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Forum index » Meta » General META Discussion

Some Questions About ARGs
Moderators: imbri, ndemeter

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AEther
Greenhorn

Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 4

Some Questions About ARGs
I WANT YOU, to help with some questions I have

hey, i'm doing a research paper on ARGs, so i would greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to answer my questions

what are some of your favorite aspects about playing ARGs?

what things do you think are missing from most/all ARGs, what would want to improve for future games?

would you stop playing if ARGs became over-comercialized and there was a lot of advertisements everywhere?

do you think the fact that ARGs are referred to as 'games' attracts/turns away certain people?

what would your reactions be if schools were to introduce ARGs as a teaching tool in subjects like social sciences?

do you believe args would benefit from more participants? If so, what do you think is the best method for attracting more participants?

do you think ARGs would benefit from more of a graphical user interface, for example one similar to IMVUs?

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:48 pm

notgordian
Unfictologist

Joined: 23 Nov 2006
Posts: 1383
Location: Philly

Re: Some Questions About ARGs
I WANT YOU, to help with some questions I have

Quote:

what are some of your favorite aspects about playing ARGs?

I love to see the revitalization and reimagining of different media jumbled together to tell a story. There's also something incredible about observing communities spring up for various games: some of the more popular games have cultivated relationships resulting in marriage (the most recent example I'm aware of being with "Beyond the Rave", where a third player actually officiated.)

Quote:

what things do you think are missing from most/all ARGs, what would want to improve for future games?

Most often, the missing factor seems to be accessibility. ARGs can be so complex that designers often neglect to develop experiences for people looking for an experience that doesn't require committing hours upon end to follow/play.

Quote:

would you stop playing if ARGs became over-comercialized and there was a lot of advertisements everywhere?

This seems like a leading question. I tend to enjoy seeing ARGs that are used as an advertising vector, as there is an added challenge in developing the product, message, or brand into the experience. I also think that the increased budget allows designers a lot more flexibility to try new and innovative things.

Quote:

do you think the fact that ARGs are referred to as 'games' attracts/turns away certain people?

Yes, I think referring to ARGs as "games" discourages a decent number of people from playing. However, that would be true for just about any categorization. I'd imagine using alternative terms such as "new media", "cross media", and "experimental art" would each have their detractors.

Quote:

what would your reactions be if schools were to introduce ARGs as a teaching tool in subjects like social sciences?

I'd be glad to hear it. I'm a big fan of Howard Gardner's theories on intelligence, and feel like providing students with more ways to engage the subject matter can help the educational system greatly. Providing teachers with the resources and time to effectively implement and/or design experiences would be a challenge, though.

Quote:

do you believe args would benefit from more participants? If so, what do you think is the best method for attracting more participants?

Yes, I think ARGs could benefit from larger audiences and more participants. There are a lot of great games out there that seem to get relatively little attention if only because there are so many games going on, and each one requires a considerable investment of time. I think one of the biggest challenges is for developers to target different communities and market segments when releasing games.

Quote:

do you think ARGs would benefit from more of a graphical user interface, for example one similar to IMVUs?

Possibly. Playstation Home just completed Xi, an Alternate Reality Game that took place over their console's GUI Second Life clone. It seemed fairly popular. I'm not a big fan of IMVU myself, but using those programs a media are a great way to bring in new audiences from the established userbase. Beyond the Rave achieved a large, trackable following through the use of a GUI on the MySpace platform.

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:45 pm

AEther
Greenhorn

Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 4

thank you and keep it comming

thanks a heap notgordian, your answers are incredibly helpful, I would greatly appreciate it if another 2 or 3 players out there could answer these questions as well. I thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:04 am

AEther
Greenhorn

Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 4

please help

hey, sorry to double post but i really need another 2 or 3 responses, please help me out here

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 3:11 am

October
Unfettered

Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 362
Location: Houston, Texas, USA

Hi, AEther - I'll take a stab at answering your questions.

Quote:

what are some of your favorite aspects about playing ARGs?

I love the community that forms around a well-developed and presented game. Watching the players working together to problem-solve or just watching them talk about the world of the game as if it was real, and even better, being one of those players, gives me a sense of being part of "something bigger". In fact, I think the way a good game makes its players a part of itself and allows them to be a part of something that is greater than themselves is another feature about ARGs that I deeply enjoy.

Quote:

what things do you think are missing from most/all ARGs, what would want to improve for future games?

All the games I've played or have seen played have been quite different from one another, so it's hard to say what is missing from "most" or "all" ARGs. Every game has its strength and weakness. I am going to agree with notgordian that every game could have improved with better accessibility, although some more than others.

Along the same lines, I know that new players are often intimidated at starting to play a game when it is in the middle or near the end; developers have been working to make it less difficult to join games after they've begun, but it's sort of the same problem you have with someone coming into the middle of a movie or a play - the only thing to be done is to send them back to the beginning so they can see what's happened before the moment they walked in. Some games, like Eldritch Errors, have a "meta site" where a synopsis of previous game events is posted.

Quote:

would you stop playing if ARGs became over-comercialized and there was a lot of advertisements everywhere?

I don't think I'll ever stop playing ARGs because there will always be ARG developers who know that blatant advertising is not necessary when using ARGs for marketing a product.

The benefit of ARGs when used as marketing tools comes from the idea that they are not "advertising" so much as a way to build brand loyalty and raise a positive awareness of a product. If a game incorporates overt advertising for the product it's attached to, it breaks that fragile bubble of the story world that has been developed for the game or experience and risks pulling the player out of his or her suspension of disbelief, which is a negative experience for the player. Marketing departments don't want negativity associated with their products!

The game for the Halo 2 launch, ilovebees, never once mentioned consoles or console games, and even the event that had people playing Halo 2 before the launch was labeled as a "training session". Yet, everyone who experienced ilovebees knew at some point in the game play that the game was about Halo 2.

Like notgordian, I enjoy seeing ARGs used to market products, and I think anyone using ARGs as a marketing tool would do well to know why ARGs work and why placing advertisements within the game won't have have the same benefits as a well-crafted, unique experience developed for a product's target audience.

Quote:

do you think the fact that ARGs are referred to as 'games' attracts/turns away certain people?

I think we (still) don't have a very good definition for ARGs. I guess some people might be turned off by the word "game", but like notgordian said, every term you could possibly use is going to have negative associations for someone, somewhere. Not all ARGs are as much like games as the acronym would imply. Some are deeply immersive stories with few game elements; others are one huge treasure hunt. I do find the term "ARG" limiting when defining the genre; I like "new media" a little better, although it's such a broad term, and I don't think it's any more attractive or repulsive to people than the word "game".

Quote:

what would your reactions be if schools were to introduce ARGs as a teaching tool in subjects like social sciences?

I know that if teachers had used ARGs as teaching tools when I was in school, I would have liked school much better than I did!! Children are very responsive to educational play, and using games to teach has more benefit, I think, than plonking the kids in desks and making them copy stuff off the chalkboard. You can tell a kid about what's happening in the world today, and they'll take notes and maybe remember enough to fill in the right bubble on the test. But if you take that information and present it to the kid in a way that he or she can interact meaningfully with it, or work with his or her peers in solving a problem or a puzzle, the kid will remember that experience (if it's a good one) forever - along with the information. I think ARGs are an excellent teaching tool if correctly presented, and I think there have already been a couple of schools that have used them in one form or another.

Quote:

do you believe args would benefit from more participants? If so, what do you think is the best method for attracting more participants?

I think they could - as notgordian mentioned, there are so many games that get so little attention. Also, a larger player base makes games flow a little more smoothly, in my opinion, as game content can be processed faster when you've got more people working on it. A small player base can be easily overwhelmed and discouraged if the game content moves too fast for the amount of time they're able to invest.

As for attracting more participants - to attract players for their games and experiences, puppetmasters and developers have to get creative. A game can find players by word-of-mouth from other players; a local game can seek players with locally placed game elements; swag is always a good inducement to play; etc. I don't think there's a "best" method; I think developers have to choose a method that will be most attractive to their target audience, and that's going to change with each game/experience.

Quote:

do you think ARGs would benefit from more of a graphical user interface, for example one similar to IMVUs?

I think an ARG with a GUI would be fun to play. If I'd had the console, I'd have loved to have played Xi. But I don't think ALL ARGs would benefit from a GUI; many times, ARGs are fun to play specifically because they're NOT video games; it's fun to be your own avatar instead of using someone else's, and not having to sit down at a console is one of the features that many people value in ARGs. I'll say again - every game is different. What's important is that developers understand how their design choices will affect their audience. There are lots of people who will like using a console or interface to play an ARG; there are people like me who would try it and probably enjoy it but not want to play like that all the time; there are other people who want a more "traditional" (ie, non-console) style of play when they think of ARGs.

I hope these answers help a little bit!

_________________
If you immediately know the candlelight is fire, then the meal was cooked a long time ago.

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:29 pm

AEther
Greenhorn

Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 4

one or two more please

thank you so much October, i can't tell how much of a help this is, this site is so much friendlier and more active than other ARG forums, i didn't anyone respond on most of the other forums. Community of unfiction.com i thank for your support so far and beg another one or two of you to come and please respond to my questions.

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:34 pm

Caseys_Mom
Unfettered

Joined: 21 Jan 2009
Posts: 553

I don't have much playing experience... but I'll try to answer your questions. Hope it helps you.

Quote:

what are some of your favorite aspects about playing ARGs?

I think the first thing I noticed about them is that you learn so much while your playing. With many games you get to do alot of research that you normally wouldn't do. Some games are focused around historical events, people, places, inventions, theories, the Bible, mythology, science, art, or any number of other things. It's really amazing at the depth of some of the stuff involved in solving a puzzle or finding the next clue.
You also learn how to do research, where to look, how to search, etc.

Quote:

what things do you think are missing from most/all ARGs, what would want to improve for future games?

I think maybe some games could stand to be "guided" a little better than they are. It makes it difficult to advance if you have no idea which general direction it might be going. Some games seem to be all over the place with numerous pages of thoughts, ideas, guesses.. but no one knows what it is about yet.
Or if there happens to be a puzzle that totally causes the game to stop until/unless it's solved. That's very discouraging to have all that time invested, (by pm and players), only to have the game come to a dead stop. Always have a back-up plan/puzzle, another way around or through the obstacle.
Also I think the real-life events, meetings, drops, etc. are very cool... as long as they are safe.

Quote:

would you stop playing if ARGs became over-comercialized and there was a lot of advertisements everywhere?

probably. It's much better for the advertising to be "unseen". It makes you even more interested than if it's "in your face". Plus it is kind of cool to know that a company is providing entertainment, for it's consumers enjoyment-that's the best advertising. It's easier for us to appreciate that the company is thinking of us rather than flooding us with meaningless advertisements just to get our attention and then drop us.
**Unless that advertising is in the form of the free swag that gets sent to people. That's AWESOME advertising value. And a little goes a long way...

Quote:

do you think the fact that ARGs are referred to as 'games' attracts/turns away certain people?

I personally don't think so. A "game" definitely has more appeal to me than "advertising", or "marketing".

Quote:

what would your reactions be if schools were to introduce ARGs as a teaching tool in subjects like social sciences?

I think it could be very effective. As I said before, playing these args is educational anyway. Not only would they learn about the "topic" of the game.. they would be learning how to "think", investigate, research, plan, and use that combined information to form their conclusions. I think it would be great. It would be teaching them real-life problem solving skills and techniques, teamwork, brainstorming, creative writing, or whatever else would be involved.

Quote:

do you believe args would benefit from more participants? If so, what do you think is the best method for attracting more participants?

I'm not really sure that more always means better.... many times it doesn't.
I think the games that kick off with items being mailed out seem to get the quickest/most attention.
It seems to also increase the amount of players if it includes more than one "target". Such as also appealing to video gamers, book readers, music lovers, movie watchers, comics, geocachers, and other groups.

Quote:

do you think ARGs would benefit from more of a graphical user interface, for example one similar to IMVUs?

I don't think so, but others might. I feel like that might actually take away from the whole experience.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:57 pm

Tresbien
Unfictologist

Joined: 09 Jun 2006
Posts: 1436

Quote:

what are some of your favorite aspects about playing ARGs?

For me it's primarily about the story. It's exciting to be able to influence it and interact with the characters. Solving puzzles or contributing to their solution with a group keeps me interested.

Quote:

what things do you think are missing from most/all ARGs, what would want to improve for future games?

Since I've been following Must Love Robots, I've thought more about humor in ARGS and would like to see more efforts as creative and funny as that one.

Quote:

would you stop playing if ARGs became over-comercialized and there was a lot of advertisements everywhere?

My first ARG was The LOST Experience, which was sponsored by abc, Sprite, Verizon, Jeep and monster.com. The advertising didn't concern me at all; rather, I was very impressed by the creativity of the first four corporate teams.

Quote:

do you think the fact that ARGs are referred to as 'games' attracts/turns away certain people?

I can't speak for anyone else. Smile

Quote:

what would your reactions be if schools were to introduce ARGs as a teaching tool in subjects like social sciences?

I would think the schools were forward thinking in trying new ways to teach that also are fun.

Quote:

do you believe args would benefit from more participants? If so, what do you think is the best method for attracting more participants

Each game is different but I think most would benefit from more players. If one is tied to a person's particular interests, they might be more likely to play. So reach out directly to groups connected to one's target audience is my suggestion.

Quote:

do you think ARGs would benefit from more of a graphical user interface, for example one similar to IMVUs?

Anything that facilitates communication is useful.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:53 pm

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