[arg_discuss] Personal Influences/Antecedents

[Brooke Thompson]

I'm going to throw out a couple embarrassing answers, which isn't to say
that I don't have non-embarrassing ones, but I'll bite the bullet and admit
to these while I think of what those non-embarrassing ones might be...


Soap Operas
Say what you will about them, they do an amazing job of bringing together
complex and absurd storylines. And, of course, the have to balance the
regular viewers, the viewers that are watching while distracted, and the
people who tune in only once a week or once a month. The writing may not be
the best, the stories might be repetitive, the acting can be rough, and the
production values aren't the greatest - but they pull this off every day. 

I'm a pretty big fan of Dark Shadows and find the telenovela format
fascinating. ARG storytelling follows a similar path - a primary storyline
told over the course of a couple months with a couple subplots woven in. 

I still think that this is a huge untapped audience for ARGs. The viewers
love to talk about and dissect complex character relationships. They really
seem to enjoy bouncing back and forth between story immersion and discussing
the story and the implications it has for all involved. I think back to Spot
and wonder what it would have become if it used a format more akin to ARGs.



Reality Shows
Ok, not most reality shows, but the long running game based shows such as
Survivor which is really the only one that I watch - so I'm not sure my
thoughts hold true with others, but they may. I realize they are not reality
in that they are heavily edited, but that's where the joy is in them for me.
Why did the producers choose the players that they did? What relationships
did they hope would form? What changes do they make in the game design and
what impact does that have on the game? What challenges do they choose and
where are they placed within the season? There's really quite a bit going on
there that I find interesting to watch.