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Game Jacking
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Star Spider
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Joined: 20 Apr 2007
Posts: 148

 		Game Jacking
Hello!

I have heard bits about game jacking here and there and I wanted to make it a bit more clear in my mind as to what that means. It seems to me that game jacking (according to the community) could be defined as:

Creating a new offshoot of the current ARG with no intent to disclose the fact that it is independant of the PM team creating the ARG - therefore creating a false road for players to traverse without their knowlege. This could be done for fun, profit or ego.

I am not sure if this is totally on the ball - but maybe someone has something to add?

So that being said a few question arise.

1) Are there games in which game jacking is acceptable? (Perhaps in marketing circumstances where the goal is to spread the word?)

2) Due to the interactive nature of the ARG world is there a circumstance where creating a new character/storyline would be acceptable? (I heard it mentioned in one thread that perhaps if the person made it clear that they were not an official part of the game then it would not actually be game jacking)

3) Is the nature of ARGs so at this point that someone could approach the PMs to pitch their idea for an off-shoot/ new character development and actually be allowed to do so?

4) Is game jacking the right term? It seems to me that when I think off game jacking it suggests that someone has taken complete control of the game and the PMs have lost control.

5) Are there games where this 'complete loss of control' game jacking has taken place? Would it even be possible?

Thanks to anyone who has some input! Very Happy

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:35 am
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rose
...and then Magic happens


Joined: 26 Nov 2003
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 		That's a lot of questions. I'm sure the answers will vary. Taking them out of order:

Quote:
4) Is game jacking the right term? It seems to me that when I think off game jacking it suggests that someone has taken complete control of the game and the PMs have lost control.


I think game jack is the right term and it doesn't mean the PMs have lost control of the game. It means someone is feeding off the game, trying to mislead the players, getting attention (and presumably some income, though not always) for their own purposes.

The PMs can't control what the players do. They can only control their part of the story. They can't stop someone from attempting to take advantage of the players. Although they can limit this by design and other means.


I'm sure that people who have actually made games can answer this question better than I can.

Quote:
1) Are there games in which game jacking is acceptable? (Perhaps in marketing circumstances where the goal is to spread the word?)


If the goal of the game is to have fan sites created and spread the buzz about the game - that should be part of the game design and built into the story. If it is a planned part of the design, then I wouldn't think it was gamjacking. I wouldn't think that a game that is designed simply to spawn buzz, fanfic or fan sites is much of a game...more like a promotion.


Quote:
2) Due to the interactive nature of the ARG world is there a circumstance where creating a new character/storyline would be acceptable? (I heard it mentioned in one thread that perhaps if the person made it clear that they were not an official part of the game then it would not actually be game jacking)


The one time I mentioned this was when a person who was playing Year Zero wanted to pretend it was real. So she made a blog about her experiences. She clearly said this was her way of playing, she didn't attempt to actually become a character in the story, she didn't attempt to influence the other players into thinking she was a real character in the story, she didn't do anything except chronicle her experiences as if she was living in a Year Zero world.

I'm not sure what you would call that but I think the players didn't treat it as a gamejack.

Quote:
)3. Is the nature of ARGs so at this point that someone could approach the PMs to pitch their idea for an off-shoot/ new character development and actually be allowed to do so?


I think that depends on the PMs and their client.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 12:17 pm
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Delusional
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Joined: 16 May 2005
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 		Re: Game Jacking
Star Spider wrote:
Hello!

I have heard bits about game jacking here and there and I wanted to make it a bit more clear in my mind as to what that means. It seems to me that game jacking (according to the community) could be defined as:

Creating a new offshoot of the current ARG with no intent to disclose the fact that it is independant of the PM team creating the ARG - therefore creating a false road for players to traverse without their knowlege. This could be done for fun, profit or ego.

I am not sure if this is totally on the ball - but maybe someone has something to add?


That's about right. With the exception that it's mostly (in my experience) not an actually offshoot of the ARG but a poorly slapped together website with an email address and no real plan as to what to do with the players when you get them there.


Star Spider wrote:

1) Are there games in which game jacking is acceptable? (Perhaps in marketing circumstances where the goal is to spread the word?)


No.
While marketing wants the biggest audience it can get, the potential to hurt what they are doing is greater than the any benefits it could bring.
If they allow a "game jack" to just do whatever they want they are then not in control of that content. So said content may offend some of their player/customer base and if it isn't clear that they are not responsible... well you can see where that would lead.
Also the "game jack" story may not be consistent with the original creating confusion. Imagine if they let/ we accept "game jacks" and another potential "jacker" sees this deciding to create his/her own spin off, this could keep going and going making the whole genre a big mess.

Star Spider wrote:

2) Due to the interactive nature of the ARG world is there a circumstance where creating a new character/storyline would be acceptable? (I heard it mentioned in one thread that perhaps if the person made it clear that they were not an official part of the game then it would not actually be game jacking)


I think that could be acceptable as long as, one, as you said, it be completely clear with %100 certainty that it's fan fiction.
And two it doesn't run alongside the source material so as not to create any confusion.

Star Spider wrote:

3) Is the nature of ARGs so at this point that someone could approach the PMs to pitch their idea for an off-shoot/ new character development and actually be allowed to do so?


Sure it's possible, and I think it would be advisable to get the makers blessing before running off with their creation.
This could only be for grassroots games though, since the company sponsoring a commercial game usually owns the rights to the content.

Star Spider wrote:

4) Is game jacking the right term? It seems to me that when I think off game jacking it suggests that someone has taken complete control of the game and the PMs have lost control.


Yes the first definition you provided is mostly right.
I don't think it could take place the other way, unless in a strange turn of events an experienced/dedicated PM team jacked a shoddy, on the brink of implosion, freewebs/aim game and made it good. But this isn't bizzaro world.

Star Spider wrote:

5) Are there games where this 'complete loss of control' game jacking has taken place? Would it even be possible?


Not that I know of. See above.


The closest thing I can think to a successful "game jacking" is Ilovebees2.
Which didn't actually come about intill long after Ilovebees was done. So it was more fan fiction than game jack and I don't know how much story there really was.
It was also not ever believed to be a legitimate sequel by any but those brand new to ARG's.

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 12:24 pm
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Star Spider
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 		Thanks!
Thanks for the answer guys - cool and very informative!

After all that I wonder how people go about designing a game with 'jacker proofing?' I wonder how people would go about making it so that people could not just randomly take bits of the game and run...

I guess it would just have to be careful monitering of the game world and its surrondings and making sure to work it into the game if people are creating something they shouldn't be and attempting a jack.

Thanks again Very Happy

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:50 pm
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Silent|away
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 		Guarding against gamejacks: Simple. Get the players so interested in your game so that they automatically detect the Game-Jackers for you.

You could also send everything in the same method, or have characters the players know are in fact part of the game introduce brand new characters, to help guard against game jacking.

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:51 pm
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rose
...and then Magic happens


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Quote:
After all that I wonder how people go about designing a game with 'jacker proofing?' I wonder how people would go about making it so that people could not just randomly take bits of the game and run...


People have accomplished this in various creative ways. Probably working with someone who knows what they are doing would help in developing a design that is "jacker proof." I know that in Metacortechs the PMs came up with a unique symbol to indicate sites that were in-game. In other games, like Year Zero, the overall look and design of the page clearly indicated that a site was in-game. In last call poker all of the in-game pages fed off of a main site that couldn't be tampered with by outsiders. In Perplexcity, certain artwork and images accompanied each site.

I'm not saying it is a simple thing to do, but it has been done, and done very well in games simply by a design or design element that can't easily be copied.

I think that people who are creating a more superficial viral marketing campaign, like the 1-18-08 promotion, aren't concerned with developing a design from the outset that players will recognize as "in-game." Because they are beginning from a different set of goals, the design is completely different. If you are simply building a buzz machine, the more sites you get imitating you the better, or so I hear the thinking goes. If that is your concern, then you aren't worried about being uniquely recognizable. The down side of that, of course, is that your promotion can get mixed up with any other one, as in the case of Ethan Haas and 1-18-08.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 6:27 am
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FLmutant
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 		I have a slightly different perspective on the game jack issue that some others, I think. I don't think the "game jack" actually happens because a fan does something ... outside of those situations where a player is literally trying to disrupt the game (SomethingAwful was rooting for the goons in Art of the Heist and left us some completely hillariously inappropriate phone messages, I think hoping they would automatically go up on the site.)

The game jack happens when the community can't tell the difference between the fan material and the official material. That's not the fault of the "game jacker" (although perhaps they exploited a shortcoming in design.) Non-ARG example -- in "Nothing So Strange" we had an "archived CNN page" of the Bill Gates assassination in 1999, a parody about how CNN rushes to broadcast without any real information to report. In the context of our universe, it was a safe element. Then a fan made a copy of it, put it on another webhost of their own, and changed it so the date was today instead of 1999.

Now ... with the page not being on CNN, you'd think people wouldn't fall for that. Especially not say, journalists. When the Secret Service called me and explained that the Koreas and China were reporting Gates had just been shot dead, the stock markets there froze the trading of Microsoft stock ... and then asked if I were a currency devaluer? I felt a little out of control my universe at that point Smile

So in reality, the "I'm going to hide behind the curtain" is a game mechanic, but alot of ARG developers don't treat it that way. Example, GMD Studios doesn't hide domain registrations anymore (oh, yeah, did we use to) -- it's probably illegal, and in those cases where say Secret Agents have to call you and grill you, it is good for them to see the wall between the fiction and reality. That means, at least on GMD games, seeing that we own the domain name is a pretty good sign that the site in question is, in fact, in game and official. As soon as I start registering some domains hidden and some obvious? I've destroyed the game mechanism that helps the players sort "offical" from "unofficial".

So the challenge isn't to try to keep people from "taking pieces and running" ... it is in having an obvious mechanism for the audience to sort official from not-official early in their discovery process.

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 6:34 am
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rose
...and then Magic happens


Joined: 26 Nov 2003
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 		Yeah, FLMutant explains it better than I did, listen to him. Smile
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 6:41 am
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Schrijvertje
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Joined: 14 May 2007
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 		Shocked Could it be I'm guilty of game jacking?

A while back there was this potential new ARG labeled "No More Parents"; it featured an astronomy professor J. Hendler, his daughter Hope, arguments about solar storms and their influence on earth, etc.

It was basically blogging, MySpace and YouTube vids. I liked it so much I made my own blog where I took elements from the in-game websites, using the same anagrams and imagery, but it was only a place where I could talk about my interpretation of the clues.

I even gave the link to the daughter character and she commented it reminded her too much of her dad's. No other remarks, yet after a while the game died - the characters stopped replying to messages.

Another player asked questions about my online presence in this forum, but I was quick to say I was just a fellow player trying to heighten the level of interactivity.

Never once did I wonder whether what I was doing was acceptable by ARG rules. Now I can't help but think that me being such an "active" player, was part of the reason the game suddenly ended, maybe because the PM's thought I was a game-jacker ... Embarassed

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 6:56 am
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rose
...and then Magic happens


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Quote:
Never once did I wonder whether what I was doing was acceptable by ARG rules. Now I can't help but think that me being such an "active" player, was part of the reason the game suddenly ended, maybe because the PM's thought I was a game-jacker


To me a game jack is more of an intentional interference with the game or the story and that includes pretending to other players that you (or your site) is part of the game. What you did sounds more like fan fiction - similar to the actions taken by one player in Year Zero - than an intentional interference with the game or the story. When asked, you clearly identified yourself as a player. You didn't pretend to be an in-game character, have certain knowledge that you didn't have or anything to mislead players into thinking you were a part of the game that the PMs controlled. I don't think you broke any "rules."

Plus these "ARG rules" are more like guidelines anyway.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 7:11 am
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imbriModerator
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 		I wouldn't be so quick to make a blank statement against gamejacking.

By most definitions that I've seen, Metacortechs was a gamejack. We hopped onto a transmedia property and created a game for it. With all of the stuff that was going on in the Matrix Universe (Movies, Shorts, Comics, Games...) there was no reason for people to believe that they wouldn't have an ARG. We gave them one -- unofficially and without disclosing that we were fanfiction.

OpAphid did something very similar with LonelyGirl. The LG15 designers thought highly enough of what this gamejacker had done that they made it an official part of the LG15 universe.

This isn't to say that I would give a blanket approval to gamejacking, but I can't say that I'm opposed to it. To me it comes down to the intent of the gamejackers and their respect of both the original property and the players. Also, I think the burden rests not on the players or gamejackers, but the designers to create a situation where such things can happen comfortably and naturally or be stopped before they can have a negative impact on the game.

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:28 am
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Delusional
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Joined: 16 May 2005
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imbri wrote:

By most definitions that I've seen, Metacortechs was a gamejack. We hopped onto a transmedia property and created a game for it. With all of the stuff that was going on in the Matrix Universe (Movies, Shorts, Comics, Games...) there was no reason for people to believe that they wouldn't have an ARG. We gave them one -- unofficially and without disclosing that we were fanfiction.


I wouldn't have considered that a game jack simply because there was no game to jack.

imbri wrote:

OpAphid did something very similar with LonelyGirl. The LG15 designers thought highly enough of what this gamejacker had done that they made it an official part of the LG15 universe.


Was LG15 a game before the "jacker" came along? I thought it was just a fictional video blog.


My point is I think your definition of "game jack" is a bit broad.
If I'm getting what you are saying, any game made based on a story but not created either by or with consent of the story creator is a game jack?
So if I wanted to create a game based on Flatland I would be game jacking?

To me the term exists only in the context of an already existing ARG, where an individual creates their own game content mimicking that of the existing ARG and attempts to gather players directly from it.

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:59 am
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imbriModerator
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Delusional wrote:
imbri wrote:
By most definitions that I've seen, Metacortechs was a gamejack.


I wouldn't have considered that a game jack simply because there was no game to jack.


The Matrix was a massive transmedia experience. Not only did it span multiple types of media, but events that happened in one were meaningful in the events that happened in another. In the beginning of Reloaded, we see the crew of the Nebuchadnezzer talking about the last transmission of the of the Osiris. That transmission was delivered to the crew by the players of Enter the Matrix who picked it up at a mailbox where it was left by a character in one of the Animatrix shorts. Now, granted, that scene would have occurred in the movie whether or not anybody ever played the game, but you cannot deny that there's a feeling for those that did play the game that they were a part of the story.

That's not the only time something like that occurred throughout the transmedia experience either. There are bits showing up from all the various pieces in other pieces, some to great effect.

Then Metacortechs comes along. With so many other pieces of the universe laid out there, why wouldn't they have had an ARG? A number of people believed that the game was official and they looked through it for the very things that would further the story, just as they did with every other piece of the Matrix universe. Yet we weren't official and had no idea where they were going to go with the third movie. We jacked into their universe and pulled a little chunk of it aside that we made our own. Once people realized that we weren't official, there were plenty of irate Matrix fans - fortunately, there were many other fans that thought what we were doing was fantastic.

I don't know how this isn't a gamejack. There was a solid story universe and there was a game (and a movie and comics and shorts). We came in and did our own thing with it without telling the audience or the designers what we were doing. Isn't that what a gamejack is?

Is it because our intent wasn't to harm the Matrix universe but to expand it (and to show movie people how great ARGs could be)? Is it because we held a deep respect for the designers of the universe as well as the players? Or is it because only certain complex transmedia properties that invite people to find and piece together the story through a wide variety of media over an extended period of time qualify as ARGs (the Matrix being one of these non-qualifiers presumably because of a lack of websites and heavy player agency?) and only ARGs can be gamejacked?

I'm not asking those questions to be a jerk, but to try and come to an understanding. I've seen various qualifiers on what is and is not a gamejack and those have included intent, respect, and ARG status. I, obviously, have difficulty with each of these qualifiers. Why is it ok to "gamejack" some transmedia properties (non-ARGs) but not others (ARGs)? Why does one's intent matter? Why does level of respect change things?

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 1:40 pm
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Star Spider
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 		Intent and Games
Delusional:

I think that intention is very important but the problem with intention is that one can never really know the truth. People can lie about intention or change their story depending on who they are talking to.

I think the reason whyMetacortechs (MC) might not be a Game Jack per say is because there was no actual - direct Game that it tapped into. The universe itself was broad and multi dimensional and from what it sounds like MC merely created its own niche within the universe itself - not taking away from an actual Game but adding to the vast store of information and activity within an entire universe. It would be more like making a tart and adding it to the pie then stealing a piece. And by the way you are describing it it sounds like there was no actual ARG happening there. Game Jacking is a specific term for ARG hostile take over attempts it seems to me and as there was no ARG (except when you created one) then there can be no game jack.

Yes you took a piece of the universe. Yes you ran with the story. But did you dig into someone else's ARG to do so? But what you have said it seems not.

FLmutant:

That is totally nutty about the Secret Service - I guess it just goes to show how effective things can be - even if we think it unlikely. Critical thinking and occams razor are not something that obviously apply in Alternate Realities Smile

That is an interesting thing to ponder though - the clear demarkation between reality and game world. I am wondering how far the boundaries can go - not just online - but in live action as well. I am researching and experimenting with live action games/alternate realities and I am finding it a difficult line to learn about. How to make it clear to live players that they are in game while still upholding the TINAG principal. Obviously it will have to be experimented with but there are a lot of factors to be considered - especially the authorities.

Also all of this talk of game jacking is making me wonder about live action game jacking - that is another thing to consider as I can only imagine that if piracy is such a concern online it can only be similar off.

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:09 pm
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rose
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Joined: 26 Nov 2003
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Quote:
That is an interesting thing to ponder though - the clear demarkation between reality and game world. I am wondering how far the boundaries can go - not just online - but in live action as well. I am researching and experimenting with live action games/alternate realities and I am finding it a difficult line to learn about. How to make it clear to live players that they are in game while still upholding the TINAG principal. Obviously it will have to be experimented with but there are a lot of factors to be considered - especially the authorities.


The players are really good at marking the boundaries of the game world. As your research as probably shown you we have had many successful live action events. As I mentioned before, if you are planning on doing a game, and you have these kinds of questions, I would strongly suggest that you find someone to work with who knows what they are doing, knows what to expect from players, and, most importantly to me, respects the players.

I could be wrong but I sense a feeling of unease in your questions which relates to the way people act in situations online and in the real world. Maybe you are just curious, but you don't seem to understand the way players act in given situations. I'm a bit of a player advocate myself, so I may defensively be seeing something that isn't there in your questions.

I'm sure if you look into this more you will find the many live action events in games from ilovebees, Orbital Colony, Art of the Heist, Last Call Poker, PerplexCity, Who is Benjamin Stove, Doomskull, Monster Hunters Club, Year Zero (there may be others but those are the ones I was aware of or participated in) were able to be run with the players respecting the boundary of the game space. I know there have been papers written by Jane McGonigal ( and probably others) about this as well, so the research is out there if you look for it.

Again, if you want to do this, find some experts and get good advice. There is no point in reinventing the wheel and there is no point in making mistakes from ignorance or lack of experience that could easily be avoided.

Quote:
I think that intention is very important but the problem with intention is that one can never really know the truth. People can lie about intention or change their story depending on who they are talking to.


Again, this may be due to your lack of experience or research. It can be very clear when someone intends to interfere with a game. They put up misleading leads, drive traffic to their own sites. Experienced players can pick this out pretty quickly.

In fact the players in 1-18-08 have had determining what is in-game and out of game as their primary means of game play since that trailer was released. They are superb at it, although it has made them cynical. They can tell what is basically a joke and what is designed to interfere with the game.

A bit off topic here but for completeness: The same level of cynicism won't play well in other games because the information in those games may be trustworthy. In one recently launched game the cynicism these players had developed in 1-18-08 and carried them with them to that newly launched game, caused them to attack a professor from NYU who was simply reporting on a package he had received from the PMs. It was incredibly rude and didn't look well for them or the forums. I doubt that person has a good feeling about unfiction or ARGs, though I don't want to speak for him.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 3:59 pm
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