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Alternate reality game

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Template:Current-GCOTW An alternate reality game (ARG) is a cross media game that deliberately blurs the line between in-game experiences and the real world. While these games may primarily be centered around online resources, events which happen as part of the game may be communicated to the players in a number of forms. Previous ARGs have included the following:

  • e-mail
  • websites, both those obviously connected with the game and those innocent looking - often where the bulk of the game lies, these sites provide puzzles in many forms, e.g. cryptography
  • phone calls to a player's home, cell or work phone
  • phone calls from players to a fictional character
  • SMS messages to players' cell phones
  • postal (snail) mail
  • newspaper articles or classifieds
  • chat/Instant messaging, often involving conversation with actors or bots
  • IRC channels
  • real world artifacts related to the game in play
  • real world events using actors who interact with the players who attend

Most ARGs have a specific goal of not only involving the player with the story and/or fictional characters but of connecting them to each other. Many game puzzles can be solved only by the collective and collaborative efforts of multiple players, and strong communities flourish around individual games and the ARG genre as a whole.

Alternate reality games are usually earmarked by a large game-reality in the form of multiple websites, all of which are presented as being real (non-fiction). In fact, sometimes it is difficult to tell if a website is fictional or not. These websites form the foundation of the game's universe, and are usually the primary storytelling vehicle, although the various media listed above can be used as well. This creates a situation where the game's alternate reality and the real world collide -- some games have extended into players' everyday lives by pushing information towards players at certain times (e.g. SMS messages), whereas others have required players to initiate all communication.

The concept of "this is not a game" is central to the ARG genre. Alternate reality games do not advertise themselves as such, and never admit to being a game while 'live' -- when the game is over, some information about its creation may become public. The mystery surrounding the game's events and creators is a major contributor to player immersion and enjoyment, as is the general thrill of discovering the game's alternate universe and exploring its boundaries with the real world.

Several ARGs have been used as marketing tools to promote certain products, from video games to cars. Although the web-based nature of alternate reality games means that financing them is easier than producing a full-scale video game, a long-running game has several ongoing expenses including (but not limited to): web hosting and bandwidth; web and graphic design staff; scriptwriting staff; actors; puzzle creators; real world artifact creation; telephone calls; advertisements in newspapers. Using an ARG as a marketing campaign allows players to form a deep attachment with particular products (e.g. being immersed in the universe surrounding a video game) while providing the resources necessary to run a full-scale game. Other games have financed themselves, for example through the sale of real-world artifacts.

Introductory ARG resources

History and examples of ARGs

  • Other roots include reader-influenced online fiction sites. The first of these was the all-text QuantumLink Serial by Tracy Reed on AOL (then called Quantum Computer Services), which debuted in 1988, and was played out in online chat rooms, emails and traditional narrative. The series also went by the name The AppleLink Serial and The PC-Link Serial on those services before they were all unified under the AOL brand when Quantum changed its name. After each week's chapter was published, users wrote to author Reed suggesting how they could be part of the story. Each week Reed chose one to a handful of users on each of the three services and wrote them into the story, depicting how they interacted with the fictional characters. The project was personally greenlighted by AOL founder Steve Case and produced by Kathi McHugh. Later titles, the most famous of which was The Spot by Scott Zakarin, added photos and video to the stories, but typically featured less user interaction.
  • Wizards of the Coast developed some of the first ARGs (before the term was coined) to promote the collectable card game Netrunner in 1996. The first "Webrunner" game, Webrunner: The Hidden Agenda, cast players as futuristic hackers breaking into the Futokora Corporation's computers. The sequel Webrunner II: The Forbidden Code turned the tables, casting players as security agents defending against hackers. Wizards did several more such games in the late 1990s for its games BattleTech and Magic: The Gathering, and one more ("Horsemen") for Hecatomb.
  • The Game, a 1997 film starring Michael Douglas, featured a fictional company that developed and implemented large-scale ARG/LARP games for the amusement of wealthy people. Michael Douglas' character is caught up in a supposed conspiracy when his brother buys him a "game" for his birthday. However, there are no known real-world ARGs tied into the one in the movie.
  • The first wildly successful ARG was a game developed to promote the movie A.I. by a small team at Microsoft. At its peak, this game was being played simultaneously by many thousands of users, and created something of a cultural phenomenon when it was released; it was referred to by its developers (and now by players, as well) as "The Beast", and is considered the granddaddy of the genre it created. The players were known as Cloudmakers, and still self-identify themselves as such in ARG communities.
  • One of the earliest large-scale examples of this was the EA game known as Majestic. Though the game itself suffered commercial failure and had significant problems, it remains a useful initial case study for the genre. While development on Majestic began before "The Beast" was launched, Majestic was made available to the public at the tail end of this A.I.-related campaign. Change Agents Out of Control was an early ARG that actually grew from the demise of Majestic.
  • Lockjaw, written by former cloudmakers, was one of the first successful independent ARGs. It kept the momentum started by "The Beast" alive and solidified the current ARG community as popular genre websites ARGN and UnFiction were developed by active Lockjaw players during the game's early 2002 run.
  • One of the most commercial ARGs to date remains the Nokia Game, which ran between 1999 and 2005, with a different story each year. The game used phone calls, SMS, TV adverts, newpaper articles and emails to give clues to the player. As each game lasted only a maximum of 3 weeks, deadlines for mini-games were strict, with many sections of the game only giving players one chance to solve it.
  • In September 2002, ABC brought alternate reality gaming to the television screen with the show Push, Nevada. Produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, the show created a fictional city in Nevada, named Push. When advertising the show, they advertised the city instead, with billboards, news reports, company sponsors, and other realistic life-intruding forms. During each episode of the show, highly cryptic clues would be revealed on screen, while other hidden clues could be found on the city's website. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled mid-season, and all of the remaining clues were released to the public. Clever watchers eventually figured out that the show would still be paying out its $1 million prize during Monday Night Football. The last clue was revealed during halftime, prompting those fortunate enough to have solved the puzzle to call a telephone number. The first person to call received $1 million.
  • Uru Live, a now-defunct "immersive" MMORPG created by Cyan Worlds, was the culmination of nearly a decade of subtle (and, in the later years, not-so-subtle) overtones in dialogue between the software company and the fan community, in which the former "passively maintained" the existence of the fictional D'ni race. The hired actors who formed the D'ni Restoration Council served as the central feature of the ARG experience.
  • In October 2003, the team that developed Lockjaw launched Metacortechs, a game based on the Matrix universe. Notable not only as a Fan fiction effort, the game was a successful independent ARG, with a larger and more active player base than many professionally produced games.
  • Acheron - Could you decide? Players were led on a rough and tumble adventure to locate Jake, a graduate assistant at New River University. Along the way, they discover a story of intrigue, time travel, and betrayal that caught everyone by surprise.
  • In 2004, an independent Alternate Reality Game advertised the re-release DVD edition of the George Lucas movie THX1138. Created and moderated by VirtuQuest.com, the SEN5241 game took players through the post THX era in the underground world through the thoughts and actions of SEN5241. The main goal was to defeat OMM, the ruling entity of the THX world.
  • In 2004, the I Love Bees ARG (also known as Haunted Apiary) was developed in relation to the Xbox game Halo 2 and set in the vast fictional universe that has grown around the Halo franchise. This ARG departed from the traditional puzzle-led form to be more story-led. Its authors, who also created The Beast, had in the interim founded an ARG design and development company, 4orty 2wo Entertainment.
  • Likely in response to 'I Love Bees', 2Advanced Studios developed another ARG, Channel 51 (Be sure to look at the older updates on the bottom of the page in order), which was centered around a fictional company called Orbis Labs. This ARG was used as a promotional vehicle for Nintendo's GameCube game Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Also, as a parody of 'I Love Bees,' Nintendo created many similar-sounding websites (for example, ilovetrees.com).
  • July 2004, the Shadow Government launched StreetWars, a traveling, city wide, month-long water gun assassination competition. The game incorporates real-life actors, web puzzles and real-life missions in the players' quest to "assassinate" another player.
  • October 2004, the ReGenesis Extended Reality game launched in tandem with the Canadian television series ReGenesis. Clues and stories from the series sent players online to stop a bioterrorist attack.
  • March 29, 2005, The Art of the Heist launched. Developed as a promotional ARG for Audi, The Art of the Heist took things to a new level with multiple realworld events/missions and extensive media placement.
  • April 2005, Perplex City began in earnest, after a years' worth of teaser/previews. Perplex City is currently still playing, and is a commercial ARG involving the purchase of puzzle cards as well as an online trail and live events.
  • September 24, 2005, a poker-themed ARG called Last Call Poker launched. It is considered to be 4orty 2wo Entertainment's first major ARG since I Love Bees, and featured both online poker play and cemetery-based live events and poker tournaments across the country.
  • December 10, 2005, the IGDA's ARG SIG was founded "to bring together those already designing, building, and running ARGs, in order to share knowledge, experience, and ideas for the future."
  • January 2006, Brazilian magazine Superinteressante illustrates an article about ARGs with an ARG, that ended when the Orkut's profile of the "organizer" was found. In February, they made one again, but harder to discover (the website of the ARG was written in the magazine, but in Wingdings).
  • March, 2006, edoc laundry [note: "edoc" is simply "code" backwards] was launched. This ARG venture uses clothes as its primary communication medium, with consumers deciphering the codes hidden within the garment. The codes are then input into the website to reveal pieces of a story about the murder of a band manager.
  • In May 2006, the makers of the TV series Lost started their own ARG called the Lost Experience. American television network ABC joined with Channel 4 in the UK and Australia's Channel 7 in promoting a revamped web site for The Hanso Foundation. The site is focused on the fictitious company that is prevalent in the storyline of Lost, the TV series. The game has been promoted through television advertisements (run during Lost episodes) featuring the company's name, web site URL and one of three telephone numbers (depending on which part of the world the ad is being run) which connects to the Hanso Foundation company directory. Players can find out more about the Lost universe by accessing the web site. Several additional websites have been created to further the game and offer clues.

Terminology

  • ARG - the abbreviation for "Alternate Reality Game", first coined by Unfiction founder Sean Stacey.
  • ARGonaut - a term sometimes used by players of ARGs to refer to themselves
  • The Beast - the promotional game for the movie A.I.
  • Beasting - to play an ARG (deprecated)
  • Cloudmakers - the original group that took on The Beast. They are also credited with coining most of the terminology.
  • Collective Detective - an early term that refers to the group of players gathered for discussion and puzzle solving. The premise behind this is that if there are enough eyes, ears, and minds, the amount of knowledge held by the whole groups is enough to solve any problem.
  • Curtain - the layers of plot, technology and social contract between the players and the PuppetMasters
  • Guide - a narrative of the experiences of gameplay, including the process of clue discovery and puzzle solving.
  • PuppetMasters - the usually secret group that controls an ARG (usually referred to as "PMs")
  • Rabbit hole - the initial page or clue that drives the player into the game.
  • Search Opera - A type of ARG that behaves more as a scavenger hunt, where players use search engines to find clues and solve puzzles relevant to the ARG
  • Trail - a reference list of sites, clues and other items found during gameplay

For a more complete reference see Glossary of ARG-related terms

Main resources

  • Alternate Reality Gaming Network - the hub of a network of sites dedicated to Alternate Reality Gaming. News, reviews, commentary and resources, plus an opt-in mailing list to be notified of new games as they are discovered.
  • unforums - the genre's largest message boards dedicated to ARGs (since September 2002). Parent site: unfiction.com.
  • cloudmakers.org - the group founded to play/solve the first Alternate Reality Game, "The Beast" (promotion for AI: Artificial Intelligence).
  • deaddrop.us - dedicated to alternate reality gaming with a heavy focus on PuppetMastering and behind the scenes content.
  • Immersion Unlimited - community of players who build and play games, similar, albeit much smaller in volume than unforums.
  • patmo.de - ARGReporter - a German news site dedicated to ARGs
  • IGDA ARG SIG - Special Interest Group on Alternate Reality Games development. A free group run by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) for all professional and hobbyist game developers to discuss, analyze, share, and learn about ARG development.

Other relevant sites

  • Channel 51- Nintendo's ARG for Metroid Prime 2:Echoes (Be sure to look at the older updates on the bottom of the page in order)
  • Abuse of ARGs A fictional account of messing with a Majestic fan.
  • Avant Game - A compilation of articles about alternate reality and pervasive gaming, and project notes, from Jane McGonigal, ARG PH.D. and I Love Bees puppetmaster
  • Dave Szulborski - - homepage of Dave Szulborski, the creator of five ARGs and the author of This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming, a resource book about ARGs.
  • The Dionaea House - Horror Alternate Reality Game used to promote a movie screenplay.
  • Immersive Gaming - - home of This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming by Dave Szulborski, a book covering the Theory, History, and Making of an ARG.
  • Ong's Hat - TINAG credits the Ong's Hat story as possibly being the first ARG.
  • 42 Entertainment - the company responsible for The Beast, I Love Bees, and Last Call Poker, among others.
  • Sean Stewart - SciFi/Fantasy writer who was also the lead writer for The Beast and I Love Bees
  • Xenophile Media - Developers of the Regenesis Extended Reality Game (tied with the TV series ReGenesis)
  • Acheron Project Team - Many on this team have gone on to PM numerous other commercial and grassroots projects.
  • Mind Candy - The Team/Company behind Perplex City.
  • Missing: Since January - A PC-based game that uses several websites as well as the player's email address to further the storyline.
  • Cross-media entertainment A comprehensive list of top ARG's as of March 2006 by Christy Dena
  • VirtuQuest.ComWeb Development group that creates ARGs for corporate training and open internet players. THX1138 ARG, City of Domes ARG, Ray Gatin Series, and others.
  • ARG's in Virtual Spaces A beginners guide on using Second Life to create and plan self-contained ARGs from Gary Hayes, PersonalizeMedia
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