[arg_discuss] Open Source ARGs

[wendy]

On Fri, 1 Aug 2008, Mark Heggen wrote:

> Wendy, you bring up some excellent points out about the value of even brief

> exposure; when thought of as on-line advertising, ARGs aren't bad: they get

...

> However, when considering ARGs as works of art, games, or narrative

> experiences these brief glimpses of attention from potential audience

> members can't possibly count for much. If someone glances at the cover of


What about all those people (including myself) who buy a book but take 
years to get around to reading it (or never do). Is the book a success 
because everyone's talking about it? Or by how many are sold? I can talk 
about it - and even read it - without ever buying it. I can buy it because 
it has a cool cover, but never read it.

Can I truly appreciate art if I only see copies of famous oil paintings? 
Are these paintings successful or trashy if every college student has a 
poster of that painting on their wall?

I don't disagree with what I thought was your main point - we need to 
lower the barrier to entry so more people can enjoy ARGs. I completely 
agree.

However, I'd rather judge the success of a particular ARG (be it a million 
dollar ad campaign or a grassroots game) on the individual experience, 
rather than the credentials of the creators.

People who play a ton of ARGs may not be great at creating them. (Though 
many are.) As an example, I absolutely adore oil paintings... but I'm 
really no good at creating them myself.

I think the broad concept of ARG is an idea whose time has come. Some 
people are making ARGs without playing previous ones because they didn't 
know anybody else had even had this idea.

Personally, I'm not a fan of giving anybody the credit for "inventing" 
ARGs because multiple people developed ARG-like things over the last 
century. So I think some people are still "inventing" the ARG concept, and 
if the product of their creative kick is a great experience, I don't care 
if they've never heard of Majestic.

On the other hand, it would be great if all ARGs were mind-blowingly good, 
but as Brian pointed out, when it comes to art, there's always a matter of 
taste you can't count on. So I don't know. It can be annoying to see 
people floundering around being terrible at an art form because they 
haven't done their homework, but I don't think it does any long-term 
damage to the art form.

Wendy Despain
quantumcontent.com