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ARG SIG Whitepaper
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colin
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 		ARG SIG Whitepaper
aka International Game Developers Association Alternate Reality Game Special Interest Group Whitepap
ARG SIG wrote:
2006 Whitepaper

This is the first paper from the ARG SIG, and provides a full introduction to the genre as well as a wealth of practical and analytical information on design methodologies, business models, and current and recent games.

The ARG industry is consistently producing multi-million-dollar games for tens of thousands of players at a time, and generating interest across the entertainment, broadcast, and advertising industries. In the last few years, successful games have received widespread recognition, winning awards from the gaming, media and broadcasting industries. As well as these critical success, there are already several businesses with long-term sustainable revenue streams.

Although new to many people, Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are still far short of achieving their full potential, each new wave of games bringing major new innovations and increased understanding of what works and what doesn't. We hope you find both inspiration and real practical help in this paper, and look forwards to playing the next wave of ARGs you come up with.

direct PDF download

ummm.... discuss Very Happy

PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:34 pm
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aliendial
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 		Wow. Impressive document, and fascinating.
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:55 am
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thebruce
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 		Very nice! Downloaded, and reading now (and likely over the next day or two Razz)

In scanning over it, I noticed this which produced a chuckle:
re: Last Call Poker - "While the alternate reality game is no longer being played, the story and game play is detailed on the website which still exists and continues to provide free online poker games."
Razz
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:16 pm
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Gupfee
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 		IMO, it's a disappointing mishmash of wrong information, glaring grammatic and spelling errors, and ignorance of the genre it claims to represent, with noteable exceptions.

I'd elaborate but I think Jackie has done a marvelous job of it already. I agree with everything she writes here.
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:48 am
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Phaedra
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 		I think a few sections were excellent. The rest, however...

I'd go into it, but Jackie said it better and in more detail than would be appropriate in this format.

A few points, though:

Religion is TINAG? Wow, is that offensive. I mean, last I read something like 95% of the U.S. believed in something (don't remember the percentage for the rest of the world), so assuming that your audience is exclusively composed of supercilious atheists like whomever came up with that charming analogy strikes me as a bit of a mistake.

Also, the grammatical and general usage errors were somewhat mind-boggling. Not to mention unprofessional. All in all, at this point it's more of something I'd hope newcomers to the genre don't read than a resource I'd recommend. Hopefully future revisions will improve.
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:42 am
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molecularr
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Phaedra wrote:
Religion is TINAG? Wow, is that offensive. I mean, last I read something like 95% of the U.S. believed in something (don't remember the percentage for the rest of the world), so assuming that your audience is exclusively composed of supercilious atheists like whomever came up with that charming analogy strikes me as a bit of a mistake.


For what it's worth, it appears that that phrase is the remnant of a discussion that was removed from the final version of the document. It does border on offense when a statement that dramatic appears so casually, but I think a balanced discussion behind that association could be interesting and its current current form is just an oversight. I for one would like to see the original discussion that generated that idea. Something like that would probably be too controversial for a whitepaper, but there are other venues. This forum, for example.

PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:43 pm
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LouMac
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 		Despite the issues that some have with the paper, it is quite a significant undertaking, and the volunteer collaborators should be given credit (especially because Brooke and Andrea are my friends).

While it is no secret that there are omissions, language and grammatical problems, I hope that everyone who voices their opinion does so in a constructive manner. Our constructive comments will only lead to a better document. No doubt, this is ultimately what we all want.

So have at it. Let's discuss...civilly.
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 5:51 pm
Last edited by LouMac on Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:19 pm; edited 1 time in total
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colin
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Phaedra wrote:
Religion is TINAG? Wow, is that offensive. I mean, last I read something like 95% of the U.S. believed in something (don't remember the percentage for the rest of the world), so assuming that your audience is exclusively composed of supercilious atheists like whomever came up with that charming analogy strikes me as a bit of a mistake.

I emailed the list last night asking what that meant here is the reply:
Quote:
> What is religion's TINAG principle?

"TINAG" as in This Is Not A Game.

"religion's TINAG" as in there is an aspect to most religions that is similar to the TINAG concept, that of believing in a reality beyond the reality you can manifestly discover, that you cannot empirically detect or question.

I'm hoping that the essay that this came from will get published soon; c.f. earlier response on this subject.


PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:41 pm
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Cortana
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 		In Defense Of Andrea
The criticism of the paper seems to arise from two separate things:

1) Bad Editorial Control (typos, lack of copy editing, etc)

Yeah, this is a big deal. Seriously, who lets a paper like that out without going at least through the spellcheck?

2) Jackie objects to Andrea's sections of the paper.

Now, I can understand Jackie's frustration with the lack of disclosure concerning Andrea (and Adam's) professional affiliation, it does mention in the credits that she does work for Mind Candy. Generally, I think a biographies section would alleviate the concern here.

However, the criticism that she only focuses on PXC & The Beast is not correct:

"These gems have a much higher production cost than straight text, and are therefore often used sparingly. 4orty2wo Entertainment has a history of creating entire narratives in these formats (a radio play in I Love Bees, and multiple video segments in Last Call Poker) doled out in small segments as players reached significant milestones. " (p32, for those scoring at home)

"Audio and video have often been used to create large secondary puzzles, in which players must reconstruct a single narrative from fragments of a prerecorded whole. In this process, a single narrative is written and recorded, and then the whole is edited into smaller sections and revealed to players through multiple means, typically (though not always) over a long period of time. This larger meta-puzzle was a primary part of the structure of I Love Bees, and has more recently been used in The LOST Experience, as well. " (p33)

"Some proto-ARGs (cross-media content that does not emerge into a full-blown interactive narrative) consist solely of a few web sites for companies or organizations featured in a TV show or film, Alias being one of the most widely-known examples of this. " (p33)

"Bot-style chat has been used successfully by a number of ARGs, including The Beast and Jamie Kane. In this form, a character is available for online chat, but the entity behind it is a program set up with pre-written responses to keywords in advance." (p33) (Mentions Jamie Kane as well as The Beast)

"There have also been cases where story characters are available on chat, typically for a short time, though sometimes for longer periods, as played by actual human responders 'acting' the part. This is a more cost-intensive method of interaction, because the person representing the character in the chat can't do much else during the time of availability." (p34) (Though lacking a specific cite, this has appeared in several games)

"Many games, including Jamie Kane and The Beast, have collected contact data as part of an early subplot in the game, and encouraged the players to believe that that part of the interaction was complete." (p34) (Again with the Jamie Kane)

"However, the possibilities for narrative and challenges available in a physical live event are limited only by the resources and imagination of the team. ARGs have successfully used a number of guises for this variety of event, including protest rallies, puzzle tournaments, and planned auto thefts. Dramatic elements occurring at these events have included choreographed fist fights on the part of actors, as occurred at E3 during Art of the Heist; mysterious messages found in the venues mysterious messages found in the venues, a technique used during the Anti-Robot Militia Rallies held by The Beast and during Perplex City Academy Games events held by Perplex City; and in one notable case, the 'death' of a player, also in Art of the Heist. " (p36) (Heist!)

"Some ARGs have successfully used familiar pre-existing games as challenges within their game structure. Last Call Poker participants played, of course, a considerable amount of poker." (p36)

"In I Love Bees, players answered ringing payphones and gave keywords to the caller to unlock story elements. This sort of challenge is generally aimed at getting a large number of players over a wide area to work together for a common cause, sometimes for an extended period of time. " (p37) (More Poker!)

"Challenges can be both real-world and online. The only limit is the imagination, and challenges that players have surmounted have included or could include the following, plus more:
• Locating a geocache or other hidden real-world object
• Playing through a text adventure
• Performing a special service for an in-game character (proven with photographs)
• Identifying or completing literary references
• Translating from obscure languages
• Interpreting highly specific information or notation from a specialized field " (p37) (These are representative of several games, yes?)

"Some teams have tried to downplay this angle of the problem by making these kinds of events of relatively small consequence to game play, or, as in the case of Art of the Heist and I Love Bees, by running a larger number of very similar small events across a large geographic area. It is strongly advised, however, to specify the target geographic area of your audience in your initial project specification. " (p40)

"No player has thus far been injured in the process of fulfilling a necessary game function, although there have been some close calls. Players have put themselves into potentially risky situations due to inclement weather (I Love Bees). Players have also entered areas where they reported feeling
threatened by non-players present on the scene (Art of the Heist). " (p41)

Okay, that's a sackload of references of ARGs that are NOT the Beast, and NOT PXC. That's a bunch of them, yeah? Does she mention The Beast a lot? Yes. Then again, she was a moderator for the game, and quite frankly, saw more of than most anyone else who wasn't a mod. Does she have a unique experience with PXC that we don't have? Well, she wrote the %^&*ing thing, should we be surprised that's what she's most familiar with?

I think the bias charge here is loaded.

***

Now, on to some other criticisms I have issue with...

Now, Jackie's prone to sarcasm, along with her disarming smile, is one of my favorite thing about her. But I think she goes to far when it comes to her criticism of Andrea's writing. It's almost personal, at times, which concerns me. Andrea's recommendation that it might be wise to consult an event or wedding planner is met with the kind of disdain I usually reserve for meter maids and tax collectors, when frankly, it's damn good advice. Planning a live event is a damn tricky affair, so it might be good to talk with someone who's planned a big event before. I might also would've added theatre stage managers or directors to that list, but all of those have an idea what it is to run large, live, public, multi-actor events and their experience would be invaluable.

***

While I agree that "bread and butter" might be bad turn of phrase when it comes to blogs, the whole quote is:

"Character blogs are the bread and butter most ARGs use for exposition, as the cut scene is in traditional video gaming."

It's a tough call. First and foremost, Andrea's referring here to exposition only, the story elements at large. Martin Swinton's exposition was done almost entirely through what we'd call a blog, now. So, too, would the profile pages on LCP. Bread and butter is more than I'd classify it, but the degree of panty-twisting amongst the crowd over this single statement is really astounding. Deep breaths.

***

The other criticism that bugged me was the community section.

Yes, a puzzle that doesn't work with your audience is the fault of the puzzle's architect, however, if it's time sensitive, you have to be prepared for the consequences should that puzzle fail to be solved. That's what Andrea was saying, in my interpretation. If you have a document that has to be there tomorrow, wherever there is, send it fedex first overnight. AND, by the by, prepare for an alternative should it fail to arrive. That's the advice Andrea is giving.

***

Okay, enough for now. Now, I'll stress this before I'm done, I'm friends with Andrea. I respect and admire her, but I also respect and admire Jackie, and her criticism, even if I disagree with parts of it, other parts are quite valid.

PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:38 pm
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konamouse
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 		Why has Dave S's contributions to the genre not been cited as examples for any of those interactions/puzzles/etc? His games have done all of those in various guises and could easily provide a variety of successful examples....including chat-bot (TuringPrinciple), live chat (Sam), ingame registrations (Urban Hunt), sales (comic book, Dead Poems).

Just my little 2 cents.
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:54 pm
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colin
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 		Re: In Defense Of Andrea
Cortana wrote:
The criticism of the paper seems to arise from two separate things:

1) Bad Editorial Control (typos, lack of copy editing, etc)

Yeah, this is a big deal. Seriously, who lets a paper like that out without going at least through the spellcheck?

2) Jackie objects to Andrea's sections of the paper.

Now, I can understand Jackie's frustration with the lack of disclosure concerning Andrea (and Adam's) professional affiliation, it does mention in the credits that she does work for Mind Candy. Generally, I think a biographies section would alleviate the concern here.

However, the criticism that she only focuses on PXC & The Beast is not correct:
<snip>
"Many games, including Jamie Kane and The Beast, have collected contact data as part of an early subplot in the game, and encouraged the players to believe that that part of the interaction was complete." (p34) (Again with the Jamie Kane)
<snip>

I think the bias charge here is loaded.

Yeah, other games are mentioned, you'd be doing well to only mention two throughout the whole section. This doesn't, however, tell the full story.

Lets look at: Methods and Mechanics->Interaction->Telephone (pg36)
Quote:
Again as with chat, there are two basic levels of telephone interaction: the recorded message and the live human being. Recorded messages scale more easily, but nothing makes for a compelling interaction like talking on the phone to a real human being.

In a human-mediated telephone interaction, the person answering the phone is more likely to be a voice actor than in chat. If this is so, the dev team should take care to very thoroughly brief the actor regarding anything the in-game character would know or think. These interaction can be heavily scripted, but room should always be left for some improvisational reaction, as there is no way to cover all contingencies in any script.

A more dramatic way to use the telephone, however, is by having the game call the players. For reasons of scale and timing, this is almost always a pre-recorded message. This is a very highimpact interaction; the difficulty is in finding a discreet way within the game to obtain telephone numbers. This data collection can be done through a number of ‘required registrations’ or usersubmitted profiles on in-game sites. Many games, including Jamie Kane and The Beast, have collected contact data as part of an early subplot in the game, and encouraged the players to believe that that part of the interaction was complete. But contact information can be used much later on for shock value; a common device is a mysterious phone call with a pre-recorded message, in which the player may at first not even recall when he or she gave out that phone number.

Some games have also used telephone interaction as an opportunity for a challenge, by creating voice mail boxes to be ‘broken into’’ or complicated call routing trees to navigate. The Beast relied on players listening to voice mail messages left in Jeanine and Laia Salla’s voice mail boxes as rewards after reasoning out the access codes for those boxes (which in both cases were essentially T9 representations of parts of the women’s names). And Perplex City used an elaborate call routing tree as a part of its Receda Trail, wherein a wrong step caused the system to hang up on the player; but each when a caller successfully navigated the call tree, the reward was a GPS location for the next clue in the trail.


That's quoted in full. What's the prime example of telephone use in an ARG? It has to be I Love Bees:
42 entertainment wrote:
Radio Drama delivered over 1400 payphones, ringing in all 50 states, England, France, Australia, New Zealand

Number of times I Love Bees is mentioned in the telephone section: 0

Draw your own conclusions...

Perhaps more to the point is what affect this has on how the telephone section is presented, for example:
"the difficulty is in finding a discreet way within the game to obtain telephone numbers."
It's not if you approach it like ILB did. Have the players find the phone, rather than you find the number.

PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:38 pm
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Cortana
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 		Colin, I would classify the phonecalls in ILB as part Audio/Video Exposition (remember, 90%+ of those were non-interactive), part Live Event and part Telephone Interaction. It's specifically mentioned as part of A/VE.

The charge of bias is really quite off the mark. I'm really upset to hear people claiming it's a biased piece. Could it use peer-review? yes, it could, but bias? No, sorry, that dog don't hunt.

I'm really displeased with the personal tone that this entire thing has come with, and I think we'd all do ourselves a favor if we dropped it and focused either on:

1) Actual Peer Review and Editing
2) How to write next year's version

Both of those are productive.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:36 am
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jamesi
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Cortana wrote:
1) Actual Peer Review and Editing
2) How to write next year's version

Both of those are productive.


Both of these should have been done before publishing the paper, imo.

And, for the record (and the win?) I'm not choosing sides or a position, because I'm not that invested in the paper myself. But I'll have to agree with the opinions, where ever they are coming from, that the paper that was published was in dire need of (1) while failing to mention a mechanism to accomplish (2).

Always appreciate the civil discourse, Cort. Smile
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:45 am
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rose
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Quote:
The charge of bias is really quite off the mark. I'm really upset to hear people claiming it's a biased piece. Could it use peer-review? yes, it could, but bias? No, sorry, that dog don't hunt.


Sorry your upset by other people's opinions. I am taking it as your opinion is that you disagree with those opinions. ( It isn't clear that you respect other's right to have a different opinion than you. But I should give you the benefit of the doubt on that one.) And, as Ms. Alli says, you don't have to learn to understand why they feel that way, you just need to coexist with it. Undermining someone else's reactions isn't necessary. How about just sticking with what you think and not attacking other people's opinions?

Quote:
I'm really displeased with the personal tone that this entire thing has come with, and I think we'd all do ourselves a favor if we dropped it and focused either on:


Sorry you are displeased, but I haven't seen any personal attacks on anyone. I don't think that was the intention. I think people have been trying to give feedback. If people's feeling are hurt, that is a shame, but maybe the problem is that they are overlooking what seems reasonable criticism and characterisizing that as a personal attack.

I respect your opinion as to what you think is the best thing to do from your perspective, but I don't think you need to speak for what we all need to do.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:55 am
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colin
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Cortana wrote:
Colin, I would classify the phonecalls in ILB as part Audio/Video Exposition (remember, 90%+ of those were non-interactive), part Live Event and part Telephone Interaction. It's specifically mentioned as part of A/VE.


I don't see how that excludes it being cited in the telephone section. Again my argument is not that other ARGs aren't mentioned, it's how it's mentioned (or, not in this case). Surely if you want to show the effective use of telephones in an ARG you would use ILB.

As for "remember, 90%+ of those were non-interactive" my understanding, which I just confirmed in IRC, is that everyone of those calls needed a password. This seems to be the same level of interaction as several examples from the telephone section:
    "by creating voice mail boxes to be ‘broken into’"

    "The Beast relied on players listening to voice mail messages left in jeanine and Laia Salla’s voice mail boxes as rewards after reasoning out the access codes for those boxes"

So, again, there is no reason it shouldn't be cited based on that.

The remaining 10% were live, with considerably more interaction than any example given in the telephone section. Which is an even better reason it should be cited in addition to the other examples.

The argument just doesn't hold. I Love Bees should have appeared.

Cortana wrote:
The charge of bias is really quite off the mark. I'm really upset to hear people claiming it's a biased piece. Could it use peer-review? yes, it could, but bias? No, sorry, that dog don't hunt.

I'm really displeased with the personal tone that this entire thing has come with


I don't think Andrea is biased. I also don't really want to argue her integrity. As far as I'm concerned that's not what this is about. What I do want to argue is the content of the White Paper. When I read that section, the omission of ILB leads me to think it's biased.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:49 am
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