[arg_discuss] What's the G stand for?

[John Evans]

>The use of the term "game" in ARG also implies there needs to be some kind

>of puzzle to solve. Doesn't it? Or is the word "game" meant imply

>interaction between the players and designers?


I would say the latter. I think it would be cool if there was an ARG
featuring just character interaction instead of puzzles. That would skew it
more towards roleplaying than current ARGs are. (Would that make it not an
ARG? I keep thinking of the story that I Love Bees "didn't have puzzles
until the fans demanded them"...)

In a way it's like the distinction between deductive and inductive
storytelling...(Which I got from "Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga", which
actually has some interesting ideas despite (?) being merciless satire.)
Usually in a mystery story, for example, something happened "before" and
then most of the book is spent figuring out what it was...deductive.
But other stories are concerned with what's *going* to happen; the action
in the "present" of the story, inductive storytelling. So you could skew
an ARG toward inductive storytelling if the action that happened during
the game *really* depended on interaction with the players.

(Of course, it's probably been done before and I just haven't thought of
an example off the top of my head. ;P )

So my ultimate point, obvious though it is, is that for it to be a "game"
there has to be interaction between players and PMs. ;)

--John
"What was the A again?"
"Let's move on."