[arg_discuss] common roadblocks describing ARGs?

[Brian Clark]

So I think what we're looking for is, "what are the kind of questions
evangelists of the genre are confronted with getting others to buy into an
idea." The goal from that would be to develop something that helps answer
those questions, whatever the context of that is (ie, this isn't just about
marketing ARGs.)

The first step, though, is getting people to share those kind of "roadblock"
questions they encounter. A few people responded in the other thread, and
I've tried to break those questions into at least preliminary categories. 

What would you add?


WHAT IS IT, HOW DOES IT WORK
* "Why should I even consider an ARG?"
* "ARG is just a kind of viral marketing, right?"
* "ARGs are a fad. We don't want to be seen as following fads."
* "Does anyone actually get ARGs?"
* "Weren't ARG's cool about 3 years ago - what new ideas do you have?"

MARKETING & ENTERTAINMENT
* "ARGs are great for entertainment projects but I have a product to sell."
* "We don't want to pull a hoax on people, or risk making our audience
angry."
* "How do we ensure that the games direction / narrative is not hijacked by
antagonistic players?"
* "Isnt there a danger of fraud if people mistake the ARG for truth and cant
we be sued for damages if things go wrong?"


MEASUREMENT & RESULTS
* "How proven are ARG's as either effective marketing tools or
entertainment?"
* "So this is just branding with no measurable results?"
* "ARGs cost too much/take too much time for what you get."
* "If ARGs were really successful, it wouldn't be so hard to get real data
about them."
* "What is the proven outlay to success ratio?"

DEMOGRAPHICS
* "I'm not trying to sell my Xs to ARGers!" 
* "We're not interested in the 18-24 year old boys who play ARGs!" 
* "I don't want something too complicated/It has to be mass"
* "ARGs are preaching to the choir. We're trying to reach a broader
audience, not just the people who already know about us."

ROADBLOCKS
* "Other people in this segment aren't using ARGs. We don't have the
time/interest/money to innovate when it comes to marketing."
* "Other people in this segment have used ARGs and it didn't get them
anywhere useful."
* "Those ideas are too out-there. Let's do X (traditional, un-ARGish
thing) and call it an ARG so we look cool without taking any real risk."
* "We were going to do an ARG, but we lost some funding due to the economy
and the folks holding the money bags now want us to focus on the basics."