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

[Dan Hon]

I was half-way through responding to Brooke's post while this came in  
from Brian, which pretty much says what I wanted to say:

On 13 Jan 2009, at 21:59, Brian Clark wrote:


> Let's be clear, though: the term was coined by Sean Stacey after the  

> fact in

> attempt to describe a genre of experiences that would include The  

> Beast and

> Majestic. That, though, is the way that genre labels tend to come  

> about:

> they tend to be applied by the fans of the work after the fact (in  

> contrast

> to "schools of art" where a definition is come up with between a  

> group of

> artists practicing at the same time.) So as a label, I can only  

> assume it

> was intended to be something broader than "experiences just like the  

> Beast

> or inspired by the Beast" ... otherwise, it is extremely narrow term  

> of art.


 From my point of view, though (and you kind of hint at this below) -  
it doesn't matter anymore, because *to most people* (ie everyone who's  
not on this mailing list), an ARG is what Brian says below:

"a form of viral marketing game promoting a product on the Internet."

and, honestly, best typified by an experience of the kind 42  
Entertainment produces.

So it doesn't matter what we think - everyone else has already decided.

[snip stuff I agree with, particularly the umbrella term that's  
includes real-time performance and collective participation]

Brooke also said:

"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!"

I should probably point out at this point that, with regard to the  
whole "story game" business:

  - we (at Six to Start) don't pitch what we do as "story games";
  - nor do I seriously expect people to go around saying that they  
make "story games"

just that, when it comes down to it, *some* of the things that ARGs[1]  
do, are combine great storytelling with gameplay[2], and that those  
two things (story, gameplay) are things that some ARGs have done  
incredibly well. One of the other things, not mentioned, was/is their  
native multi-platform-ness.

We recently changed our What We Do page at work, and the reason why we  
re-wrote the text was that we increasingly didn't see ourselves as "an  
ARG company", but that was how most people (audience and clients and  
potential partners) saw us and were approaching us. What we saw at the  
same time, though, was that we were increasingly doing things that  
weren't what we've been calling "traditional ARGs". By "traditional  
ARG", I mean:

* a live game, that unfolds over time and isn't replayable
* probably client-led (as opposed to commission-led, and produced by  
an agency-style outfit where there isn't IP retention)
* "content" that's unlockable by solving puzzles
* played by lots of people at the same time, but not necessarily  
distinguishing between individual players

I suspect that the position I'm holding here is incredibly close to  
Brian's - from my point of view, we just want to make cool things.  
Some of them are "ARG-like" *in the eye of the beholder*, but lots of  
them are not. More frequently than not, in fact, because they're not  
the right thing. I really can't stress this enough: the problem that I  
have with what ARG means as a label isn't what people who've been  
around for the last 8 years or so think about it, it's what *new*  
people think about it. And that's Brian's whole "viral marketing"  
point above.

This is the way things work pretty much every other week when an  
agency calls up to brief us:

  - they'd like "an ARG"
  - we say: well, what do you think you want?
  - they say "Well, Year Zero / Dark Knight / ilovebees, please"
  - we say: that doesn't make much sense *in the context of what you  
want to do*
  - we think for a bit, and we come up with something else, in the  
context of: "look, games and play have lots of really interesting  
characteristics that can elicit certain kinds of behaviour, including  
engagement" as well as "oh look, so does good storytelling".
  - sometimes that shifts into service design (much more along the  
line of us designing things that are like Nike+) and sometimes it  
shifts into straight programme support or worldbuilding. Sometimes  
(though not so far) the most appropriate thing might even be a teenage  
amnesiac girl who needs your help on a worldwide treasure hunt.



> Brooke also wrote: " 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."

>

> I think that ship has already sailed, hasn't it? ARG is a fan- 

> generated

> label, so as a creator I don't feel the need to be bound by it or to  

> be

> responsible for defining it. I find myself not even using the term  

> too much,

> because for MOST of the people in the world, it has come to mean "a  

> form of

> viral marketing game promoting a product on the Internet." Not that  

> I think

> that is a particularly good definition, and it is far far afield  

> from what I

> think Sean Stacey was trying to describe. But at this point, it is as

> difficult to change the perception of as "viral marketing" (which I  

> also

> don't believe means what most people think it means ... it has come  

> to mean

> everything from a "tell-a-friend" feature to an ARG.)


See above.

This is how we describe what we do now, and how we've internally  
described what we do for the last year and and a half:

"We invent and build new kinds of entertainment…
…new kinds of entertainment that are designed, from the start, to live  
on multiple platforms.

For us, this has so far included alternate reality games, integrated  
on-and-offline experiences for theme parks, playful storytelling like  
We Tell Stories, or more game-like things, like our forthcoming  
production with Channel 4 (shh! It’s a secret!). Who knows what it  
might involve next, but everything we make reflects our joy in  
entertaining people through play and stories."



> I'm totally post-ARG now :P

>


and I'm with you :)


>

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

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

> ] On

> Behalf Of Brooke Thompson

> Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 4:41 PM

> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] TOW: almost 8 years after the Beast,which  

> is your

> favourite ARG and why?

>

> 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.

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