unforum

[rose]

[thebruce]

Definitely, ARGs, or better - CF, can be marketing or a non-profit art form. I look at grassroots ARGs as the artform that won't die - it's a new form of expression, like books, fine art, movies, etc - the telling of a story or feeling or some such. It can also have the added goal of making a few bucks or promoting a product, by piggybacking on that artform - whether its intent is to 'use' or 'abuse' it, or whether its creators' do also hold a reverence of artistry and creativity.

For example, I consider 4orty2wo the latter - a group that understand the art form, and also grasp marketing and how the two can coexist. Then there are plenty of recent 'ARGs' that have disappointed players by their seeming lack of respect for the audience or community, with more importance placed on marketing and money making. Then there are the grassroots individuals and groups who are all in it for the art and experience (unless it's just for community reputation ).

And finally, wow, I just realized I flew off on rose's "without getting too off-topic" tangeant...

To attempt a re-railment - while Iris is definitely not in it "just" for the art form, there does appear to be a lot of creativity going into it, even if it's based off of existing material from Bungie. It's not direclty about making money, but rather about raising awareness for a product... though very much moreso towards standard commercials than putting the onus on the player to want to know more. Repeated obvious connections to the game and organizations behind it rest that point.

I wouldn't not call it an ARG, but it's definitely more focused on marketing than I think many of us are comfortable with. They could strip all those references away, and simply offer the story and a neutral location for presenting that story, and I think it would be much more 'ARGish'. But at the same time, it might have a (direct) adverse effect on their goals for the campaign. And that's why ARG marketers need to look to the indirect effects - the "viral" aspect.

Is Iris creating new potential customers? To me it seems they're catering to existing Halo fans at this point, perhaps with the hope that the built hype will spread from the existing fans to find more, rather than the game itself finding more.