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The Big ARG
Moderators: imbri

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Rogi Ocnorb
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 4266
Location: Where the cheese is free.

"Now, all restaurants are Taco Bell."

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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:03 pm

Nighthawk
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 4751
Location: Miami, Florida, USA, Earth

Well I'm still waiting for IBM to send me a check, so...

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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:01 am

PandemicSoul
Kilroy

Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 1

The big time

Personally, I've always believed that the easiest way to "hit the big time" with an ARG would be to base it on history, instead of the future, or science-fiction elements, or fantasy elements, or "murder mystery" elements.

And by this, I mean to base the game around compelling people to get out in the real world and simply learn more about the history of where they're at.

Think about the history of, say, New York City. What if you could write a game that had people searching through long-dusty library stacks? Searching pre-"safety-fied" (but obviously closed) subway tunnels? Learning about old buildings and seeking to understand how communities have risen and fallen in the city?

By tying in a large-scale learning experience and exploration experience, you'd be getting not only the young folks (how many social studies teachers would give their chalk-writing hand for a way to engage students in a thorough study of history?), young adults (urban exploration in subway tunnels? a chance to be social in the city?), but even adults (exploring with children, learning about city, again, being social with other parents or adults). Indeed, you'll still have a vast majority who are too poor to worry about such a thing, or too busy to care about such a thing, but in a city like New York I think you do have a big population that is highly entrenched in "the idea" of NYC, and also very interested in taking a great part in learning, exploring, and being a part of the community.

Los Angeles is another great example, simply for the fact that it's got such a long, entertainment-drenched history which has plenty of opportunities for story-mining. Coupled with the agreeable weather and large, diverse population, it's another boon for an ARG if they can hit the right tones.

If you can find a way to get the city and perhaps a few local-minded corporations to sponsor the thing, you're pretty much golden I would imagine.

I've over-simplified a little, but the basic point here is that if you seek less to delve into murder mystery or fantasy/sci-fi/futurism elements, and spend more time melding the world of community involvement, city exploration and geocaching, and learning, you have the potential to really blow the field wide open and create something as big as The Beast in a smaller geographic population.

(BTW: count me in if you want to do such a thing! Razz

)

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:23 am

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