unforum

[FriarTech]

 Tips for a puppetmaster wanna-be

[Geppetto]

First, let me state up front that I'm a newcomer to the world of puppetmasters, and all of my comments should be taken with a grain of salt.

That being said, I'm about 5 1/2 months into the creation of my first ARG, and I can tell you a few things that have surprised me, plus a few things that aren't suprising, but are still noteworthy. Additionally, like you, I'm a writer who wanted to take some ideas that seemed suited to the genre and make them into an ARG.

The first thing that was more difficult than I expected was keeping my team-members involved when planning an ARG. All of us have outside lives - and that's not only understandable, but preferable - but I had expected most of the people who committed to be able to spend a few hours each week working on this project. So far, with a few exceptions, that expectation hasn't been met.

Of my original planning team of about 8 people, we have now have three people giving a full effort, plus one other who makes occasional contributions (so far). Everyone else has - at best - morphed from designer to consultant, willing to hear, offer, or critique ideas, but not actually willing to do the work involved in making those ideas a reality (or rather, an alternate reality )

Essentially, this boils down to the fundamental problem of working with volunteers. Without some sort of concrete pay/reward system, you're basically trying to lead without the benefit of either carrots or sticks. I swear, I've spent much more time than I had initially anticipated just trying to "rally the troops," as it were. It's not that they don't want to participate - it's mostly a matter of time management on their part.

The second thing I will tell you is that you're absolutely right - the time commitment is enormous. That, honestly, contributes to the first problem mentioned above. All I can advise (and you likely already know this) is to pace yourself and spread out the work, with the idea of having almost everything in place weeks or even a month before the launch. That way, you can spend your last couple of weeks fine-tuning and tweaking. In addition, this allows you a brief rest before you launch head-on into that enormous maelstrom of activity and information that ensues - in that regard, I'm speaking as someone who's done planning and coordinating for a variety of events and projects.

Lastly, a bit of encouragement. I had a hell of a story going into this. But the act of converting it into an ARG-suitable format has forced me to reexamine a lot of aspects of that story from angles I'd not previously considered. I can say without reservation that my story has been shaped and improved by the process, and as good as it was in the beginning, it's even better now. Having worked in writing poetry, novels, one full-length screen play and a variety of smaller scripts, I can say that each new medium I've worked has strengthened the others. And each of them (with, perhaps, the exception of poetry) has reinforced and strengthened our ARG.

Again, I hope you'll take all of this with the understanding that the ARG genre is still a new art form for me, and while I've studied and watched them, and participated in planning some smaller, similar activities, this is my first time as PM as well. I hope my experiences from the last 5 months will be helpful. I'm sure the more-seasoned PMs will be able to correct me where I'm mistaken, and offer much more on a variety of obstacles I haven't yet encountered.

Good luck!
-Geppetto.

[FriarTech]

Thanks so much Gepetto. Those are great comments, coming from experience.

Exactly what I need.

Thanks again!