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 Forum index » Meta » General META Discussion
Help me out?
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Phaedra
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Joined: 21 Sep 2004
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 		Help me out?
If, theoretically, you were trying to convince a hypothetical CEO that an ARG might be a good promotional tool for one of his company's products (not trying to sell him an idea or anything like that, just trying to get him to take a look at the genre)...

How would you explain, concisely, what an ARG is and why it is a good marketing tool? I mean, I can cite numbers from ILB and the Beast (if anyone can share Metacortechs numbers with me, that would be nice -- even though it wasn't a marketing ARG per se, it was still tied to a specific product, so I think it's relevant), but I can't figure out how to concisely (and compellingly, and fascinatingly...) explain what it ARG is.

So, can all you wondrously clever and marvelously persuasive people help me out?
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:27 pm
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Wolf
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Joined: 26 Sep 2002
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 		Does this help clarify? It's an excerpt I wrote to present to a potential client a while ago. Just happened to have it saved.

Quote:
Alternate Reality Games: Description

ARGs, as they are commonly known, are interactive fictions that take advantage of technology to tell an evolving story using a variety of communication tools, ranging from the internet and e-mail to faxes, telephone calls, live group meetings and clues hidden in the physical world. They have successfully been used as a viral marketing tool for several years, beginning with Steven Spielberg's "A.I." Since then, companies such as BMW and Microsoft/Bungee have incorporated ARGs to subtly promote their product. A game can be intimately tied to characters in a film, for example, or stand entirely on its own with no acknowledgment that the film exists.

One of the key features of an ARG is this: It NEVER admits to being a game, or anything less than real. Characters may interact with players in various ways but they never admit they're anything less than real.

These games differ from console games in a few important aspects:

1) They do not have a single "winner." "Winning" is construed as completing the game to the end.
2) They encourage and even require collaboration between players rather than competition—no single person can hope to have the breadth of knowledge required to solve the challenges.
3) They don't involve violence like "first-person shooters" do to advance the story.
4) They are completely flexible and can be revised on the fly to accommodate changes based on player input.
5) They can run as long as it takes to tell the story, from days to months.

ARGs tell stories in non-linear fashion. A player might enter the game world through some mysterious site and be given pieces of a story from the past, present or future. One of the players' challenges is assembling the narrative to tell the story.

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:33 pm
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Phaedra
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Wolf wrote:
Does this help clarify? It's an excerpt I wrote to present to a potential client a while ago. Just happened to have it saved.


Ooh! Thank you. That's a totally different angle from how I would have approached it.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:35 pm
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w^nderlust
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 		that is such an eloquent summation of the genre. wow! Shocked


I also had an idea. If it isn't too risky, make a mini-ARG that serves as a primer on ARGing, so that by the end of it when you give your spiel, he is hooked and understands ARGing both theoretically as well as experientially. This might also be a terrible idea. Some corporate types might not have the sense of humor to appreciate that, but might have the ability to relate to something like a multimedia presentation on ARGing's history and marketing potential, with some facts about the site traffic and hits that beast and ILB got. Either way, use that thing that Wolf wrote or incorporate its ideas...

Very Happy
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:54 pm
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Phaedra
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w^nderlust wrote:
that is such an eloquent summation of the genre. wow! Shocked


I also had an idea. If it isn't too risky, make a mini-ARG that serves as a primer on ARGing, so that by the end of it when you give your spiel, he is hooked and understands ARGing both theoretically as well as experientially. This might also be a terrible idea. Some corporate types might not have the sense of humor to appreciate that, but might have the ability to relate to something like a multimedia presentation on ARGing's history and marketing potential, with some facts about the site traffic and hits that beast and ILB got. Either way, use that thing that Wolf wrote or incorporate its ideas...

Very Happy


LOL -- I'm not that ambitious. Nor am I feeling that creative. I'm not trying to sell him an idea or anything -- I just think he should take a look at the genre.

I dunno, I think, from what I've read about this guy, that he might grok it.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 5:03 pm
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konamouse
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 		You can also look at Virtucube - where a number of corporate "games" have been played out as team building exercises (vs going to a camping trip and climbing ladders).
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 5:28 pm
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yanka
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 		Or, you know, let him read the Mu book Mr. Green
It doesn't describe what an ARG is - instead, it takes the reader through the experience of one of them (which, I think, in some ways is an even better way to introduce/explain the genre).
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 6:00 pm
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Wolf
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 		Good point. I've sent people to the Mu book as well as Steve's original Lockjaw Guide to try and explain the experience. Sometimes they get it, sometimes they just glaze over.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 6:06 pm
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vpisteve
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Joined: 30 Sep 2002
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 		All these are great. There are also the two little buttons at the top of every ARGN page. Very Happy
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 6:11 pm
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Fi
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Joined: 13 Apr 2004
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 		Phaedra, I took a look at your blog the other day, and was very impressed with the descriptions you had on it that you managed to get from Sean and Jane - they were great - concise, accurate and interesting, and what a cunning plan to email them directly! I'm going to post it below too, cuz I think everyone should benefit from it Wink (Apologies if you've already posted them on here elsewhere!). (Also, if you don't want me posting sections of your blog, just PM me and I'll edit and remove it, although it is linked in your sig, so...)

Quote:
In semi-related news, I went to the forum yesterday, trying to get a
concise definition of what an ARG is, and a concise description of why
its a viable marketing technique.

I found pages and pages of circular discussion and squabbling over the
definition. And nothing particularly concise.

So I emailed Sean and asked him.

He sent me Jane's "pocket definition" of what an ARG is:

"An interactive drama played out online and in real-world spaces,
taking place over several weeks or months, in which dozens, hundreds,
or thousands of players come together online, form collaborative
social networks, and work together to solve a mystery or problem …that
would be absolutely impossible to solve alone."

I feel like something's still missing, but it *is* such a nice, concise summary.

Also, he gave me three nicely concise points as to why it's a good
marketing strategy:

1) players become far more invested in the IP than they would
otherwise be -- they pull details about the world to them, instead of
just dodging PR pushed at them

2) it works well on a community that is otherwise pretty marketing immune

3) if you think of something cunning, it's press-worthy in and of itself

Thank you, Sean. I feel like something's missing there, too, but I
can't put my finger on it. Nevertheless, YAY. So lucid and concise.


Fi
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 8:39 am
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Phaedra
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 		First, thank you, everyone, for the suggestions.

Fił wrote:
Phaedra, I took a look at your blog the other day


OMG, why? Shocked

Oh, wait, probably because it's linked in my sig, huh? Smile

Quote:
and was very impressed with the descriptions you had on it that you managed to get from Sean and Jane


I hrt them sumthin' fierce.

Quote:
they were great - concise, accurate and interesting


That, I imagine, is one of the reasons they get paid the big bucks.

Quote:
and what a cunning plan to email them directly!


LMAO. Poor Sean. And he's always such a gentleman about it too.

Quote:
I'm going to post it below too, cuz I think everyone should benefit from it Wink (Apologies if you've already posted them on here elsewhere!). (Also, if you don't want me posting sections of your blog, just PM me and I'll edit and remove it, although it is linked in your sig, so...)


No problem. Smile

Quote:
In semi-related news, I went to the forum yesterday, trying to get a concise definition of what an ARG is, and a concise description of why
its a viable marketing technique.

I found pages and pages of circular discussion and squabbling over the
definition. And nothing particularly concise.


I would like to say that I recognize that I am part of the ARG/gAIM squabbling. But I was a little frustrated there because with all the discussion of "what constitutes an ARG?" I couldn't find anything concise.
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 11:00 am
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krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice


Joined: 26 Sep 2002
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 		That thread wasn't about concise definitions, though. It wasn't until you made your own thread that you even really asked!

PostPosted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 12:00 pm
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Phaedra
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Joined: 21 Sep 2004
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krystyn wrote:
That thread wasn't about concise definitions, though. It wasn't until you made your own thread that you even really asked!


I know. I didn't say I was being fair or anything.

Just frustrated.
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 12:06 pm
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