[arg_discuss] Greetings and a Question

[Christy Dena]

Hello Alex,

I'd be happy to offer some thoughts on the doing an on-campus ARG,
especially since I was about to bring up this topic in the researcher
listserv! 

TRANSPARENCY
Firstly, you say you will concentrate on a physical experience and perhaps
not include a website at all. This I would be way of, if you intend to
employ a strict 'alternate reality' aesthetic if you like. I say this
because of what I've noticed with some campus ARGs run in Australia. While I
wasn't involved in the design and execution of the games, I was one of the
judges for the finale and data and so was able to find out some design
issues. The students recruited players in the real world rather than through
a website. This is perhaps because people take it for granted that ARGs do
recruit players through websites. But, what happened was the characters
walked around running fake protests and getting people to sign up. At no
point did they indicate to people that it was a game. 

Conventional (?!) ARGs have a real world event AFTER people have been
recruited or notified online (tell me if there are examples otherwise). This
makes a big difference because people are able to ascertain to a greater
degree the fictional nature of the game. Now, the cues to the fictional
nature are not usually in the actual call to join, the rabbit holes.
Instead, the cues to fictionality are usually in the sites that announce the
rabbit holes. It is very rare that people stumble on an ARG site and join
that way. Indeed, if they do stumble on them all they have to do is google
the topic and they will find the requisite fiction-identifying information
in the discussion about the ARG.

Now, the uni PMs for the Aust ARGs recruited in the real world and never
indicated to people that this was a work of fiction. It was, therefore, a
deception. Which isn't going to win you over with players and cause
problems. However, if you announce the fictionality in some way, then you'll
be OK. I think, however, that there is something in starting an ARG through
the web and then going to the real world. The real world is more a reward,
an outcome, that is built up to rather than the introduction. Especially
too, because half the work of creating believability happens in the players
heads. And that takes a bit of preparation.

There is some discussion of the ethics of running games in the real world in
this video of Jane McGonigal, Ian Bogost and Mattia Romeo:

Ethics of Big Games
http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=-5246209470965987902&q=Big+Games+
chapter+7

They talk about 'keeping the players safe'; 'respecting public space' and
'transparency' in relation to Cruel 2 Be Kind and "Big Games" in general.
C2BK was well designed in this regard, because the interactions with the
general public were always positive (compliments). 

CONTEXT SPECIFIC PLOT
I've created a few ARG-like events for entertainment industry residentials
and each time we made sure the game was specific to the environment. So, we
always did extensive reconnaissance of the area: checking the geography,
local media, buildings, local gossip, history, local companies & websites,
and found out about the local people and settings. We would then work out a
story, an incident that was plausible to the environment, so it was part of
the landscape, not on top of it. This, of course, adds to the 'realism' of
the experience. 

CONTEXT SPECIFIC MEANING
Another aspect of this, is a personal goal I have when creating these games
for particular environments: I try and figure out what the 'culture' of the
environment is and see if there is something that would benefit them. For
instance, one game was for a training school that had a bit of a hang up
about a bad run of work output. So, we created the idea that the school was
cursed and it was now time to lift it. The aim was to get everyone to come
out of the experience feeling that they had actually affected the future of
the school. I don't know how it is now, but they sure were on a high for a
while.

Hope that helps. 

Regards,
Christy


-----Original Message-----
From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org] On
Behalf Of Alex Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, 17 May 2007 10:29
To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG
Subject: [arg_discuss] Greetings and a Question

Hello all, My name is Alex Jarvis- long time listener, first time Caller. I
am a college student in Connecticut hoping to bring Game Design to my campus
due to the lack of any similar programs on the east coast, specifically the
north east. I have been feverishly interested in ARG's since hearing of them
- The idea of a world-wide mindgame somehow appeals to me :).
Now, on topic; After one extremely revealing event* on my campus, it has
been drawn to my attention that my campus would be ripe to host an ARG-
however, as far as I know, it would be the odd man out, focusing around an
actual physical location rather than world-wide website. Would anyone have
literature, or tips, on how one might go about launching a "Local Alternate
Reality Game" - With, of course, full permission of the administration :).

Danke!
-- 
Alex Jarvis
Ludology Student
http://ludologistjarvi.blogspot.com/

* The event- in our cafeteria hall, which is obsessively noisy, there are
several television screens on the walls. One day, one by one, each buzzed
and went out. The room, always roaring, drew deathly silent for a full 20
minutes. I had to cover my mouth from giggling and began jotting down on my
notebook immediately. The fact that there is a graveyard on campus and we
are considered one of the area's most haunted in the area means that I
really have a juicy field to play on.
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