[arg_discuss] What if ARGs had a real festival?

[Michelle Senderhauf]

Michelle

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 2, 2009, at 5:01 PM, Markus Montola <Markus.Montola at uta.fi>  
wrote:


> 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

>>> _______________________________________________

>>> ARG_Discuss mailing list

>>> ARG_Discuss at igda.org

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>>

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>

>

>

> - Markus

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