Alternate Reality Gaming

1. Alternate Reality Gaming Dhaval Patel Mrunal Patel Priyanka Patel

2. Overview • Introduction – (Mrunal Patel) • Game or not a Game??? – (Priyanka Patel) • Types of ARGs – (Dhaval Patel)

3. References • www.reperio.ca • http://www.argn.com/ • http://whysoserious.com/ • http://www.mirlandano.com/arg-quickstart.html • http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7638581.stm • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pd74It-yVo

4. Introduction Mrunal Patel

5. What is Alternate Reality Gaming? • Telling and producing a story while the audience interacts with ARG • May converse with fictional characters • Ideas produced by players might be incorporated into plot • Direct interaction is not required to affect the narrative

6. What is Alternate Reality Gaming? • In simpler words • New genre of games that encourages players to interact with fictional world using the real world to do it

7. Example of ARG • You are spending some time exploring the internet • Someone points you to couple of sites • Tells you it’s a crazy mystery about some missing monkeys • So, you visit a site everyonelovesmonkeys.com

8. Example of ARG • Everyonelovesmonkeys.com • Pictures of monkeys

9. Example of ARG • Everyonelovesmonkeys.com • List of monkey zookeeper’s email addresses • bob@everyonelovesmonkeys.com • john@everyonelovesmonkeys.com • evan@everyonelovesmonkeys.com • crazymonkey@crazymonkeyman.com

10. Example of ARG • Intrigued, you visit crazymonkeyman.com • Concern that monkeys have been replaced by robomonkeys!

11. Example of ARG • What you have done? • Used your real world computer to explore a bit of fictional world • You have also solved your first ARG puzzle • You decide to send a little email to crazymonkey@crazymonkeyman.com to inquire more about his concerns

12. Example of ARG • You receive a reply • What you have done?

13. Example of ARG • You communicated with the fictional world using your real world email • You notice a contact number and decide to give a call • Someone answers your call • What you have done?

14. Example of ARG • Now you are interacting with a fictional world using your real world phone and your real world i.e., “you”

15. Example of ARG • Conclusion • You were playing ARG when you were • Exploring the websites • Sending the email • Calling the phone number

16. Game Or Not A Game???? Priyanka Patel

17. TINAG Philosophy • What is a game? • ….an activity which is essentially: Free (voluntary), separate [in time and space], uncertain, unproductive, goverened by rules, make-believe.” - Roger Caillois (1961) • 4 Paradigms of a Game • Defined rules • Defined playing space • Set of components/game pieces • Win/Loss scenarios

18. So What makes ARG?? • Rabbit Holes • Puppet masters • Interactions • Real World Events

19. Build Successful ARG • Compelling Storyline • Collaborative Gameplay • Delivery tools • Web pages • email messages • phone calls • print-based mailings

20. Early Examples • Dreadnot (1996) • http://web.archive.org/web/20000229151210/www.sfgate.com/dreadnot/index.html • Blair Witch project (1999) • Go Games and Nokia Games • The Beast • I love Bees

21. The Beast • Promotional Campaign developed by Microsoft and Dreamworks for Steven Spielberg's movie "Artificial Intelligence” • Clues planted in the postersDiscussion group - "Cloudmakers“ www.cloudmakers.org • 3 million unique visitors by July

22. I Love Bees • Launched in July 2004 to promote Halo2 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeyskiiWRdI&feature=related

23. I Love Bees (ILB) • Aim: To attract gamer and media interest in the Halo2 release. • Ilovebees.com seemed to be infected • Gamers help AI program (“the Operator”) • Operator’s Goal • Fix the spacecraft • Gather the crew members • Deactivate strange artifact (“The Artifact”) • Return to Halo time and fight (“The Covenant”) army

24. Design Team of ILB • Successful experience with the ARG “The Beast” • 3 storywriters • Storyteller • Community Lead • Technology and Sound effects

25. Story Construction and Delivery • Assemble the story of the Operator • 3 primary channels • Hidden HTML code, email exchanges, sound files, and images • Voice clips sent to payphones • A blog maintained by an imaginary character in the game

26. Types of ARGs Dhaval Patel

27. Traditional Marketing • The main goal is to create a buzz for the new product • Traditional marketing • Traditional ads are expensive • Time consuming • Often highly ineffective • Printed ads and commercials lacks power to create necessary buzz

28. Marketing with ARG • Advertisement with ARG • Highly effective • Fairly inexpensive • Draws target audience into the story • Treasure hunting

29. Dark Knight • One of the successful ARG of recent times • ARG was one of the major reason for the success of the film • Played across 75 different countries • More than 10 million participants • Used internet, mobile phones, real world events, videos etc

30. 2010 Mazda3 campaign • Known as 33 keys ARG • Mazda’s most successful marketing campaign • More than expected people took part in the ARG • Events occurred over four weeks • Took place across multiple platforms (Radio, online, etc.) • Game took place in Quebec (Canada) • Main Goal: Solve puzzles to find 33 keys hidden in different parts of Quebec

31. Self Supporting ARGs • People win prizes by solving this ARG • Funded through participation fees, in game advertisement of other products • Example • Perplex City • 200K prize money • Finding Receda Cube

32. Serious ARGs • Using ARG to solve real world problems • Introduce plausibility as a narrative feature to pull players into the game • Serious subject matter distinguish Serious ARGs from mainstream ARGs in design • Examples • World Without Oil • Traces Of Hope • The Black Cloud

33. ARG vs. Video Games • Binding medium • ARG uses multiple media • Video games uses special software • Non player characters • ARG – Real time by puppet master • Computer AI • RPG vs. LARPG • ARG don’t have fixed rules • Players discover rules through trial and error

34. Open Questions • How secured it is for a real person to play in a real world? • Do alternate reality game damage children's social skills? • If ARG's can spark players to solve very hard fictional problems, could the games be used to solve real world problems?