(ARG)Alternate Reality Games

[QforQ]

Hey guys, I created this thread to see who in the FOH community is experienced in ARG's and would even be interested in creating one with me. Specifically, one based around an MMO.

For more information about ARG's:
Alternate reality game - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
unfiction.com

I've become really interested in ARG's over the past few years, recently I was blown away by the ARG Trent Reznor did for NIN's album "Year Zero". The amount of detail he went into with it, like dropping USB thumb drives at concerts that had secret messages on them and the thermal ink on the CDs...it was just amazing. A more recent ARG would be the one for Cloverfield which I thought was really interesting as well.

Well anyways, what are your experience with ARG's? Was there a certain one that really caught your attention? Would you be interested in creating one with me?

[Damastas]

I read the wiki article but I still don't quite get it. Basically it's a pseudo form of LARPing? I'm not understanding where exactly the "game" portion comes in.

The very little understanding I have is that you irl are a character in a game (how does this translate back into a 'traditional' game?) and you try to figure things out.

The amount of detail he went into with it, like dropping USB thumb drives at concerts that had secret messages on them and the thermal ink on the CDs...it was just amazing.

Isn't that like dropping a needle in a haystack? How likely are the people who are actually playing the game going to pick things like that up, as opposed to random people or janitors cleaning stuff up?

The idea intrigues me, I just don't think I understand it really.

[Kevincheese]

Sounds like I Like Bees, but... bad.

[JustWalking]

Basically Damastas, a group of people, or one person, starts off the ARG, with a website link, blog, or some form of web media. Now in that piece of media, the subject matter is usually weird/abnormal, something out of the ordinary that would draw in casual viewers. And this is all presented as something that is happening in real life. And thats where I would assume comes the term "Alternate Reality".

Within this piece of media is hidden a URL to another website, or a collection of clues which leads the players "anyone who sees it" to another piece of the puzzle. Most ARGs stick to online only, using blogs, emails, fake website and the like to present an engaging storytelling experience. Others, most notably the ARG associated with NIN's Year Zero album, had physical drops in real life, clues imprinted on CD's, clues hidden in the music therefore using spectrometer to analyze. It was viewed as one of the best ARG's ever, and even if you weren't into the whole ARG scene, it had a very interesting story.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

*Short verison: Group of resistance members use a machine to send information back to the past, in the form of websites, to prevent the oncoming totalitarianism US govt from coming to pass.* The tie in was that NIN's album was one piece of banned literature in the future and that Trent was personally helping to get the resistance started.

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by JustWalking

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

*Short verison: Group of resistance members use a machine to send information back to the past, in the form of websites, to prevent the oncoming totalitarianism US govt from coming to pass.* The tie in was that NIN's album was one piece of banned literature in the future and that Trent was personally helping to get the resistance started.

How do we know Trent really isn't batshit crazy?

So like, make a website that portrays the world as if Nazi Germany hadn't lost the war? or something more believable like Cats in Jars?

[Faille]

May also want to post in the uberworlds development forum, might find some interested people there.

[TheOkapi]

I was pretty heavy into the LOST ARG for the first two seasons. It's tight stuff when you care about the result.


edit: I guess I could give some examples.

Those SubLYMinal commercials that seem really weird for Sprite? Those started out as ARG pieces for Lost. The puzzle for the show also had ARG stuff, if you heated the pieces, and had it all together, there was a message on the back. There was also a podcast for a "wacko" DJ (he was kinda like Mancow, or Stern) that would occasionally reference companies that only existed in the Lost universe, as well as receiving calls from "Penelope", a hacker that hated those companies, and "hacked" those fictional companies websites (the sites existed, and if you knew the password, you could see what she had done to it, but the site was all bs stuff from the shows background that the writers had come up with, but knew they would never have time to get into the show). All this lead to tiny 1 or 2 second clips of video that after about 8 months of work, created this video. The only knows images of Hanso, the guy who made Dharma, and is possibly responsible for everything in the show (we think...maybe).

[MrGraham]

I took part in the Year Zero unraveling. It was pretty much the coolest experience ever.

The only bad thing with alternate reality stories is that they have to end, and the ending always sucks. In Trent's case, his very last website was definitely the most touching and beautiful (the one from the President's adviser to his unborn child), but no matter what you do so much is unresolved.

[Chamsie]

Went to one of these today for the Dark Knight. Took place in DC and basically we held a rally to support Harvey Dent (Two-Face). Had megaphones and they passed out signs and shirts. Was pretty fun to have people walking by asking where Gotham was and what is he running for.

[earthfell]

Originally Posted by Zarcath

How do we know Trent really isn't batshit crazy?

So like, make a website that portrays the world as if Nazi Germany hadn't lost the war? or something more believable like Cats in Jars?

How fucking dare you!