[arg_discuss] TOW: almost 8 years after the Beast, which is your favourite ARG and why?

[Brooke Thompson]

On Jan 13, 2009, at 4:00 PM, Mike Monello wrote:

> Blair Witch was an interactive transmedia narrative, it had a  

> massive world-wide community (that is still very much active today  

> on fansites around the world since 1998, but (correct me if I am  

> wrong), the term ARG was really coined to describe the specific  

> mixture of puzzles, gameplay, and narrative that made the Beast  

> experience different from BWP, so I understand where Adam was coming  

> from.


I suppose my issue (which isn't with Adam or even the question) is  
that there has been resistance to coming up with a definition to the  
term and, without a definition, how can we say that something is an  
ARG, let alone look at early examples or talk about what may have  
inspired those examples.

I understand that we don't want to lock an ARG into being a certain  
something in order to avoid stifling creativity, but the result is  
that now a pillow fight in a park or character blog for a television  
show are as much of an ARG as the Beast was. And, if a flash mob a  
park is an ARG, then why wouldn't Hands Across America would be one.  
And, if a character blog is an ARG, than Blair Witch most definitely  
was.

"I can't define it, but I'll know it when I see it" isn't working and  
we wind up with presentations on how to pitch your experience as a  
story game because, well, it's a story and a game and that leaves you  
wind open to creating anything you want! It could be the next flash  
mob or MMORPG, but goshdarnit, it's an ARG!

As this is a Special Interest Group on Alternate Reality Games that  
is, apparently, filled with people that are experts on the genre and  
even we can't come to an understanding of what an ARG is, how can we  
meet the aims of the group which, I think, include promoting ARGs and  
sharing our knowledge about them.

My other issue is that I really hate this issue but I keep banging my  
head against it anyway.