unforum

[novab]

[Meta] Sub-genre categorization

[krystyn]

How timely, Nova.

imbri needs to come in here and tell us about FARTs.

[colin]

Can you define an ARG first so I know what belongs in the ARG category, let alone sub category?

[novab]

[krystyn]

So far, you've got:

- Grassroots
- Promotional
- Productised/merchandising
- Corporate training and team building

How does promotional differ from merchandising? Are you talking about the difference between, say, The Beast (promo for the movie A.I.) and Perplex City or Edoc Laundry (both are products unto themselves)? Or is the distinction a bit more blurry/general than that?

I think those four are pretty much the only ones that I can really see happening right now, in terms of general types.

[novab]

[imbri]

If it matters, these are the listings that I've been using in the recent games section of the white paper...

Self-supporting: This includes pay to play models (Studio Cyphers) and product based models (CTW, EDOC, PXC)

Promotional: This includes WiBS, which is an ad campaign, as well as ReGenesis & Lost, which promote a television show (the reason that I put them as promotional is that the shows could exist without the games but the games could not exist without the show - if they were more integrated, I'd throw them in the self-supporting section)

Independent: This includes the grassroots games

Serious Games: This includes corporate training, team building, and social awareness games.

There's some conflict there for me as I wonder if I should split WiBS off of promotional and call it an "advergame" and put it into serious games, which is where most/many put advergaming. Anyway, I will, of course, use the terminology that you define in order to keep the paper consistant. Those were just the terms that I'd been using thus far in my writing (which, if I'm honest, doesn't go beyond a list of games with a couple notes )

[Ehsan]

I'd just like to re-list those with my take on it, use of it whatever you agree with:

- Grassroots: Created by the community for the community. (Lockjaw)
- Promotional: Sponsored by an entity for marketing purposes. (LCP)
- Productized: Game indirectly funds itself through in-game products. (PXC)
- Private: Funded by and also consumed by a private entity. (VQC)
- Commercial: Game is directly funded by the players. (Majestic)

Seems like more of a funding model than sub-genres, but I think that's where you were going with your original post. Of course you have your overlap, so for example if the community creates a game which funds itself, I'd still call it a Grassroots productized game. If however the community move on to create a commercial product and distribute it, or find a sponsor for their game, then I wouldn't call it grassroots anymore.

Private and Commercial are close in definition, both being paid for and consumed by the players themselves... but further explanation would make it clear the distinction between creating a specific experience for a unique group versus selling the experience to a mass audience.

Edit after seeing imbri's post: I think we agree on the general areas, but I'd tuck "social awareness" inside Promotional, because you are still marketing something, even if it's not for financial gain--promoting awareness, if you will.

[colin]

If it's a list of 'business models', I'd rather see them called that instead of 'genre'. It's going to be confusing talking about the type of story and the type of business as genre. But that's just my $0.00 (after converting to US$)

I don't know the intention of the creators of The Lost Experience, so this is just a guess. It appears the TLE is supporting its self through advertisements. I think this is a distinct model. While it is acting as promotion for the show, I'm not sure that was the primary goal of it.

To me it belongs in the self supporting model as a separate sub category as an advertising based model.

Going by Ehsan's model it could fit promotional, except that it's multiple sponsors which don't relate to the story. It comes down to the television argument: Are the shows to carry the ads, or the ads to carry the shows?

In the case of ILB, LCP and AotH the story was created for the product. with TLE the story exists without the products they are advertising.

[Rogi Ocnorb]

I'm hesitant to bring this type up given that all attempts I've seen to do one have been fairly dismal failures.
But there is the one I'll give the moniker "Social Engineering".
I'm speaking of attempts like "Triskabiblios" and "The Revolution".
They began life as games, but with the goal (at least in the minds of their creators) of initiating social change.
Funding models can fall into any of the previously mentioned categories.
They may play like games, but we don't need to accept them as games.
Their creators inevitably freak out when this occurs, but that's how it always seems to shake out. If it didn't... If we accepted it as an "ARG" and let it fullfill it's goal(s), would it fall under Private, Social Awareness or Social Engineering? Or Corporate Training?

[Puppy_Zwolle]

[Rolerbe]

Funding mechanism is certainly the dominant issue facing ARG's as the above categorization shows. I think of them also based on some content/focus elements, much as you have your romances, mysteries, thrillers, etc. in books:

Puzzle Quests -- not much on plot, long on puzzle (e.g. xccr, and sadly I think I'll have to include PCX here <ducks for cover>)
Multimedias -- essentially a (quasi) linear story told through a variety of media elements: graphics heavy websites, flash, video clips, etc. (e.g. syst3m.co.uk -- at least so far)
Interactives -- focused around a sequence of real time events (e.g. AotH)
Communities -- Those magic ARGs where a true community following develops. Different I think than interactives. The action here is more in the player group than in the PM work itself. The PM'ing serves just as prompts along a story arc. Delightful. But what's the magic recipe?
Banter Groups (could use a better label)-- long on the cryptic chat from PM to players. voted most likely to implode.

Then for genre, pretty similar to that for books, but only a narrow range has been tried:

Mystery/thriller -- as in Books, only murder will do. Find the killer. Usually in ARGs this turns out to be EvilCorp.
SciFi -- I guess there have been some, but really these have been just mysteries in a future setting

That's all I've got for now.

[MageSteff]

As long as it has the basics, good engaging storyline, puzzles that fit the storyline (at least in the loos sense) and are not randomy placed just because it's an ARG, and allows lots of interactions with the characters, then I am happy. Why break it down beyond that?

While there are many genre classifications that could be used, such as funding types, story telling/fictional genres of technology/fantasy/futuristic/speculative fiction/mystery/horror... a good many have had a blend of genres. It is easier to catagorize by funding than by any other marker. Corporate backed/Internal merchandising/Grassroots with donations or no donations, are a heck of a lot easier to catagorize for each ARG than the fiction type sub genre.