[arg_discuss] What if ARGs had a real festival?

[Markus Montola]

In the Nordic countries the most interesting larp meeting is the  
Knutpunkt (a.k.a. Solmukohta). The thing is that very few larps are  
played in the convention itself, since high-end larps are not easy to  
stage in that environment. I mean -- if you want to spend a week in a  
fantasy village with a hydraulic dragon (www.dragonbane.org), or a  
weekend on a city square full of trash and societal problems  
(www.systemdanmarc.dk), it does not easily fit into a  
convention/festival program.

So, when larps are played in conventions, they are always of special  
variety suited for the occasion -- parlor larps and the like -- and  
not the "real thing". Of course, over the years the genre of  
convention larps has grown into a thing in itself.

And that's what would apply to ARGs as well I suppose. Staging the  
"real thing" -- massively collaborative long-term internet puzzle  
thingys -- would not make sense, so you'd end up with something closer  
to puzzlehunts and the like. That could grow into an interesting genre  
of festival ARGs or not, dunno.

(Similar progression has happened with the Game culture. Actual Games  
are too massive to stage in smaller events, so small Gamelike  
experiences -- like Shinteki Decathlons  
(http://blog.puzzalot.com/2009/06/shinteki-5-playtest-and-volunteering.html)  
have emerged.)

The question on whether a con-larp can ever aspire to be as "cool" as  
the real thing, or whether a Shinteki-like mini-Game can ever be as  
cool as the real thing, is up to you to decide. The question, I  
suppose, is whether you can get a sensible ARG experience in less than  
16 hours.


My 2c,

  - Markus


> So people would attend this event, interact with story characters,  

> interact with each other, solve puzzles...Basically it sounds like  

> Live Action Roleplaying without character sheets.  That's not a  

> criticism, of course, I'm all for LARPing.  (Suddenly I'm imagining  

> explaining the idea of ARGs: "It's like LARP, but you 'play'  

> yourself.")  Anyway, my point is: There have got to be people who  

> have run "LARP weekends" that have games going on.  And I know  

> LARPing happens at conventions like I-Con.  Does anyone have any  

> contacts in the LARP community who could offer the benefit of their  

> experience?

>

> --

> John Evans

> Chaoseed Software - http://chaoseed.com

>

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

>> From: Michael Monello <mmonello at campfirenyc.com>

>> Sent: Sep 2, 2009 2:49 PM

>> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG <arg_discuss at igda.org>

>> Subject: [arg_discuss] What if ARGs had a real festival?

>>

>> What if ARGs had a festival, ala Fringe Fest or Come Out and Play,  

>> where you could actually go and have ARG or ARG-like experiences?  

>> What would that look like and how would it work?

>>

>> I was thinking about the discussion on the evolution of ARGFest and  

>> I kept going back to the fact that ARGFest is really a conference  

>> focused on talking about ARGs, and what's needed is a Festival,  

>> where we can go and play them. It could have panels as well, like a  

>> film festival, but the panels would be in context of the  

>> experiences going on at the festival.

>>

>> Is there any value in something like that?

>>

>> -Mike

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  - Markus