http://www.42entertainment.com/bees.html). Obviously
they can afford to put together such videos, but if there was a joint fund
that independents could draw on to create a video, that could be good. 

The raising awareness fund could be created by whoever wants to contribute
to it. There are plenty of projects that are funded by community
contributions (eg: Swarm of Angels, Four-Eyed Monsters etc) using paypal and
other systems.

I don't know what would work. I suspect though that greater awareness and
understanding could stem from such initiatives...

Thoughts?

Best,
Christy

-----Original Message-----
From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org] On
Behalf Of Dan Hon
Sent: Friday, 21 December 2007 11:17
To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG
Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] is ARG just a marketing technique to the press?

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

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