[arg_discuss] Loose fish project

[Mark Heggen]

Adrian said:


> Instead, it's become a catch-all term for non-traditional gaming. Look

> at the Chain Factor game for Numb3rs - notwithstanding the tie-in with

> the TV show, I don't think it's used any cross-media stuff (e.g. phone

> calls, real life events) and I don't think it will do in the future.

> And yet it certainly *feels* like an ARG

>

>


All around a lot of excellent thoughts on this thread. Just as
clarification, the Chain Factor game actually does have cross-media arms
outside the television episode. The casual game has locked powers which can
only be unlocked by entering codes that are found in text messages, banner
ads, subway ads, and it looks like possibly television ads (which are
ostensibly unrelated to Numb3rs). In a funny sort of way, it might be the
project that most accurately fits the term "Alternate Reality Game" as it
meets all definitions of a *game* (unlike almost all of what we call "ARGs")
and it exists in a sort of *alternative reality* which contains a murdering
game designer who has hacked into commercial media advertising.

_Mark Heggen







On Nov 14, 2007 7:41 AM, Adrian Hon <adrian at mssv.net> wrote:


> On 13 Nov 2007, at 15:23, Andrea Phillips wrote:

>

> > I'm starting to think (and I can't claim this thought is original)

> > that when people say 'ARG' the meaning they're trying to fumble

> > towards is something like 'natively cross-media content.'

>

>

> I don't think it's even as focused as that; I've seen people calling

> games that exist only on one medium an ARG.

>

> I've never been particularly interested in debating the 'correct'

> definition of an ARG, mainly because I feel that the genie's out of

> the bottle now and people are appropriating it for all sorts of uses.

> It's one thing to talk about it here or in Unfiction, but you should

> see how people use the term in the advertising, broadcasting, casual

> gaming and entertaining industries... it would drive you mad! :)

>

> I wrote something about this on my blog, saying that the term 'ARG',

> in common use, no longer provides much useful information as to what

> sort of game you might be talking about:

> http://mssv.net/2007/11/02/a-game-by-any-other-name/

>

> Instead, it's become a catch-all term for non-traditional gaming. Look

> at the Chain Factor game for Numb3rs - notwithstanding the tie-in with

> the TV show, I don't think it's used any cross-media stuff (e.g. phone

> calls, real life events) and I don't think it will do in the future.

> And yet it certainly *feels* like an ARG.

>

> Then there's Goodcaptain - little to no interaction, so you could

> hardly call it a normal game, but like Andrea says, it feels like an

> ARG.

>

> Adrian

>

> --

> Adrian Hon - mssv.net

> Chief Creative at Six to Start - www.sixtostart.com

> Founder of Let's Change the Game - www.letschangethegame.org

>

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