[arg_discuss] Accounting for Player Disruption?

[Mark Heggen]

*** clarification ***

Jane McGonigal didn't really say anything like "Meanwhile, we will be over
here playing this really great Big Mac ad. Your call." in a press release
for her latest project. I just meant to imply that through the very act of
issuing a press release explaining who was involved in the project she
communicated something along those lines. Also, there are plenty of other
examples of being straight-forward at the same time as maintaining a tight
fiction. Her example is just a new one that came to mind.


_Mark Heggen








On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 8:45 PM, Mark Heggen <markheggen at gmail.com> wrote:


> Ivan_

>

> Interesting question and you are wise to be cautious about coming down

> with an iron first, or conversely letting bozos run wild over your story.

>

> One thing to keep in mind: essentially no one actually plays these things

> without realizing what they are. Players are almost always totally aware (on

> some level) that the conversation they are having with a kidnapper is really

> a promo for a new candy bar or whatever. At the end of the day, this

> awareness that Fox is paying for your game isn't going to run it for a vast

> majority of the kind of people who will be playing along anyways. So while

> you don't want a lot of obnoxious spam (of any sort) mucking up your boards,

> I would say that spam explaining the business plan of the game is actually

> far less damaging than we tend to imagine.

>

> I can think of three reasons that players aren't all that bothered by

> "this isn't real guys, its just for Pepsi" talk. First; that is how most

> ARGs have worked. Players would actually be much more surprised and stunned

> if they never heard that kind of meta discussion going on. People just don't

> feel so shocked at being "used" or "duped" by this type of advertising any

> more, particularly in the ARG world.

>

> Second; people are amazingly good at enjoying a story without getting

> bogged down in the metafictional consequences. Our brains are just good at

> that. When Zack from Saved By the Bell freezes time and talks directly to us

> about his classmates, we don't get confused. Seconds after the jerk in your

> game tells everyone that they are playing a game made by Fox, almost all

> those people will have no problem immediately returning back into the

> fictional world of your plot.

>

> Third: it is actually quite comforting to know on some level that you are

> taking part in a controlled fictional experience. That way you don't have to

> actually call the police when a character goes missing or witnesses a crime.

> It is fun to get creepy cryptic emails from strangers when you actually know

> that this is all a game. It is far less enjoyable to get creepy emails from

> genuine strangers.

>

> I guess that some small percentage of players would actually be upset by a

> reminder that they are being feed advertisements, but a huge majority of

> people (especially the people who will likely be playing your game) don't

> really care. They are just there for the free content. All this is assuming

> that your client is a typical brand that people are familiar and somewhat

> comfortable with. I guess if Blackwater USA or the Earth Liberation Front is

> paying for your game, things get more complicated.

>

> In closing, maybe look to Jane McGonigal's latest project for guidance?

> She is working with McDonald's (a brand that plenty of people dislike or at

> least make jokes about) but after some initial mystery she just came right

> out with a press release and said something to the effect of; I am making a

> game with McDonald's and the Olympics. If you play, you will be taking part

> in a Big Mac ad. If that is a problem then sorry. Meanwhile, we will be over

> here playing this really great Big Mac ad. Your call.

>

> Well handled if you ask me.

>

>

> _Mark Heggen

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 7:41 PM, <libfli at aol.com> wrote:

>

> > hey Ivan,

> >

> >

> >

> > it has been my experience that players (or audience) usually handle this

> > very well by themselves.  players usually reign in anyone who tramples down

> > this path.  i recently created a storyworld and forum to promote a film.

> >  when it was announced to the press that this was for a promotion the

> > character's blog as well as the forum had many "this is fake" & "this is for

> > Fox" messages.  the character i created ignored some of the more obnoxious

> > postings.. but there were a few posts that she did address.  she was able to

> > address these questions directly because she was created to be a part of the

> > audience.  she too questioned what was going on... so, for this project, it

> > was solved by design.   the audience did a great job coming to the aid of

> > this character they were so fond of.. it was like someone was messing with a

> > friend.  in another game i had a stalker.  this stalker was madly infatuated

> > with my evil character and sent hundreds and hundreds of emails and phone

> > messages telling him he knew he was a fake character but still wanted to

> > talk with him or meet him.  my evil character scoffed at the idea that he

> > was "a fake"...  because the characters in our alternate realities really

> > don't know that they exist only within a work of fiction.  hope that helps.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > best

> >

> > Jan

> >

> >

> >

> > -----Original Message-----

> > From: Ivan Askwith <iaskwith at MIT.EDU>

> > To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG <arg_discuss at igda.org>

> > Sent: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 4:06 pm

> > Subject: [arg_discuss] Accounting for Player Disruption?

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > I was wondering if anyone, either from experience or untested theories,

> > might have advice on how PMs can handle or be prepared for disruptive

> > participants.

> >

> >

> > Has anyone found particularly good ways of dealing with players (or

> > trolls) who post comments on in-game blogs or forums with comments like

> > "THIS IS JUST A GAME," or "THIS IS A PROMOTION FOR X"?

> >

> >

> > It seems like a behavior that it's important to be respectful of -- or

> > rather, that it could be dangerous to censor -- but you also don't want

> > those sorts of comments destroying interest in the game for players who are

> > trying to play along.

> >

> >

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