[arg_discuss] Topic of the Week July 27: Education

[Ralph Loizzo]

My problem as a writer trying to participate in the creation side of ARGs
stems from the same problem that people have when deciding whether or not to
play a specific ARG.

I wrote a blog article recently regarding the problem of trust with an ARG.
People can ask for recommendations on books to read or movies to see, but
with an ARG, that's difficult to do.

Once an ARG is played, it's done.  And it can't be re-experienced.

So in that case, when someone like myself wants to join in a group designing
an ARG, it's difficult to choose with whom to work.

Companies producing big marketing ARGs aren't going to turn to someone like
me for help with their design, so I end up joining grass roots campaigns,
and hopefully those people end up producing some work, not just discussing
back and forth a cool idea.

So hopefully, after a few years of trials over the next few years, I'll have
some credits under my belt so I can draw on talented people to assist in my
creations.

But it's tough!  It's tough to maintain a healthy spirit and drive when
you're a newbie to any area of others' expertise.  It's exciting to be part
of ARG creation as it's a relatively new genre, so formal training hasn't
truly been "accepted" by the union of ARG developers.  But it's also
difficult since there's no guidelines to follow except ARGs from that can't
be experienced again.

So I've relied alot on forums where people discuss previous ARGs, and books
by David Szulborski.





On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 2:53 PM, Naomi Alderman <naomi.alderman at gmail.com>wrote:


> Thinking more about making games, and playing games. I think it's rather

> like the advice you get as a writer. If you want to be a writer: read a lot

> and write a lot. The reading will influence the writing, of course, but the

> writing will also influence the reading, and that's where the feedback loop

> becomes golden.

>

> When you start writing, you will find that the way you read changes. For

> example, if you're working on a scene and having trouble getting your

> characters out of the room (a surprisingly common problem!) you'll suddenly

> start looking through the books you're reading, searching for ways other

> writers have solved this problem. You start to read not just for the story

> or language but looking at the structure, at the problem-solving, seeing

> how

> the pieces are bolted together.

>

> So I guess, make games and also play games. The making will change the way

> you play. Also, where possible re-play (I realise this is often difficult

> with ARGs). But if you can, take a game you loved and play it through

> again;

> you'll start to see how you were gently nudged into particular decisions,

> or

> notice where the logic didn't quite make sense but you were distracted by a

> particularly seductive piece of handwaving.

>

> Re-playing, re-watching, re-reading have been a particularly good school

> for

> me. I once had an almost zenlike experience of truly grokking narrative

> structure after I watched a great episode of Buffy several times in a row.

>

> - Naomi

>

>

>

>

> On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 8:42 PM, Brooke Thompson <brooke at giantmice.com

> >wrote:

>

> > For better or worse, those already exist.

> >

> > The thing is, I got a heck of a lot more out of my very much unfocused

> (or

> > so I thought at the time) undergraduate wanderings than I did my actual

> > focused work in grad school - which is kinda why I left school and went

> back

> > to the actual making of things. It was insanely stupid to be paying

> > thousands of dollars to not get actual experience when what is the most

> > helpful in this field is actual experience. (though I can now use big

> words

> > and sound smart if I want to - which is a fun skill to have)

> >

> > I mean we can throw down the seminal (and not so seminal) texts in game

> > design, film, theater, production, computer science, sociology, art,

> > history, etc etc. But that's a reading list. And it's theory - not an

> > education or training.

> >

> > (though that's just my rather unacademic opinion)

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > On Jul 27, 2009, at 3:28 PM, Andrea Phillips wrote:

> >

> >  See, this is more what I expected. ;)

> >>

> >> C'mon, aren't any of you tempted to write a nice meaty post we can

> >> promote up to ARGology laying out a curriculum for the liberal arts

> >> education for making ARGs and ARG-related experiences? ^_^

> >>

> >> On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 3:01 PM, Tassos

> >> Stevens<tassos_stevens at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> >>

> >>> Read Improvisation for Storytellers by Keith Johnstone.

> >>> Make a street game.

> >>> Make something, anything.

> >>> Fail better.

> >>>

> >>>

> >>>

> >>>

> >>>

> >>>

> >>> _______________________________________________

> >>> ARG_Discuss mailing list

> >>> ARG_Discuss at igda.org

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

> >>>

> >>>

> >>

> >>

> >> --

> >> Andrea Phillips

> >> http://www.aaphillips.com

> >> AIM: Andrh1a * Skype: Andrhia

> >> Words * Culture * Interaction

> >> _______________________________________________

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> >>

> >

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