[arg_discuss] ARGs, games or not?

[A Nakama]

> Absolutely. I take a psycho-social approach: all group interaction becomes

> a

> form of gameplay. That's human nature.

>


Here's a good place to throw in my sideways semantic 2c.  If you take a
similar premise (that "reality" in civilized society is based more on social
contract than on physicality), then LARPing is an ARG in a very limited
media.  For some span of time, a group of people decide to act as if some
reality different from the rest of the world's is the "real" one.  The
difference is that all the players are (usually) in the same room, and the
boundaries are a bit more clear.

I just find it useful when designing to consider LARPs and ARGs the same
beast except for scaling.  And I'm a fan of thinking of stories/games as
this abstract field of the same thing with different degrees of agency and
emphasis on storytelling and other more fuzzy elements (ie games make better
stories and vice versa).  Thanks to participatory and fan culture, even a
one-way broadcast movie or a book can take on ARGlike elements with a
creative enough fan at the other end--and this is without getting all
post-moderny.

In other words, so long as we're violating the Standard Model of our
communal social contract, I think of it as an ARG, and try to consider what
tools and scale I need to best make it an interesting and resonant
experience.

~ Adam Nakama



>

> "And second, I for one am interested in exploring more game-like aspects of

> this...medium. Thing."

>

> So is that something different than this other stuff people are talking

> about that aren't using game in their definition?

>

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

> From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org]

> On

> Behalf Of John Evans

> Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 3:59 PM

> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> Subject: [arg_discuss] ARGs, games or not?

>

> >From: Brian Clark <bclark at gmdstudios.com>

> >Next problem ... global economic crisis! Solve as an ARG community crisis

> >problem! Discuss!

>

> So...SuperStruct?

>

> >From: Brian Clark <bclark at gmdstudios.com>

> >So the only consensus we really have is that whatever this, it isn't

> "game",

> >eh? Haven't seen anyone just tag something on game ... like "platformless

> >gaming".

>

> Well, hold on there. Personally, I tend to think of them as games, but

> that might be because of my own interest in all things game-ish.

> There are many definitions of "game" but let me pull one out of my...

> brain: "Player performs an action, action is judged, player receives

> feedback/rewards based on performance." There's also the voluntary/

> magic circle stuff that is very important but not to this discussion.

>

> So, using that definition, any sort of "interaction" could be thought

> of as a "game". If you just have, say, story elements provided over

> different types of media...that's less of a game and more storytelling,

> but if you have people contributing, then it's more game-like.

> Superstruct appears to be quite game-like, with points and "badges"

> awarded for players who contribute.

>

> I have two ultimate points: First, if someone says "game", I think

> that's appropriate. And second, I for one am interested in exploring

> more game-like aspects of this...medium. Thing.

>

> --

> John Evans

> Chaoseed Software - http://chaoseed.com

>

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