"But is it an ARG?!??"
PRESENTATIONS:
Year Zero
Ocular Effect
Lost / Find 815
Heroes 360
HW: Dig into UF and your games for the second round of presentations and also get caught up on your blog posts (for this blog).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
thought ya'll would enjoy but Red vs. Blue is wondering if you play ARGs hmmm....
I should have posted my comment about the presidential election being an ARG on this page, but I added it to the "LOL" week with the cartoon (week 6) because it was tongue in cheek...or was it? I could have written a lot more than I did about all the ARG similarities. This week's class on extended experience games seems appropriate to discuss further... re: Adam's title, "But is it an ARG?"
Now I'm wondering, okay, why is the election NOT an ARG? Well, is it because we don't traditionally call the presidential candidates puppet masters? (Though we may see them that way.) Party campaign managers may be closer to the definition. Party leaders aren't deliberately trying to create puzzles either, it's just that the rhetoric coming out of each campaign happens to make puzzles out of a lot of qualitiative and quantitative information.
Another difference: The rabbit hole... I'm not sure if there is a suitable analogy. Unfiction's definition is fairly open: "The initial site, page, or clue that brings someone into the game." This could be different for so many people, but the way I understand ARGs rabbit holes are deliberately created by the PMs, and designed so people don't initially realize what they are getting into. However, the competing "teams" try their hardest with mighty rhetoric to create rabbit holes that define the game for as many players as possible. Could be an inspirational speech, a blog site or a viral video that gets someone more heavily involved in the game. Sure there are independent rabbit holes too with their own meandering trails, but falling into a specific team rabbit hole means following the guidance of that team's campaign trail quite a bit of the way. Maybe not to the very end...
Some people don't require a rabbit hole to lure them down the trail. They align themselves early with one trail or another and find it their duty to sway as many people as possible to follow their example. Maybe they are analogous to being minor characters in the game themselves as "volunteers" or extremely enthusiastic players.
So, at this point I don't think I've sufficiently disqualified the election from fitting the definition of an ARG. Perhaps if I could, I'd feel more confident of being able to define what an ARG actually is.
Any other opinions?
Hopefully my presentation will be up here later. I think I better get playing another ARG or figure out how to make one that is still stuck in the Pre-game work... Hmm. I might play Heroes After all. I just dont wanna jump into a ARG that is at its end. Meh. Ill figure it out.
Is it an ARG? Nothing is an ARG anymore. They simply play around with paranoia and conspiracy.
Hollywood is quickly taking control away from players. And why shouldn't they? It is their money.
ARGs are a fad but the principles will remain. All hail the cross platform experience
Fringe was seriously bitin off Hero's last night. The one where the guy draws comic book looking pictures of the future. Hello? Been done to recently!
Do shows like Lost have an infinite potential life? If you never quite point out what the truth is, can you go on forever? I guess as long as your audience refreshes and/or doesn't mind being taken for a ride.
I hope that ARGs outlast this sudden interest Hollywood is giving it by using it as the new marketing strategy. While I enjoy extended experience games I worry that soon that's all that will be available. Money rules the world and grassroot games can suffer.
Post a Comment