[arg_discuss] Social Interaction in ARGs

[Brian Clark]

Markus, I love the clarity of:

"an ordinary self, a pretended self and a consciousness of their
differences"

That actually seems to be a unifying concept across these other competing
definitions: the arguments are about how far the pretend self has to be from
the ordinary self to count as roleplaying.

Christy, though, I want to go back to one of the definitions you offered:

"creating a novel persona for your character that fits in the context of the
game world and interacting with others through that persona"

I'd argue that "novel" is a pretty high bar to set to qualify. "For your
character" suggests a certain level of roleplaying is already happening,
doesn't it -- because the MMPORG mechanic subtly encourages that by
producing a digital proxy. It also leaves itself fuzzy with the "interacting
with others" because MMPORGs historically can separate human-to-human
interaction into "player/player" with everything else "player/environment".
ARGs don't have such an easy shortcut.

If you took Yee's definition and reworked it, it sounds like Markus'
statement from Lillard:

"creating a persona for yourself that fits in the context of the game world
and interacting with others through that persona"

This to me seems axiomatic, at least in the player-centered definition of
what is an ARG. That's what underscores that Unfiction is an OOG space:
because the rest of the world becomes "the game world". I'd go so far to
argue that if people weren't at least subtly "creating personas" to
"interact with others" it wouldn't be the Internet, which has a culture of
anonymous voyeurism that ARGing (like other community dynamics) actually
manages to overcome in amazing ways.

The lack of roleplaying is the emergent behavior from the interaction of the
system, not the roleplaying.

-----Original Message-----
From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org] On
Behalf Of Markus Montola
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 3:13 AM
To: arg_discuss at igda.org
Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] Social Interaction in ARGs

It all depends on how you define role-play. A good definition of  
pretend play (iirc by Lillard) assumes an ordinary self, a pretended  
self and a consciousness of their differences. So if you don't know  
she is a character, you can't pretend. Of course this is not always  
simple; especially if young children play.

Usually.

Our research project (IPerG) ran a few games using a lot of pervasive  
role-play, where players were explicitly asked to treat everyone as  
part of the play. Thus, they were role-playing in their everyday  
interactions with bus drivers and clerks -- and incidentally some of  
these folks (like a real nurse working in a real hospital) turned out  
to be involved with game content.

As a result we ended up with lots and lots of gray areas between play  
and not play, often involving pretence, role-play et cetera.

We have published quite a lot on role-play, pervasive play and the  
social expansion to the ordinary world. I'm more than happy to provide  
links if anyone's interested.


Best,

  - Markus Montola -- writing a PhD. on pervasive role-play

    University of Tampere Hypermedialab
    Mobile: +358 44 544 2445


> I'm with you, Mike. I think as soon as a player treats a character as

> real, which they know (or suspect) to be a fictional construct of some

> kind, that puts them in the realm of roleplay. They're placing their

> own persona into the game.

>

> Also, I don't think there's really any difference between a person

> playing an Orc (or Shakespeare) and themselves. The vast majority of

> players are not skilled enough to behave in any manner other than

> their own, if that makes sense. And this isn't bashing the player's

> skill levels - it's an observation of how rare real acting talent is.

> So even though the Orc mask may give them permission to loosen up and

> not worry so much about what other people might think - they're still

> essentially being themselves.

>

> But I'll provide the same caveat as Mike as well. I'm no academic. So

> I may just be missing the point.

>

> Wendy

>

>

> On Mon, June 23, 2008 7:53 am, Mike Monello wrote:

>> I am the furthest thing from an academic you can get, but it seems to

>> me that when a player knowingly interacts with a fictional character

>> they have crossed the threshold into role-playing. Whether they send

>> an email or

>> go on a mission or more involved experience, they have made that jump

>> into the game space, even if the character they've chosen is a close

>> version of themselves. I don't recognize a difference between someone

>> playing a character exactly like themselves in a known fiction and

>> someone playing an Orc or any other fantastical creature - both are

>> operating within the safety and knowledge of a fictional framework

>> that allows them to make choices and play in a way that real life

>> absolutely would not.

>>

>> Either that or I've totally missed what y'all smart folks are talkin'

>> about!  :)

>>

>> ---

>> Mike Monello

>> Partner, Campfire

>> http://www.campfirenyc.com

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>> Am 23.06.2008 um 04:50 schrieb Christy Dena:

>>

>>> Cool. ARGs really are about performance in so many ways.

>>>

>>> But that still isn't the aspect of roleplay I was talking about. I'm

>>> after a definition that indicates how much the 'performance' of the

>>> player differs from their everyday self. There must be a continuum

>>> or

>>> something that shows the difference between a player performing an

>>> Orc

>>> or Shakespeare on the one end and being themselves but doing

>>> something

>>> they have never done before on the other (and all that is in

>>> between).

>>> [I don't have any of my books with me and am on short periods of

>>> dial-up and so can't research this myself right now.] Hmm, perhaps I

>>> shouldn't of put the draft up just yet after all. :\

>>>

>>> Anyway, I think ARG players are usually called on to do more on the

>>> 'other' end of the spectrum. But, I may be entirely wrong and so

>>> would

>>> love to know more. Jan sent me a great example of roleplaying in her

>>> ARG. I'd love to see others.

>>>

>>> John Evans has actually moved all of the content into the ARGology

>>> wiki. So, please, feel free to hack and add at will!:

>>>

>>> http://www.argology.org/wiki/index.php?title=Social_Interaction

>>>

>>> A start may be to add a quote from Jane's essay in the roleplay

>>> section!

>>>

>>

>>

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>>

>

>

> Wendy Despain

> quantumcontent.com

>

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