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[Ririri123]

The Big ARG

[SirQuady]

It's something I know I've thought of before. I think it would be tough without a stash of cash behind it. But it's always good to ponder such things...

The international market is big too. I notice that Find the Lost Ring appears to be attempting to break the language barrier, with trailheads sent to Argentinians, Germans, etc.

And yeah, ARGs are in no way mainstream. It's the kind of thing that more and more people are hearing about though. Just the fact that magazines like Wired and people like the guys at Penny Arcade can talk about them means they are becoming more and more mainstream.

[Zaranai]

A lot of the mainstreaming is from mainsteam things starting to have ARGs attached... Heroes, Lost, Torchwood, the Olympics, etc. What's moreso the problem, I think, is that people are playing ARGs (the ones attached to TV shows especially) and don't know it. I know I personally never would have found this community if I weren't pulled into the LocateMyFriends/ProjectOphiuchus game by someone on the message boards who was playing it. Now I'm following like 3 games and thinking of trying my hand at making my own. XD

If it became common practice for ARGs to say in their "this is a game" disclaimer to have links to ARGN or UF, the mainstreaming process might go a bit faster. I've stumbled across a few games before but couldn't get into them because I got confused and, with no support, gave up. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a huge number of people out there who've done the same.

[Wittgenstein]

The principles of ARG, I believe, are profoundly against the current model of the MSM. In a nutshell: ARG is about individual empowerment, it is about collective intelligence, and it is about interactivity. The current (becoming dated, perhaps) model of the MSM is about massing people together to take away their power, it is about blind sheep-itude, and it is about consumption on the part of the audience.

The internet is pretty righteous, I think. And specifically, because ARG has some of the characteristics of a "liberated" medium, I think it has a lot of potential, but it's not for everyone...or maybe it is, we just need a paradigm shift.

[anonymousloli]

It's possible. We just need to fine a way to make a mainstream ARG that has nothing to do with a TV show.

You're never going to get everyone playing, if your ARG is just to amuse your viewers during the off season.

It needs to be an ARG that isn't viral marketing, but IS fun. It needs to be reasonably paced. It needs to make sense to a wide range of people. It needs to have a beginning (during which most players are found), middle (some stragglers come in), and end (hopefully no new players at this point). It has to have some easy puzzles, and some hard ones, and a respectful community that isn't afraid to help each other.

Silverladder got very close to being that. A good portion of my fellow passengers had never heard the term ARG before finding Silverladder. I suggest that any PM trying to get a game mainstream study up on that game, and any of the other big games (even the ones that were just viral marketing).


A mainstream game would also need to be advertised like crazy, which would make it extremely costly for the PMs.

[thebruce]

Well at this point, if you take a look at The Lost Ring, I' arguably say it's already up there potentially with the most populated args, it's not behind a major tv brand, it's goal is utter mainstream, with the hope of millions of players by the closing olympic ceremonies. And not being attached to anything pre-existing other than the Oympic brand. It's not selling anything, it's intended to become a fun game that anyone anywhere can join in at any point. And it has the poduction value because it has the backing of major corporations, who aren't in it to sell their produce (at least primarily, obviously, or actively)

It'll be interesting to see how this one ends up in the grand scheme of the "Big ARG" as per this thread.

[Zaranai]

Ehhh. I think The Lost Ring counts as a marketing thing too. The Olympics are becoming less of a big deal as sports move out of the spotlight and electronic gadgets take over. It's kinda like the Miss America Pageant - it has its hardcore followers, but you'd be hard-pressed to walk up to someone on the street, ask them what country won an event (much less what person) and them have any idea. Noone I know watches any event other than the floor gymnastics... And I didn't even know the games were this year until the ARG started. Though it's not obvious marketing like being connected to a tv show, it is designed to draw attention to the games, make people learn more about them, and get people more interested.

I like the idea of The Big ARG being something not related to anything else... Having it be a completely standalone project would go far in its 'street cred', I think. Then it would be more like its own game (think Kingdom Hearts or the Final Fantasy series' lack of continuity from game to game) versus a spinoff of something else (think any game based off a movie.) Which would you rather play?

Having it be something self-contained would grant a bit more flexibility than if there was something to compare it to. With my earlier example of a video game based off a movie (especially those based off kid's movies) you know what is going to happen before you even buy it. With the Olympics game, as soon as we knew what it was for we knew the ultimate moral of the game is going to be something about world communication and unity. If your game has nothing to do with anything previously known, all people have to go off of are tropes and cliches, nothing solid or that can't be smashed with a plot twist and sent off in another direction.

[thebruce]

[catherwood]

[thebruce]

[anonymousloli]

[Zaranai]

Even have in my sig that I'm a chick and still get called a he. There is no winning. XD

I wasn't saying that TLR was *just* marketing, no, I was saying simply that it is marketing. While it's not screaming "you go watch Olympics now!" (though there'll probably be some story reasons to later since the game ends the day of the closing ceremonies) it is drawing attention to the Olympics. Kind of like how I Love Bees had its own storyline, characters, and goals, but it was set in the Halo universe.

I agree with catherwood in that even charities can be marketed, but what I was talking about was anything corporate - look at 42 Entertainment's portfolio for what I mean. If it was marketing an idea, like an acceptance of others kind of a thing, then I'd think it was normal. XD Pretty much any game or story can be said to be promoting some big picture idea.

And on this part:

[Jas0n]

I'm just curious about all the marketing and promotions talk. One thing that doesn't seem to be taken into account is product placement types of promotions or pure sponsorships. When we watch a movie today, often times we'll see an apple laptop, a mountain dew vending machine, an Axe body spray billboard and we won't pay much attention to them, but they are a form of advertising in a story-based medium. If we had ARGs doing the same thing, would they get attention for being a "marketing" ARG or would they simply be a Narrative supported by marketing?

I love narratives with ARGs, building up the characters into relationships with the players. I love plot twists and all several of the things that make reading a book and watching a movie such a fun activity. ARGs can compound those activities and this big ARG - it's a dream worth dreaming - but if you're focused on whether or not it's a marketing ARG, then you've already started down the wrong path.

[thebruce]

Well there was the hooplah about Covergirl in Cathy's Book.
The reference has reportedly been removed in current reprints.

[Rekidk]