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| alternate_reality_games_tutorial [2013-04-16 11:06] – alkan | parn:alternate_reality_games_tutorial [2013-04-16 14:06] – alkan |
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| ====Alternate Reality Games Tutorial==== | ====Alternate Reality Games Tutorial==== |
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| Based on the [[ARG Tutorial]] by Adrian Hon and Matt Wieteska((Adrian has a background background in neuroscience, Matt in theatre. They work together at Six to Start in London, creating game-like stories and story-like games, both serious and fun. ’After several years of working for hire’ said Adrian, ’we started making our own games, such as Zombies, Run! – an audiobook, game and ARG that you can play while running. We are curious about how to make games at the crux of gameplay, social interaction and storytelling. We are not pushing new technologies but using existing technologies in the context of storytelling.)) | Based on the [[:ARG Tutorial]] by Adrian Hon and Matt Wieteska((Adrian has a background background in neuroscience, Matt in theatre. They work together at Six to Start in London, creating game-like stories and story-like games, both serious and fun. ’After several years of working for hire’ said Adrian, ’we started making our own games, such as Zombies, Run! – an audiobook, game and ARG that you can play while running. We are curious about how to make games at the crux of gameplay, social interaction and storytelling. We are not pushing new technologies but using existing technologies in the context of storytelling.)) |
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| ===The prehistory of alternate reality games=== | ===The prehistory of alternate reality games=== |
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| Creating an alternate reality in fiction isn’t a new concept. Books, radio-plays, games, theatre improvisations or fortune-telling all include elements that are used in Alternate Reality Games (ARGs). ARGs’ unique approach to storytelling and alternate reality is their straddling of the online and the physical worlds and including the players’ daily life as elements in the story. ARGs smear stories across transmedia contents and technologies – from tweets and blogs, live events and physical puzzles to social networks and mobile apps. Although the media might be contemporary, some storytelling devices used in ARGs can be traced back several decades and even centuries, pointing to the continued inspiration and excitement that alternate realities offer for their readers, players, and inhabitants. | Creating an alternate reality in fiction isn’t a new concept. Books, radio-plays, games, theatre improvisations or fortune-telling all include elements that are used in Alternate Reality Games (ARGs). ARGs’ unique approach to storytelling and alternate reality is their straddling of the online and the physical worlds and including the players’ daily life as elements in the story. ARGs smear stories across transmedia contents and technologies – from tweets and blogs, live events and physical puzzles to social networks and mobile apps. Although the media might be contemporary, some storytelling devices used in ARGs can be traced back several decades and even centuries, pointing to the continued inspiration and excitement that alternate realities offer for their readers, players, and inhabitants. |
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| | <html><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/6685432371/" title="introductions by _foam, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6685432371_9b9cde2ca9_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="introductions"></a></html> |
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| //War of the Worlds//((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio_drama%29)) is an example of an alternate reality that was written as fiction, but was perceived as real. This well-known **radio play** consisted of fake news stories about an alien invasion, causing a mass panic among its listeners when it was first broadcast in 1938. It gets remade every few years and still tricks people into thinking that it’s real. | //War of the Worlds//((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio_drama%29)) is an example of an alternate reality that was written as fiction, but was perceived as real. This well-known **radio play** consisted of fake news stories about an alien invasion, causing a mass panic among its listeners when it was first broadcast in 1938. It gets remade every few years and still tricks people into thinking that it’s real. |
| Before radio, letters were used to create fictional realities and storyworlds. Put together as a collection of action stories written in letter-form they become **epistolary novels**. Daniel Defoe’s //Robinson Crusoe// (1719)((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe)) is an example of an epistolary novel – a story presented as a ’real’ diary of someone stranded on an island, using his letters as a narrative device. //Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded// (1740)((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela;_or,_Virtue_Rewarded)) is another example of an epistolary novel. It was so popular that people went to public squares to read the story to each other (as the majority of the followers was illiterate). Whole neighbourhoods would get involved, including the church, which would ring the bells at the end of the novel. | Before radio, letters were used to create fictional realities and storyworlds. Put together as a collection of action stories written in letter-form they become **epistolary novels**. Daniel Defoe’s //Robinson Crusoe// (1719)((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe)) is an example of an epistolary novel – a story presented as a ’real’ diary of someone stranded on an island, using his letters as a narrative device. //Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded// (1740)((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela;_or,_Virtue_Rewarded)) is another example of an epistolary novel. It was so popular that people went to public squares to read the story to each other (as the majority of the followers was illiterate). Whole neighbourhoods would get involved, including the church, which would ring the bells at the end of the novel. |
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| Aside from literature, ARGs draw heavily on theatre. Theatre games or **improv** are examples of some of the most rule-free ways of telling a story. In an improv the participants agree to share an illusion. Classic improv invites everyone involved to build on each other’s stories, but there is one rule that should be followed: you can never say no, always say ’yes and…’. There is no direction, no outside force, just the imagination of a group of people working together. Theatre of the Oppressed((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_the_Oppressed)) is a well known example where improv is used to help communities deal with social issues. | Aside from literature, ARGs draw heavily on theatre. Theatre games or **improv** are examples of some of the most rule-free ways of telling a story. In an improv the participants agree to share an illusion. Classic improv invites everyone involved to build on each other’s stories, but there is one rule that should be followed: you can never say no, always say ‘yes and…’. There is no direction, no outside force, just the imagination of a group of people working together. Theatre of the Oppressed((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_the_Oppressed)) is a well known example where improv is used to help communities deal with social issues. |
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| More recently, the pre-history of ARGs includes **role playing games** (RPGs) and **Dungeons and Dragons** (D&D).((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons)) In RPGs players take on roles of fictional characters in a fantasy world. A player is supposed to inhabit the character, where the character subsumes their own personality. D&D is a framework in which these games can take place: the player roles a dice to decide the outcome of their next move, which helps them tell a story. In D&D there is a predefined scenario with pre-made characters and setting. By limiting what you can do, the game frees you to imagine what you could do. Because of the strict game logic, collaboration is easier than in improv theatre. Your choices are up to you but only up to a limit, which helps prevent the paralysis of choice. Dungeon masters can move stories in different directions based on reactions of the players. Similarly, in ARGs puppet masters help the players get a more interesting experience. The point is not to win, but to tell an interesting story. | More recently, the pre-history of ARGs includes **role playing games** (RPGs) and **Dungeons and Dragons** (D&D).((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons)) In RPGs players take on roles of fictional characters in a fantasy world. A player is supposed to inhabit the character, where the character subsumes their own personality. D&D is a framework in which these games can take place: the player roles a dice to decide the outcome of their next move, which helps them tell a story. In D&D there is a predefined scenario with pre-made characters and setting. By limiting what you can do, the game frees you to imagine what you could do. Because of the strict game logic, collaboration is easier than in improv theatre. Your choices are up to you but only up to a limit, which helps prevent the paralysis of choice. Dungeon masters can move stories in different directions based on reactions of the players. Similarly, in ARGs puppet masters help the players get a more interesting experience. The point is not to win, but to tell an interesting story. |
| ===The past and present of alternate reality games: from marketing ploys, hoaxes and puzzles to context-specific experiences=== | ===The past and present of alternate reality games: from marketing ploys, hoaxes and puzzles to context-specific experiences=== |
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| ARGs appropriate and borrow from different media to create a transmedia story unfolding online and in physical spaces. According to Wikipedia, ’an **alternate reality game** (ARG) is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform and uses transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by participants’ ideas or actions.’((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game)) ARGs first emerged as an advertising tool for TV shows, movies, games and products. Early examples include The Beast,((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_%28game%29)) I Love Bees((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Bees)) and The Lost Experience. | ARGs appropriate and borrow from different media to create a transmedia story unfolding online and in physical spaces. According to Wikipedia, ‘an **alternate reality game** (ARG) is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform and uses transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by participants’ ideas or actions.’((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game)) ARGs first emerged as an advertising tool for TV shows, movies, games and products. Early examples include The Beast,((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_%28game%29)) I Love Bees((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Bees)) and The Lost Experience. |
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| The Beast is considered to be the first ARG. It was designed as promotion for Steven Spielberg’s movie //A.I.// On the poster for the movie, ARG makers had hidden the name of an AI therapist. Curious fans could google him, find his website and a phone number. When they called this number, they could listen to the therapist’s voicemail, get passwords to access an email and the story would begin unfolding… The ARG became an expansive cross-platform story that could be found online and in real world events (such as an anti-robot protest). There was no mention that this was a movie or game. | The Beast is considered to be the first ARG. It was designed as promotion for Steven Spielberg’s movie //A.I.// On the poster for the movie, ARG makers had hidden the name of an AI therapist. Curious fans could google him, find his website and a phone number. When they called this number, they could listen to the therapist’s voicemail, get passwords to access an email and the story would begin unfolding… The ARG became an expansive cross-platform story that could be found online and in real world events (such as an anti-robot protest). There was no mention that this was a movie or game. |
alkan