[arg_discuss] A possible way forward?

[varin]

I think a website like this is a good idea. It would be nice to be
able to have some control over the organization of information.  I'd
be willing to help out, just let me know when things get rolling.

oh, but www.IGDAARGSIG.org might be a little hard to remember ;P

Michelle Senderhauf

On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 3:00 AM, Christy Dena
<cdena at cross-mediaentertainment.com> wrote:

> Hey everyone,

>

>

>

>  Just a thought about a possible way forward for the ARG SIG.

>

>

>

>  I, like many others on this list, would love to see ARGs as they are better

>  understood, as well as see ARGs develop in ways unimagined. One of the

>  continuing issues we've all spoken about many times on this list and

>  elsewhere, are public descriptions of ARGs, the wikipedia entry, ARG SIG

>  blog, ARG SIG whitepaper and so on. There has been some criticism (from

>  within and outside of the ARG community) of the whitepaper and wikipedia

>  entry - two high profile sources of information about ARGs.

>

>

>

>  It seems to me that the reason both of these sources fail in some regards is

>  in their inappropriately comprehensive nature. In other words, the

>  whitepaper and wikipedia entry are trying to be too many things. What is

>  great about the whitepaper is that it brings together the various interests

>  and expertise of this ARG SIG. It is in some ways a mission statement for

>  all the possible initiatives the ARG SIG can achieve: descriptions of ARGs,

>  antecedents of ARGs, history of ARGs, types of ARGs, ARG design techniques,

>  economic models, ARGs in education & training, ARG research and so on. We

>  just need to address these separately, in the right place(s).

>

>

>

>  It seems too that the ARG SIG blog and wikipedia have other obstacles too -

>  including lack of control over design and content (the wikipedia entry is

>  riddled with vanity spam). What if we got our own URL, like

>  www.IGDAARGSIG.org or whatever, and created our own quality-controlled

>  portal?

>

>

>

>  I'm thinking of a site that provides descriptions on ARGs for artists,

>  producers and the press; has links to ARG resources & information on design

>  & economic modes as well as a much needed listing of the all the developers

>  working in the area. Examples of related sites on design are IPerG

>  (Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming) website: http://www.iperg.org/ and

>  Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com <http://www.gamasutra.com/>  and what

>  about Play Finland: http://www.playfinland.fi/ as an example of a portal

>  that promotes developers & their games? Also, considering many people have

>  important resources on their own sites, it would beneficial to provide links

>  to sites rather than insisting all info be housed in the one place, and

>  anonymously.

>

>

>

>  Irrespective of whether a new portal is a way forward, another issue is

>  getting initiatives happening. I want to see more articles about design for

>  instance! It seems that asking people to volunteer to do things hasn't

>  worked so well in the past. What about a Driver & Poke model? Yes, I just

>  made that up. People volunteer to be Drivers of certain initiative (and

>  rotate amongst each other so no single person is doing it the whole time).

>  Those Drivers call for volunteers to do things but also directly Poke, or

>  request an article or something from people they feel will provide a helpful

>  contribution?

>

>

>

>  And then information such as the history, design techniques and research

>  into ARGs can be encouraged and find their proper home, and the whitepaper

>  and wiki entry can go back to doing their job.

>

>

>

>  Over to youse all to add ideas, alter ideas or blow raspberries. :-)

>

>

>

>  Best,

>

>  Christy

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>  _______________________________________________

>  ARG_Discuss mailing list

>  ARG_Discuss at igda.org

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

>