[arg_discuss] Topic of the Week July 20: DesignerResponsibilities to the Public

[Hugh Davies]

Ive been lurking on this thread and ones like it for a while.
I have to say, I agree completely with Brian on this one.

I'm currently researching ethics of Pervasive and Alternate reality games
experiences on participants and by standers for my masters research and im
delivering a Paper on the subject at ISEA in Belfast next month. Is anyone
going to be there?

Anyway, without presenting the whole thing here i conclude the paper with
something like:

If we are to weight the ethics of presenting these works in public spaces,
would that not require us to question all experiences and messages found in
public places from media journalism, political and religious statements and
perhaps most importantly, omnipresent advertising? Should these messages
also be scrutinized for any potential or actual ontological confusion they
inspire?

Everyday reality is constructed and mediated, changing but constant. The
artists behind these works can momentarily peel back the corners of our
shared and assembled real, allowing us to question the motives of those who
create it. These works invite audiences to critically engage with
*all*reality, but neither the works nor artists themselves can topple
the real.
In fearing that they could, we misjudge both their agency and the aims.
Hugh


On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 8:23 AM, Andrea Phillips <deusexmachinatio at gmail.com

> wrote:



> This makes me think of the Trust-E icon for the web: verifying things

> that are true rather than flagging things that are fictional. You'd

> think that verification systems like that would be a big deal, but in

> practice hardly anybody notices the thing. Just like most people

> probably don't notice the little lock icon in their web browser that

> indicates their SSL connection is working properly. If people don't

> immediately know what something means, they kind of tune it out...

>

> Going back to the original question: I really don't know what I think

> our responsibilities are in presenting our fictional worlds. Some

> general rules of thumb seem obvious to me... "Don't put a street

> address on a website unless it's a place you are prepared for players

> to turn up," springs to mind. But that's the intersection of virtual

> and physical, and I think requires more careful management for many,

> many reasons.

>

> And the internet is a messy, disreputable place, so you could argue

> that the person who stumbles onto a fictional website and takes it as

> real is merely in the process of learning a Valuable Lesson About The

> Internet. ...probably in a kinder way than it would otherwise be

> delivered, too.

>

> But what I really want to do is sort of grope around for the edges of

> what seems OK to most people and what doesn't. It may be there's no

> consensus to find, but the mere act of picking up the subject and

> seeing what it does when we poke at it... that's an important process.

>

>

> On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 1:37 AM, Wendy Despain<wendeth at wendydespain.com>

> wrote:

> > I think this idea of an icon - universal across many (ideally, all)

> > ARG-like things on the web is brilliant. I'd use it on my projects.

> >

> > Wendy Despain

> > quantumcontent.com

> >

> >

> > On Wed, July 22, 2009 5:04 am, Brian Clark wrote:

> >> I'd be happy to use that icon ... once advertisers, public relations

> >> experts

> >> and politicians agree to use it as well. May I suggest a "May Contain

> >> More

> >> than 40% Fiction"?

> >>

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

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

> >> [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org] On

> >> Behalf Of D B Wall

> >> Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 5:45 PM

> >> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> >> Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week July 20:

> >> DesignerResponsibilities to the Public

> >>

> >> I'm curious this group's reaction to a simple thought... as icons

> >> associated

> >> with certain connected/web2.0/social media/whatever you choose to call

> >> it

> >> efforts have become conventions in UI design over the past few years,

> >> I

> >> wonder if a simple, universal icon representing fictional realities on

> >> public facing materials could be established with similar effect.

> >> Twitter,

> >> Facebook, RSS, digg, even USB, and the power on button have effective,

> >> well-adopted and unobtrusive icons. Why can't ARGs?

> >>

> >>

> >> On Monday, July 20, 2009, at 10:10AM, "Andrea Phillips"

> >> <andrhia at gmail.com>

> >> wrote:

> >>>This isn't on the list of upcoming topics on the wiki, but this was

> >>>something that I found myself blathering about a lot at ARGfest this

> >>>weekend. I thought I'd bring it to the list.

> >>>

> >>>We've talked about our responsibilities and ethical guidelines on the

> >>>list before, mainly in terms of what we owe the players. But we're

> >>>putting material out there in the real world, and it's possible --

> >>>even likely -- that somebody who isn't a player, doesn't know

> >>> anything

> >>>about ARGs, and has no reason to doubt your credibility will stumble

> >>>into a piece of your game and think it's real.

> >>>

> >>>One example: In Routes, we made up a couple of fictional websites for

> >>>pharmaceutical companies, and we did a little nail-biting over what

> >>>'advanced treatments' we had this company working on. Could we talk

> >>>about our fictional success with gene therapy to treat Parkinson's?

> >>>What if a person with Parkinson's came upon our site via Google and

> >>>thought it was real? We decided there was an ethical problem there.

> >>>

> >>>There are other examples that spring to mind, too -- most notably

> >>>innocent bystanders who might witness something terrifying and call

> >>>the police that turns out to be a live event for a game.

> >>>

> >>>So how do you manage these risks? What do you consider your

> >>>responsibilities to the public at large?

> >>>

> >>>--

> >>>Andrea Phillips

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

> >>>AIM: Andrh1a * Skype: Andrhia

> >>>Words * Culture * Interaction

> >>>_______________________________________________

> >>>ARG_Discuss mailing list

> >>>ARG_Discuss at igda.org

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

> >>>

> >>>

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> >

> >

> > Wendy Despain

> > quantumcontent.com

> >

> > _______________________________________________

> > 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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