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 Forum index » Meta » General META Discussion
ARGs and Full Media Storytelling
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vpisteve
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Joined: 30 Sep 2002
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 		ARGs and Full Media Storytelling
How can ubiquitous technology entertain us?
Hey guys. I've been talking a lot about the various ways ARGs have told stories, and how they relate to this whole transmedia thing. It struck me that narrative mechanisms have been very diverse in ARGs, way beyond the mere blogs or webisodes.

I've posted slides from some of these recent talks here. Now that I'm no longer at 42 (and bound by all of their silly restrictions Razz ), I'm trying encourage a lot more open-source type dialog, and hopefully these will be of use for budding puppetmasters.

Are there any favorite story delivery mechanics that I may have missed? What are your favorites, most compelling, etc.?

ETA: Link is back
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PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2009 8:36 pm
Last edited by vpisteve on Sun Sep 13, 2009 12:30 am; edited 2 times in total
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catherwood
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 4109
Location: Silicon Valley, CA

 		Re: ARGs and Full Media Storytelling
How can ubiquitous technology entertain us?
vpisteve wrote:
Are there any favorite story delivery mechanics that I may have missed?

I didn't click the whole way thru the slides yet, but I wasn't seeing anything labeled "story delivery mechanics". Is there a list somewhere?

Does it count as "story delivery" when I read a backlog of emails between characters? Sure it does, because there is some chronology of events implied. Does reading a character's book of poetry count, if it doesn't further the story, but does flesh out a character's emotional state? I'm not sure how you want to define the term.

PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2009 10:45 pm
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natas
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 		I can follow the general idea of the presentation by just viewing the slides, but it's hard to know exactly what was discussed by just the pictures. I'm not sure if dead drops were discussed, but that of course is one of my favorite ways to interact with characters/story. Plus, you get swag!

PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2009 11:06 pm
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vpisteve
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Joined: 30 Sep 2002
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 		Re: ARGs and Full Media Storytelling
How can ubiquitous technology entertain us?
catherwood wrote:
I didn't click the whole way thru the slides yet, but I wasn't seeing anything labeled "story delivery mechanics". Is there a list somewhere?

Does it count as "story delivery" when I read a backlog of emails between characters? Sure it does, because there is some chronology of events implied. Does reading a character's book of poetry count, if it doesn't further the story, but does flesh out a character's emotional state? I'm not sure how you want to define the term.


Yeah, starting at about slide 22, there's a list with the title Content Delivery Mechanics. I'll list them here for convenience:

The Obvious:
YouTube or similar video sites
Blogs or general websites
Podcasts (audio)

The not-so-obvious:
phones (payphones)
fax
email (received or account hacked into)
text messages
IMs
source code
casual games (poker, etc.)
irc
xml
money
photos ("found" or otherwise)
Monitoring systems (incident logs, displays)
surveillance
widgets
foreign languages
music
official documents
USB drives
skywriting
billboards
fireworks
fountains
architectural projections
maps
geocaches/deaddrops
staged live events

An yeah, I'm talking any and all kinds of story delivery. Your example of hacking into the emails is pretty obviously a way, but yeah, I'd consider a book of poetry valid (albeit a real tedious example Razz), as you're getting insight into a character.

ETA: Revised the Obvious to make imbri happy. Wink
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PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2009 12:56 pm
Last edited by vpisteve on Sat May 16, 2009 4:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
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addlepated
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Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Posts: 1885
Location: Austin, Texas

 		Well technically, there was a book of poetry (Dead Poems) produced for Urban Hunt. Many of the poems contained puzzles. Smile http://my.lulu.com/content/71054

There was also the TuringPrinciple chatbot in CTW1&2.

Edit: Don't forget the tattooed stripper at ARGFest. Didn't his tattoos have clues?
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PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2009 3:03 pm
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vpisteve
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Joined: 30 Sep 2002
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 		Yeah, chatbots! Forgot about those!

And yeah, forgive me. I'm just not a poetry fan, in general. Unless limericks count. Razz
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PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2009 3:15 pm
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imbriModerator
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 		Re: ARGs and Full Media Storytelling
How can ubiquitous technology entertain us?
The problem that I have with this list, I guess, is that you're looking at a couple different things. For example, you state "The Obvious" as Video, Audio and Text and then you go on to list a bunch of things that use video, audio, and text.

Under the not-so-obvious, you show ways that "The Obvious" things are being delivered. Phones can deliver all three, but are typically used to deliver text (sms) and audio (voice, music, beeps & other noise). Faxes can include text or images (which you don't list). And so on.

So, basically, you're looking at "content type" and "delivery mechanism" and calling them the same thing.

But then your list includes delivery mechanisms that use multiple assets which are, themselves, listed as delivery mechanisms. For example, official documents can be written in foreign languages and have photos attached to them. USB drives can include a number of files, one of which may be that official document. And a live event, well, that's just opening up a huge can of worms especially if players find that usb drive with the official document on it. Wink

So, now there's "content type" and "delivery mechanism" and "complex delivery mechanism" (?)

All that said, I'll add one of the more interesting "complex delivery mechanisms" from Eldritch which was a virus that players could download and run. It was benign in the sense that it wouldn't spread or cause problems to computers, but it could cause havoc on certain computers (the only known examples of these happened to be owned by characters, of course). So... there's the computer program which contained programming as well as a terms of service, both of which added to the story telling. Then when players ran the program, it did stuff which added to the story telling. Then, when the virus hit certain computers, it infected them which added or activated a number of folders which contained things like a MUD, Arabic & religious texts, documents, images, etc.

PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2009 3:52 pm
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vpisteve
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Joined: 30 Sep 2002
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 		OK, rather than add more categories, I think I just need to clarify the obvious, since I guess they weren't obvious.

I'm thinking when people think of telling stories on the web, they think ooh, YouTube videos! Blogs/Websites! Podcasts! (OK, maybe not podcasts, but you get my drift).

Basically just taking existing media platforms and shoehorning them and all their inherent limitations onto the web. So, I'll edit my original list to hopefully clarify that I'm just trying to list out all the cool non-traditional ways to tell a story that we have at our disposal. Smile

ETA: Oh, and a fictional virus is a great addition to the list! Come to think of it, you could add internet browser as well (Net:Sight). Smile
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PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2009 4:35 pm
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catherwood
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 4109
Location: Silicon Valley, CA

 		so really we could make up anything and suggest a way to use it in telling a story, whether or not it has ever been used or would be practical to execute?

Jell-O brand gelatin mold (mould) -- players arrive at a restaurant and are offered a free dessert after their meal, and it contains an object (such as a stapler) or a message.


(edit to change pratical to practical after seeing my statement quoted repeatedly with the error and only noticing weeks later)

PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2009 7:05 pm
Last edited by catherwood on Sat Jun 06, 2009 12:41 pm; edited 2 times in total
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HaxanMike
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catherwood wrote:
Jell-O brand gelatin mold (mould) -- players arrive at a restaurant and are offered a free dessert after their meal, and it contains an object (such as a stapler) or a message.


I'd consider investing in any ARG that could justify, via story, the use of Jell-O as an essential narrative mechanism!

Smile
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 8:50 pm
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Varin
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HaxanMike wrote:

I'd consider investing in any ARG that could justify, via story, the use of Jell-O as an essential narrative mechanism!

Smile


PETA ARG? Jell-O wrestling championship ARG?
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:28 am
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Tresbien
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 		Your list is extensive and got me thinking about fun times in ARGs past. For The LOST Experience the book Bad Twin was published. They also used display ads in a few prominent newspapers and had a clue in a sponsor's ad in a magazine.

Can't recall for which game but cards with a URL printed on them were inserted in copies of the NY Times found at Barnes & Noble.

Sometimes it's the simple surprises that are most memorable to me. Once a hidden sound file was posted on a game's main site. I immediately posted its location on the forum. A minute later, when I went back to transcribe it, the audio was gone. I suspect that some players didn't believe it was ever there, and others were mad that no one else got to hear it. Fun! Laughing

PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:48 am
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vpisteve
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Joined: 30 Sep 2002
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catherwood wrote:
so really we could make up anything and suggest a way to use it in telling a story, whether or not it has ever been used or would be pratical to execute?

Jell-O brand gelatin mold (mould) -- players arrive at a restaurant and are offered a free dessert after their meal, and it contains an object (such as a stapler) or a message.


Well, phones in cakes has gotta be close. How did I forget phones in cakes??
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2009 12:13 pm
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RemixFiction
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 		Seems like you're missing one of the most obvious story delivery mechanisms - one that players cite as their reason for enjoying stories told in ARG form so much; one-on-one interaction with a character from the story world.

You did say phones and live events and IRC which could all be used by characters to convey story elements to the players, but I was thinking that in person interaction with a character would rate it's own mention.
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2009 10:14 pm
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Bernard Black
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vpisteve wrote:
catherwood wrote:
so really we could make up anything and suggest a way to use it in telling a story, whether or not it has ever been used or would be pratical to execute?

Jell-O brand gelatin mold (mould) -- players arrive at a restaurant and are offered a free dessert after their meal, and it contains an object (such as a stapler) or a message.


Well, phones in cakes has gotta be close. How did I forget phones in cakes??


Shocked

Seriously, what? Very Happy

PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:18 am
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