[arg_discuss] Open Source ARGs

[John Evans]

So, at ARGFest, Dave Szulborski delivered a rather moving keynote
speech. I can't do it justice, but apparently there's going to be
video available sometime, or at least a DVD...so, patience!

I want to focus on one particular thing he mentioned. First, he
talked about getting his "start" in ARGing with Majestic. (By the
way, any inaccuracies are solely the result of my own fallible
memory...) He talked about making a couple of sites that explored
some of the more esoteric parts of the Majestic continuity, almost
like fan fiction about some of the characters. "Nowadays we might
call that 'gamejacking'," he said. But apparently EA welcomed the
fans' interest and recognized several of the sites, including his.
(I'm not clear on what that recognition entailed, I suspect it
was just "Look at these cool things our fans have done".)

And then Dave advanced the idea of "open source ARGs" where other
creators were free to contribute their own ideas to the "official"
continuity. I found this very intriguing because the same idea has
occurred to me. Wouldn't it be interesting if some hints or story
elements in one ARG led to another? What if there was a sort of
larger alternate reality that had these elements in common? For
example, an "in-character" news site where you could have results
from the Gotham City election alongside bulletins from Perplex
City? Or, what if a hacked file on a Metacortechs server had the
random filename "BadWolf"? (That's a Doctor Who reference. ;) )

Now, obviously there are some caveats. This kind of open sourcing
wouldn't work for all ARGs, and there's no reason it has to. I'm
just thinking it could be an interesting *option* for people
looking for new storytelling innovations. Especially indie types
who are just getting started. (Of course, it could also turn out
to be a crutch, which would be bad...) So, I have two questions.
First, is this actually a good idea that we should be thinking
about? And second, how can someone best implement it? Maybe a
site for PMs where they can give each other cryptic hints: "A
man in a dark hat and coat is asking about an arrogant middle-
aged man with the power to manipulate minds; when asked why, or
details about himself, he replies only 'Disclosing that
information is inadvisable'". So, in this case, you can have
your character write a blog post about her scary encounter with
a freaky MiB looking for a middle-aged psychic. I think there's
some really cool potential here.

And here's some further reading just to get your brains going:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Everywhere

--
John Evans
Chaoseed Software - http://chaoseed.com