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[gimlet]

Recommended Reading

[catherwood]

I'm not sure why you've included "Masquerade" -- armchair treasure hunts and contests have their own share of rich stories, scandals and disappointments -- but if you want the definitive analysis of that hunt's history and how far the players went off the path, do seek out Bamber Gascoigne's book "Quest for the Golden Hare"

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[catherwood]

Another resource might be in Bryan Alexander's "The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media" -- it touches on our buzzwords of transmedia and gamification, and has a few chapters which specifically mention ARGs.

[kosmopol]

Thank you for this list. Nice to see so much goodness here. And it brings up some intense memories (like backstage to Junko Junsui).

I'd add to the list "Personal Effects: Dark Art" by JC Hutchins and Jordan Weisman - a pretty nice transmedial piece.

Also: Foucault Pendulum by Umberto Eco - nice study of interwinding of meta and fiction

[ljm]

Tough to suggest Simulacra and Simulation without also giving a lead to some introductory critical theory, that's not a mega easy read without knowing a little more basic semiotics. Roland Barthes' Mythologies would be my suggestion.

[kosmopol]

Baudrillard's "Passwords" are also pretty nice.
And - if you want - Barthes' "Empire of Signs" is very significant for training of meta-observings (I love the idea of writing about Japan without Japan).

I dunno, his "Death of the Author" in context of PMs being dissolved behind the curtain seems to me also pretty applicable.

Ah, and (how could I missed it!) - the documentary "The Institute" should be pointed out in the section "Audiovisuals"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Institute_(film)
(Have't seen it yet, since got to know right now).

[gimlet]

Ok, did some editing, will do more when i have more time, maybe even add goodreads links but added in most of those, I think?

I also added Graeme Base, Griffin & Sabine, and the Jolly Postman.

The latter two were SUPER influential and important to me as a person.

They're not directly ARGy, but you can definitely view them in a way as elegant little self encapsulated ARGS - and I really really doubt we would have gotten something like the Story of S. without them. Historically important, certainly. And beyond that, they're just neat! If you like this stuff, you'll probably like them, and they both have a unique setting and perspective compared to most arg projects.

Man I just love them so much. Finding the Jolly Postman for the first time in a bookstore as a child just blew my little mind.

- As an aside, I also loved the way Pheobe Gillman hid little images and stories in the background of her books. In particular I remember Something From Nothing had this whole little parallel story going on in the margins of the book told by mice living under the floor boards of the main story.

Anyways, as to the Baudrillard, you may be ENTIRELY right. It's one of the ones I haven't gotten to yet. I hear it mentioned a lot, it's on my personal list, but I'm having trouble tracking a library copy down as I think all the local masters students fight over them. It may be way over my pay grade, it just sounds like it's super influential. And reading just the Wikipedia summary sounds like it has quite a lot that is very clearly applicable.

May break theory off from criticism to seperate the high falutin & academic from the practical and approachable. Don't want to scare people off, just because I'm self punishing!

Yeah, I definitely need to read more Eco! His recent death reminded me of this, sadly. Which is kinda what inspired writing this list, I think.

[danteIL]

For the Fiction categories, I think it would help to distinguish (or at least note) those texts that *themselves* were intended/written to be part of ARG-like experiences (The Story of S; Personal Effects (which I detested, but that's just me); Endgame; Cathy's Book) versus those texts that may share plot devices or other types of 'mystery/puzzle' elements but which are not ARGish on their own (Ready Player One; Foucault's Pendulum; Westing Game). The former is a much smaller category, obviously.

EDIT: oh and I should also add, very nice list!!

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[ljm]

[gimlet]

After starting this thread I actually did start to have the sinking thought that I should maybe start seriously looking into those guys, but I've actually spent most of my adult life making fun of the kind of people who constantly refer to them (By which I mean I've read one too many unintelligible artists statements mangling Foccault & Derrida).

Good to know about iffy translations, as they do make things so much harder.

I'm no academic so I don't have the "list" of who to read to start studying, or the privilege of an advisor guiding my reading, or an institution's library to borrow from. So it's been pretty haphazard. Still, I probably know more about critical theory than you'd think. Since I don't have thesis deadlines to cramp my style, I can take as long as I like to come to an understanding of the materials.

Although, personally, my interest lies more in narrative building and fiction than the theory it's based on. I find good fiction brings those theories to life in a much more immersive, cogent way. It's why Eco is next on my personal list. (and why I liked Absurdist theatre so much in High Schoo). My time is my own, so it's what I prefer to spend it on. I love post-modernist fiction, have not spent nearly enough time with the theory, but you kind of absorb a lot of it anyways.

That being said: massage away at my list, if you think it needs it! It's really just a starting place, and since my thing is *not* the theory - but I know it's pretty important to gain a deeper understanding of our favorite medium - I appreciate all the help I can get! I'd like this to be resource I didn't have a year ago when starting out, trying to learn more.

[ljm]

Here is a somewhat abbreviated reading list for somebody who wants to learn the basics of critical theory and develop a brief foundation to be able to read some of the more complicated stuff and generally not feel totally lost.

I would do this in order:

1. Learn about de Saussure structure of a sign. You could read his Course on General Linguistics but you only really need to know about 10 pages of it. You can google this to get the basics. The important shit is in the book I linked above and will save you a bunch of time plus give you the intro.

2. Roland Barthes' Mythologies

3. Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality Vol. 1. The topic of this book is almost unimportant, but it's a way into understanding some important concepts regarding structuralism, power structures, cultural capital, systemic dynamics, etc. Super important to understand the concepts outlined in this book, and this book specifically is super valuable in understanding much of the foundation or at the very least departure point for contemporary feminist theory and cultural criticism.

4. Jacques Derrida's essay/speech Structure, Sign and Play (you can google that). Also Derrida's essay "Différance" (not a typo). I believe both of these are in the book above. Also important to do some reading on Derrida's use of the term spectacle, which directly relates to much of the Baudrillard/Eco stuff. Honestly the wiki page on Deconstruction is pretty great at summarizing a lot of important Derrida: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction

5. Umberto Eco's Travels in Hyperreality.

From there you can take it into specific interests, but it would be good to include some Lacan, de Man, Buadrillard, etc. There is a lot of meat on the bone.

This list is essentiality the group of texts I used as my front door to theory and I think it's a good place to start.

[hinoai]

Sooooooo many books for me to read! I'm very excited.

I have a possible addition: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.
You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves

It's not an ARG or related, but it's very much in the vein of one. Or, at least I think that it would be of interest to people interested in ARGs.

[gimlet]

Yeah, I think you're right! It fit's in here well. Definitely something to pick up when your IRL args are on a downswing.

Funnily enough, I've been reading about it recently for totally arg unrelated reasons - it's one of those weird life coincidences people build whole args around.

Was reading about poor, poor Kesha (#teamkesha) when someone brought up the very strange Poe situation - which you should look up because it's pretty weird and interesting. She was a pretty popular artist in the late nineties - had a song on the Buffy Soundtrack. She was unable to record or perform for years (possibly to this day) because of various studio bullshit and legal troubles.

She is also, it turns out, Mark Danielewsi's Sister.