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ARGs for Dummies
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JudyGoldman
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 		ARGs for Dummies
Need some tips and suggestions!
Hello, there! I'm new to this forum, eventually I'll actually register at it, but I figured I should post a topic asking for some assistance.

Very few of you may know that I'm planning an ARG myself. As this is my first ever ARG, I would like some suggestions from you more experienced players and authors or whatevs.

My problem comes in that my project is, first and foremost, a mostly non-interactive web novel. But, I would like to incorporate more ARG elements and more player interaction/participation. This is where my second problem comes in, as my story takes place in 1998, which would make having audience participation difficult.

I'm sure I could still pull it off by having the already passed events just be like a puzzle for the audience to piece together, but, I don't know. I have more questions, but for the sake of not making this post too long, I'll end with just this question. Thank you!

~JG

PostPosted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:47 pm
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Dray
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?


Joined: 15 Jan 2010
Posts: 2578
Location: Cowtown, AB

 		I'm a n00b as well, but this looks like a good place to start:

http://www.unfiction.com/welcome/gs/

Plenty of links leading off from that to help you work out how to get a piece of novel turned into an interactive game!

PostPosted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:56 pm
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catherwood-offline
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 		Re: ARGs for Dummies
Need some tips and suggestions!
JudyGoldman wrote:
My problem comes in that my project is, first and foremost, a mostly non-interactive web novel.

just wondering...
What is a web novel? How is that different than a print novel, especially if it is non-interactive?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 4:45 pm
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JudyGoldman
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 		From the TvTropes wiki (Web Serial Novel):
Quote:
An author, usually an amateur, publishes a long work of fiction in many short installments (often daily or weekly) on a website. Quite often, the work in question is some sort of Fan Fic, but sometimes they are completely original works. Most long-form Fan Fic is posted on places like fanfiction.net in installments, and thus would qualify as this trope.


At its core, that is what my project is. The bulk of the plot is told in journal form (a blog, basically). An interactive web novel, as I would imagine it to be, is just a web novel/fan fic/etc, with a few places where the audience can interact but not at the level of an ARG. For example, a Choose Your Own Adventure book, to me, would be an example of an interactive novel.

The ARG stuff for my project comes into play with the other forms of storytelling. This project will have photos, newspaper clippings, audio logs, etc, etc, etc, to decode and piece together. But again, as this story takes place in the past, how can I add audience participation? The events already have a set route and cannot be changed. [/quote]

PostPosted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:40 pm
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pancito
I Have No Life


Joined: 24 Feb 2008
Posts: 2095
Location: In my happy place.

 		Well, first, this doesn't sound very gamey, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for you. If it WERE more game oriented, the fact that this is happening in the past would be a non-issue. You say it's essentially journals of various sorts. Fine. Two things that can arise from this (at least). First, have things happening in the present unlock various parts of the journal. Next, have journal pieces provide info for things happening in the present/game. This allows your journals to push the plot of the game, and vice versa. A neat sort of reiterative process, if on the rails a bit much for my taste. Basically two parallel plots unfolding together.

It may be possible for this to work one-way, the unlocking the journals part, but that means that the novel has to be intrinsically worth the effort. If the writing is good enough to make the readers work to see more, go for it.

At the end of the day I'd have to ask you why you want to include ARGish elements at all. Unless the novel specifically deals with ARGing as a major plot point/theme, like Walter Jon Williams' This is Not a Game, (GAH!) I don't see the point, and in fact it seems detrimental to getting and keeping an audience since they can't just read/experience it.

So, given that you know little about ARGs, and aren't really interested in running a game, what do you think the potential benefit of this is? To me, ARGs are inherently interactive, and that interaction matters (or at least seems to matter). If it doesn't I lose interest fast. I'm not saying you shouldn't do this, I'm saying it should arise organically from the material.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 7:14 pm
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Sarah B
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Joined: 21 Apr 2007
Posts: 616
Location: Stonehenge, UK

 		I agree with a lot of what has been said above. ARGs are by their very nature interactive, and players like to feel like they're influencing something... even if the PM has really had the plot worked out already.

The idea of having two storylines, the ARG storyline in the present being used to "reveal" the webstory from the past... I really love that. XD I'd love to play a game like that.
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:43 am
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