While Beyond Reality: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming by John Gosney is not “Alternate Reality Gaming for Dummies”, it certainly is a worthwhile read for anyone currently connected to ARG, as well as an invaluable resource for anyone trying to break into the genre. Similar to Dave Szulborski’s This Is Not A Game, this book opens by looking at the origins of ARG, tracing its history back to the Beast and discussing elements of The Art Of The Heist and ILoveBees. The book also dedicates sections to a guide to web design for Puppetmasters, and includes its own inclusive ARG (called Route 66) to give people an in-depth experience with Alternate Reality Gaming. The book has a university-level textbook feel to it, offering many different notes and tips throughout.
Month: July 2005 (Page 1 of 2)
There it was – its silvery pinstriped cover, twinkling oddly in the fluorescent lighting, resting atop the black lacquer display shelves before me as I stumbled in the front door. I paused, catching my breath – I could almost see her winking at me from behind the glistening blue sunglass lens, “I’m here, waiting.â€
Stepping forward, momentarily detained by the security guard that seemed desirous of wishing me a good evening, I snatched a copy off of the shelves. It was in my possession – that “rumored for months†novel, written by the elusive John Twelve Hawks, with the delectable story-based game companion websites – The Traveler.
I rushed over to the counter, whipped out my Barnes and Noble membership card (really, it’s made me spend more money than it’s saved me. Tricky corporate entities!), saved myself 10% off the cover price, and rushed out of the store, once again being wished a good evening by the kindly guard. It was to be a good night for at last, I had The Traveler in my possession.
New York saw bands of Alternate Reality Gamers invade their city last weekend, when ARGFest IV came to town. Historically a social gathering of fans of ARGs, this time around reached new heights in sheer numbers and cool events. Over 50 ARG aficionados from the U.S., Canada and Great Britain spent the weekend gaming, partying, attending sessions and generally enjoying one another. Many folks were meeting each other for the first time in real life, despite having known each other online for years.
Earlier today, players involved with the City of Domes ARG (featured previously on ARGN) received an email from Jacob Trasky at Virtuquest detailing the necessity for the immediate suspension of gameplay as a response to a breakdown in the contract between VQC and its unnamed client. While the announcement was troubling and dissapointing, it was not altogether unexpected, as the game had ground to a halt weeks ago.
With the announcement, it looks as though players who had followed the game will have to wait for further developments between VQC and its client. Trasky made clear in his letter that the company has “great respect for the ARG community, players, and entities such as ARGN.COM and Unfiction.com.” He concluded by apologizing for this “unconcluded effort”. It was unclear whether or not the game would be able to continue if the compensation issues were resolved.
There’s been a lot of ARGishness in Hollywood these days, and the new release of “The Island” by director Michael Bay is no exception. While it is still uncertain whether the alternate reality will actually turn into a game after the opening this weekend, there is definitely at least a good creative try going on.
So far, there are only a couple sites available. There’s the official movie site, with wholesome promotional goodness (and some creepy video from the film to boot!), the (in-game?) area of Merrick Biotech, and the meta-fence straddling You Have Been Chosen site. Most of these sites have logins, so who knows what may or may not happen there in the near future.
While those areas are definitely plugs for the film (almost every site contains either desktop images or AIM icons), the most promising area for future gaming is at the “anti-cloing” site CloneWatch, where there are forums set up, and some cryptic postings as well as a couple genuinely creepy pictures, if you dig (semi) deeply.
While nothing is “launched” as of yet, rest assured that ARGN will fill you in if events develop!
A new book about Alternate Reality Gaming is set go go on sale on July 22nd. “Beyond Reality: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming” by John Gosney is the latest book to be released on the subject of ARGs, and discusses the history and implications of alternate reality games, along with numerous examples from the genre.
The publishers will be holding an online chat with the author on August 8, 2005 at 8:00 pm EDT, and inside sources tell us that there just may be more to this chat than meets the eye. Apparently there will be clues within the pages of the book, as well as this chat, that will reveal…something more. We did notice a Secure Login on the book’s homepage that doesn’t seem to be on pages for any other book. Hmmmm.
Information on purchasing Beyond Reality: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming, as well as info for the upcoming chat can be found here.
Update: Because of some technical glitches, the chat had to be moved. It will now take place this coming Sunday, August 14th, at 6:00 ET.
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