The Rise of ARGs 24
Gamasutra has a feature up discussing the advent of the Alternate Reality Game genre and discussing some of the early examples of the game style. They discuss the fact that most ARGs to date have been promotions of one kind or another, and the possible repercussions of this limitation. From the article: "While they have demonstrated their use as a cost-effective and entertaining way to promote a product many times, ARGs deserve serious consideration - especially from independent developers - as a way to grow and distribute unique intellectual property."
The Matrix... (Score:1)
In Soviet Russia, games are the new Alternate Reality genre!
Re:The Matrix... (Score:1)
Re:The Matrix... (Score:2)
Another reality? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Another reality? (Score:1)
My favourite kind of game (Score:4, Interesting)
The best part of the experience for me, from the inside, was constantly pushing the boundaries of the game so that those who were just plowing through would always have something exciting to do. When things got too comfy for players in a certain group, we flipped things upside down and watched them react. Sometimes we had players defect from one team to another for no reason we could see, and it made everyone nervous that someone was about to rat them out. Compared to "I can see your avatar" kind of games, I found ARGs to be a lot more interesting because you didn't have any strong point of reference to tell what was really going on.
The game itself was a bit of a companion to the show we were also making at the time. Since we had a strong storyline and events to push along, at certain points in the game, world politics would create a sudden "in-game event" that shook things up. But likewise, the events the players were creating started oozing into the scripts, so now a lot of the "history" we have comes from the ARG (including one now-important character who was previously a footnote, but got elevated due to some characters' interest in the mystery surrounding her). We laid so much groundwork out there in print and on the web that I think easily half of the content is still undiscovered (but most is still live and findable). Back in those days we stayed up all day and night writing new puzzles to keep things humming. The best 9 months of my life (work-wise).
Near the end we started looking at ways to create two easier-to-manage games: more of an RPG and a flight simulator... but I think the real urgency we had with the ARG was lost trying to envision that kind of world, because it didn't leave nearly as many "in"s to muddle the player's worlds as we were used to.
Some day I should pick of the bits of that game and give it another go. I just have to find enough coffee to help me stay awake that long (gettin' old).
Re:My favourite kind of game (Score:2)
Let me guess.. You could tell me what show it was, but then you would have to kill me?
Re:My favourite kind of game (Score:2)
The Rise of ARGs (Score:5, Funny)
I think there's a distinct correlation here with the advent of Talk Like a Pirate Day [talklikeapirate.com].
ITYM Alternative (Score:2, Informative)
v. alternated, alternating, alternates
v. intr.
1.
1. To occur in a successive manner: day alternating with night.
2. To act or proceed by turns: The students alternated at the computer.
2. To pass back and forth from one state, action, or place to another: alternated between happiness and depression.
3. Electricity. To reverse direction at regular intervals in a circuit.
Re:ITYM Alternative (Score:3, Informative)
alternate
adj. (-nt)
1. Happening or following in turns; succeeding each other continuously: alternate seasons of the year. See Usage Note at alternative.
2. Designating or relating to every other one of a series: alternate lines.
3. Serving or used in place of another; substitute: an alternate plan.
Re:ITYM Alternative (Score:2)
oh.... right.............. hehe, sorry
Advertising Reality Games (Score:4, Insightful)
9 comments, yeah thats truly a rising (Score:3, Interesting)
Probably the most succesful ARG ever was "Ilovebees" but then this was because a lot of people thought a surprise demo of halo2 was involved (which it wasnt). and for the international players (which were quite a few) MS cut them off the loop by making phone calls in the US only. The final event took place in sometown close to MS offices I think. (meaning it was a waste of time for 90% of players)
Until theres some interesting price for beating an ARG and not just the "intellectual achievement" (Im talking about some hard cold cash, a console or better) and also the makers of this sort of games realize WWW means "world wide web" not "Close to Washington, Wyoming, Why not canada", I really dont think ordinary people would ever become interested in one. And even then uber geeks (unemployed ones) will have the upper hand all the time.
Re:9 comments, yeah thats truly a rising (Score:3, Interesting)
the final event was a 4-city simultaneous event in Texas (Dallas i believe), New York, Chicago, and LA that unfortunately got gate-crashed by a bunch of mouth-breathing Halo fanboys. The LA event was the best and most successfull, due to the fact that the PM's from 4orty2wo productions showed up.
although, the "real" players were busy solving a final puzzle that involved phoning the other
Re:9 comments, yeah thats truly a rising (Score:1)
It is definitly a growing genre especially among gamers and non-gamers alike. The target audiences for these games are the same as they are for adventure and puzzle games.
Not all have been marketing tools, right now there eight active ARG's of which 2 (op
Re:9 comments, yeah thats truly a rising (Score:2)
First I never said the ONLY ARG's were promotional, I said those were the most known, dont even try to argue with me there.
Second, Im an idiot because my post was unfounded? FYI I do play ARG's go trough my post again (read it) and find anything that you can label as a complete lie, otherwise: "an idiot is a person who calls someone who is not an idiot an idiot." do the math there pal.
Re:9 comments, yeah thats truly a rising (Score:1)
Your argument was extremely unfounded on the last part concerning rewards as I stated in my previous argument. You also mentioned that the only people who play are those that are "Unemployed or students" which is completly obvious considering the primary target audience of most games (including ARGs) ar
I sense a new acronym on the way... (Score:2)
etc (Score:2)
Anyway, as someone else on this thread said, the hype created outweighs the actual playing of it. bleah.