[arg_discuss] New Topic of the Week Aug. 7: ARG SIG Conference

[Brooke Thompson]

Another thing is what "playing" means in various crowds. At a place  
like ARGFest, which is filled with enthusiasts, "playing" means being  
very actively involved. Yet, if you put those same people into a  
different environment, they may very well claim to have played any  
number of games.

For example, if you had asked me what games I played, I'd laugh, "...  
play games?! I don't play games! Well, I played Last Call Poker, but  
that's it." Yet, I have maintained player resources for several games  
(including a fairly comprehensive guide for Push, NV) and that act  
alone implies that I was fairly deeply involved in playing those games.

Or, more recently, Must Love Robots - among the enthusiast crowd, I  
don't claim to have played it.  I wasn't posting on the forums and  
participating in building the narrative. There is nothing there to  
suggest to those that were actively playing that I was involved at  
all. I was a lurker. And, claiming to be a player in a crowd where  
there are distinctions made between lurkers and players would be an  
exaggeration of my involvement. But among my friends who are outside  
of the enthusiast crowd and don't make such distinctions... "Heck yeah  
I played Must Love Robots! It was easy and great fun and brilliant! I  
followed along on twitter and watched a bunch of the videos. You  
totally missed out!"

So, yeah, those people you talked to... I bet if you asked them on the  
street, you'd get a very different answer.





On Aug 7, 2009, at 2:51 PM, Michelle Senderhauf wrote:


>>

>>

>> Also (and you'll remember this, Andrea) while sitting around Friday  

>> night

>> some of us did an informal poll, asking everyone passing by the  

>> lobby area

>> what ARGs they'd played in the past year.  Most people we asked  

>> hadn't

>> played any (granted this was an unscientific poll).  That seemed to  

>> be a

>> theme, as I kept asking all weekend, and the people at ARGFest had  

>> played

>> ARGs in the past, weren't active anymore, but still knew and hung  

>> out with

>> the unfiction community.  So here was an ARG conference full of  

>> people who

>> didn't play ARGs.  What the heck was going on?  Have they gone on  

>> to making

>> ARGs?  Some yes, mostly no.  They just like the people.

>>

>

> Are you sure you were in the right hotel? ;)

>

> Honestly, before Must Love Robots I don't think I had fully played a  

> game

> last year.  Or maybe I've just forgotten about them (which isn't a  

> good

> thing either).

>

> Michelle

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