[arg_discuss] The Dead Legacy piece (was Re: we are obsolete (RE: Copycatwarningoveralternative reality games)

[Brian Clark]

Mike, this was such a fascinating post that I needed a few days to ruminate
on it. I want to assault the thought from two different directions, one
theoretical and one practical.

At the Crossover retreat in 2002, the most challenging notion I encountered
was the gulf between performance and documentary. There were many artists
there that view many of the "dead media" as "mere documentation" ... they
wave their hand and declare it irrelevant to the conversation of art. In
that view, what the actors do on the set is art, but what the cameraman does
to capture it on film is "mere documentation". This wasn't a viewpoint I
liked to hear, as it seemed to marginalize much of what I find fascinating.

Conversely, in my life as a recording engineer making albums, that was
exactly the viewpoint I had: my job wasn't to "fix it in post" or to "sample
replace those drums" -- it was to "capture a performance". My view in that
world was "if the trap set sounds good in the room, it will sound good on
tape, so let's start tuning those drum heads, bucko!" In that viewpoint, if
I did my job right, my involvement was transparent ... you would feel like
you were sitting in the room with the band witnessing a single performance
(even if it was cobbled together through elaborate multi-tracking and flying
punch ins.)


>From that vantage point, Mike, MOST of the media elements of "Blair Witch"

are "mere documentation" -- an attempt to put us in the woods with the
performers where the real "art" took place. Those things that aren't "mere
documentation" might be described as "mere marketing of mere documentation"
(for example, the Blair Witch theme park ride in Japan, natch.)

Which brings us to what we're trying to do with Eldritch: the art, the
performance, is something that happens with the audience. They are the ones
in the woods making the art, and my goal is to document that process. For
me, that means starting to think about the "live ARG" as collaborative
authoring through performance. Like a concert or a stage performance, the
best I'll ever accomplish is "mere documentation" of that transient moment
of collaborative artistic creation.

At its most ambitious, that will look like graphic novels staring the
players (rather than my characters) ... and graphic novels are a nice bridge
to other forms of media (for example, a graphic novel isn't very different
from storyboards for a movie.) So all of that "mere documentation" is, in
essence, "based on actual events" -- those actual events just aren't
"natural" events. 

So I'm not sure I would describe it as a goal to create legacy pieces: the
better metaphor might be that when players of Eldritch do something, I'm
constantly thinking about how that might be conveyed in a graphic novel, or
how that might look in a television show. The Eldritch experience is the
art, and the art exists to fuel the "mere documentation" of those
experiences.

Sorry to dive so deep into the conceptual well on that one, as I totally get
the "crossmedia perspective" that you're using to describe Blair. For me, it
is a little different though. People who encounter later layers of Eldritch
won't be experiencing what the participants of Eldritch experienced, anymore
than watching a video of a rock concert is the same thing as going to that
same show.


Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org] On
Behalf Of Mike Monello
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2008 4:21 PM
To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG
Subject: [arg_discuss] The Dead Legacy piece (was Re: we are obsolete (RE:
Copycatwarningoveralternative reality games)

This brings up an interesting thread - has there been any example of an ARG
that has left behind a "dead" piece of media that works completely on it's
own, with no knowledge of the activity that produced it or any need for
nostalgia to carry it through?

Most ARGs leave bits and pieces that have been assembled on websites or
blogs, but I find all of those truly unsatisfactory as a stand alone
experience.

Blair Witch wasn't an ARG, but as a cross media experience each of the
pieces was designed to work individually as well as fit within the larger
whole. The movie, TV documentary, book, comics, PC games etc. all functioned
on their own terms individually but combined to tell a larger story. The
website, which was truly interactive (not just in a push the button click
the link way) was also it's own experience but helped thread the whole thing
together. At the end of the day, there isn't really even a legacy piece on
Blair Witch that captured everything, although I do have an amazing notebook
stuffed full of fan-created content, stories, artwork, etc. that, if
published might be an interesting attempt at one.

I haven't read it, but I imagine Cathy's Book works on it's own terms
outside the ARG experience, but that was the starting point and not a legacy
piece.

Brian, is Eldritch working towards a legacy piece that stands outside the
experience?

Best,

Mike


On 10/9/08 8:26 PM, "Will Emigh" <will at studiocypher.com> wrote:

We always called them Multiplayer Novels for a similar reason.  It's a
participatory process (multiplayer) that produces something "dead" (novel).

Of course, that has its own problems, not least of which is an
unpronounceable acronym.

-- Will

On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 3:09 PM, Brian Clark <bclark at gmdstudios.com> wrote:


> Now we're getting somewhere, Gupfee. I take back everything I said about

> agreeing with Monello, he's completely wrong.

>

> We don't care about the painting at all. That's what makes us difference.

> We

> do care about the act of painting ... the painting is mere documentation.

>

> I can point to the Art of the Heist, but we all agree is a documentation

of

> something else, and this documentation is "dead" rather "living".

>

> The painting and the book are "dead" as well. What are the words we use to

> describing other living processes?

>

> Improv? Open Source? Collaborative?

>

> It is the introduction of time and control into all those dead media that

> makes us difference.

>

> I move we change the name "No Longer Dead Media".

>

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

> problem! Discuss!

>

> Brian

>

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

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

> On

> Behalf Of Gupfee

> Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 3:02 PM

> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] we are obsolete (RE:

> Copycatwarningoveralternative reality games)

>

> On a more serious note, after hanging out w/Lance at DIY Days, I've  been

> thinking of this kind of stuff as "Open Source Media".

>

> Marie

>

> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 2:58 PM, Brian Clark <bclark at gmdstudios.com> wrote:

>

> > Hmm, I kind of like Steve's. I've been thinking about "Shows Hinged in

> > Technology" but others in my office think "Simple Live Ulterior Stories"

> > will close a lot more phat ad contracts!

> >

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

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

> > On

> > Behalf Of Andrea Phillips

> > Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 2:09 PM

> > To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> > Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] we are obsolete (RE: Copycat

> > warningoveralternative reality games)

> >

> > On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 2:04 PM, Steve Peters <scpeters at gmail.com> wrote:

> > > At this point, we've been referring to them as Participatory

> > Entertainment

> > > Experiences...

> > >

> >

> > Wow, and I didn't think we could come up with a worse acronym if we'd

> > tried!

> >

> >

> > --

> > Andrea Phillips

> > http://www.deusexmachinatio.com

> > Words * Culture * Interaction

> > _______________________________________________

> > ARG_Discuss mailing list

> > ARG_Discuss at igda.org

> > http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss

> >

> > _______________________________________________

> > ARG_Discuss mailing list

> > ARG_Discuss at igda.org

> > http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss

> >

> _______________________________________________

> ARG_Discuss mailing list

> ARG_Discuss at igda.org

> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss

>

> _______________________________________________

> ARG_Discuss mailing list

> ARG_Discuss at igda.org

> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss

>

_______________________________________________
ARG_Discuss mailing list
ARG_Discuss at igda.org
http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss



---
Mike Monello
Partner, Campfire
http://www.campfirenyc.com





_______________________________________________
ARG_Discuss mailing list
ARG_Discuss at igda.org
http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss