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labfly
Unfettered
Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 717 Location: nyc or the haunted house in maine
gamasutra interview with Adriana Skarped http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19130
interesting interview - thought the questions could have been better. gamasutra still acts as if they've barely heard of ARGs
i love that Adriana spoke about the connection between theatre and ARGs (i would take it a step further and say that pm-ing is many times like being an actor and director on a live stage when you are feeling the audience - and can sense how much to push and pull)
at one point Adriana Skarped is asked about being the game master (designer) and playing a character in the ARG at the same time - and she responds that she might be the first do this
check it out
_________________r u a sammeeeee? yep.
resident of Snow Town
(friend of Peeps & Peg)
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:46 pm
konamouse
Official uF Dietitian
Joined: 02 Dec 2002 Posts: 8010 Location: My own alternate reality
Re: gamasutra interview with Adriana Skarped
labfly wrote:
at one point Adriana Skarped is asked about being the game master (designer) and playing a character in the ARG at the same time - and she responds that she might be the first do this
OMG! Does she think she is the center of all that is ARG? We all know that is so NOT the truth. Playing a character and being the PM goes all the way back to The Beast and Lockjaw....and continued through to Sammeeeees.
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:18 pm
krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice
Joined: 26 Sep 2002 Posts: 3651 Location: Is not Chicago
Many people do not know this, but I was the first person to combine peanut butter and chocolate into a tasty snack.
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xbl gamertag: krystyn
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:04 am
notgordian
Unfictologist
Joined: 23 Nov 2006 Posts: 1383 Location: Philly
Wow, krystyn, you invented Peanut Butter Twix?
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:05 am
krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice
Joined: 26 Sep 2002 Posts: 3651 Location: Is not Chicago
Y-yes!
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xbl gamertag: krystyn
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:07 am
labfly
Unfettered
Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 717 Location: nyc or the haunted house in maine
i totally agree, kona. it's strange to me that you would dive into this genre of storytelling and not know about "beast" and "bees" and "lockjaw". like if someone were to make a movie for the first time, you would study previous works (especially some of the very successful works) before you begin the production. maybe that's just the artist in me. i think its important to learn all you can about the craft. oh well. they did manage create a really great cross-media story.
and krystyn, aren't you also responsible for the classic old school reeses p-butter choco cup?
_________________r u a sammeeeee? yep.
resident of Snow Town
(friend of Peeps & Peg)
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:09 am
konamouse
Official uF Dietitian
Joined: 02 Dec 2002 Posts: 8010 Location: My own alternate reality
Who is Adriana?
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r u a Sammeeeee? I am Forever!
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:17 am
labfly
Unfettered
Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 717 Location: nyc or the haunted house in maine
one of the designers and performers behind "the truth about marika"
http://www.thecompanyp.com/site/?page_id=7
_________________r u a sammeeeee? yep.
resident of Snow Town
(friend of Peeps & Peg)
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:25 am
krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice
Joined: 26 Sep 2002 Posts: 3651 Location: Is not Chicago
I inscribed 1's and 0's upon the pb-choco cups, and lo, it was summer, and lo, my game never launched.
It was a good game, too. You woulda liked it.
_________________
Alternate Currency
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:32 am
Nighthawk
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee
Joined: 14 Jul 2007 Posts: 4751 Location: Miami, Florida, USA, Earth
konamouse wrote:
labfly wrote:
at one point Adriana Skarped is asked about being the game master (designer) and playing a character in the ARG at the same time - and she responds that she might be the first do this
OMG! Does she think she is the center of all that is ARG? We all know that is so NOT the truth. Playing a character and being the PM goes all the way back to The Beast and Lockjaw....and continued through to Sammeeeees.
I don't know... since I couldn't handle the load, the seven characters in my first ARG were portrayed by trained monkeys.
_________________"Omne ignotum pro magnifico"
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:37 am
krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice
Joined: 26 Sep 2002 Posts: 3651 Location: Is not Chicago
I think she might've been referring to interactions such as this:
Quote:
there was even a moment when players were supposed to rescue Skarped from a van where she was actually bound and gagged.
... which is a little more edgy and at the very least more physically immersive than IRC/IM chats full of Shakespeare (that's what the trained monkeys were typing, right? )
She still wasn't the first to do that sort of work in the genre, but the world is very large, and labeling oneself as an innovator in this genre is pretty par for the course. Lots of people have never, ever heard of Unfiction, so I am not sure it's entirely fair to get huffy about considering this community's history as required reading. It's a good idea , sure, but plenty of games have been launched and concluded successfully outside of these environs since the Beast. The world did not end as a result of these actions.
Getting back the article ...
Skarped interview wrote:
What about the connection between theater and games? A lot of developers talk about movies and games, because they watch a lot of movies, but do you think there might be more relation to theater?
AS: Yeah, absolutely. I think that is an underdeveloped area to explore. I think it's amazingly interesting. What gaming has in common with theater is not the relationship between the audience and actors on stage, but rather the relationship between the actors.
It is evolving, it is engaging, and the action actually takes place between the players themselves, rather than between the audience and the players. So I think that games, and especially ARGs, can learn a lot from theater.
Interesting statement, but I am not sure exactly what she's saying here. The relationship between actors is what gaming has in common with theater, and yet the action takes place between the players, who appear to be a separate entity from a group called the audience. I am thinking that maybe it's just a language issue/word-choice-under-pressure issue, probably.
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:23 am
konamouse
Official uF Dietitian
Joined: 02 Dec 2002 Posts: 8010 Location: My own alternate reality
In a movie the relationship is all between the actors and the director, the audience is passive and has limited involvement. Their interaction with the movie is one-sided, their interaction amongst eachother is perhaps one of "ooh, that was good" or "damn, that sucked". They go their separate ways after the show. Poof!
In the theatre, it's much the same, albeit there is opportunity for interaction between audience and characters (depending on the venue/the author/the director/the type of show). However, Improv is a great example of relationships built with actors/audience and even amonst the audience/audience. And the audience helps create the CF that appears on the stage. This is quite close to much of what makes ARGs fun for me - the live interaction, the response of the actors to the suggestions of the audience (much like how players interact with ARG characters and can turn the story). But after the show, people still go their separate ways.
ARG/CF has built communities the exist beyond the show. Characters may or may not engage with the audience (AREs tend towards the "we don't change our story at the suggestions of strangers" and seem to follow a more linear path - which suits the marketing model fairly well) and players may or may not engage with eachother (there are many in the audience who don't find other players, or choose to go it alone for whatever reason).
So, again, to me this lady has not done much research in the genre before pushing herself in the forefront as an expert. And her answer to the question didn't make any sense to me. I think she was pulling something out of her butt - a laudible attempt (because I do think that ARGs have a lot in common with live theatre) but it makes me go "huh?" reading it three or four times.
_________________
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r u a Sammeeeee? I am Forever!
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:41 am
krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice
Joined: 26 Sep 2002 Posts: 3651 Location: Is not Chicago
Where did she call herself an expert?
Her lecture was specifically tooled to talk about the game for which she just won an Emmy.
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Stories and dreams, crossing my palm like silver.
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:50 am
aliendial
Unfictologist
Joined: 29 Sep 2002 Posts: 3438 Location: Far Far Away. Nowhere Near You. Really.
All this aside - I think this was a game we would have loved. If it was in english. It really sounded like tons of fun and highly interactive.
_________________aliendial
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:35 pm
krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice
Joined: 26 Sep 2002 Posts: 3651 Location: Is not Chicago
I like fun.
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Alternate Currency
Stories and dreams, crossing my palm like silver.
xbl gamertag: krystyn
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:26 pm
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