Last Saturday, Perplex City took to the streets in a real-world event that involved both a ground team and an online team. Starting with a trail on an in-game site, players had to coordinate efforts to track the Third Power and obtain a highly valuable keyword. However, after collecting all of the puzzles and meeting back at a central location, players discovered that there was a mole within their group. To top it all off, the mole made a daring escape via helicopter (yes, HELICOPTER) and players were left with what must have been one of the most exciting ARG experiences in their lives. Matthew Turnbull, an active participant on the ground team, gave us permission to reprint his account of the day’s events:
Month: October 2005 (Page 1 of 3)
I caught up with Jane McGonigal of 42 Entertainment after her talk at the Austin Game Conference on Thursday. She was kind enough to give me an interview.
Me: Do you have a favorite ever, of any game?
Jane: Yeah, well like I said [during the talk] I think the explosion of creative interpretation with the GPS coordinates [in I Love Bees], because I’m a big believer of player suggestions. Like in The Go Game, we have people constantly sort of misinterpreting what they’ve been told to do, and doing things that are more exciting or more interesting or braver than we have suggested, and then we’ll be like, “Oh that’s great, let’s actually make that a mission.”
Thursday was the official kick-off of the Austin Game Conference, a trade show primarily directed at companies who produce Massively Multiplayer Online games, or MMOs. This morning, Jane McGonigal from 42 Entertainment gave a talk in which she outlined what ARGs are, how they are a type of MMO, and why they are so interesting.
And the best part, other than the Massively Multiplayer Thumb Wrestling? The unofficial nickname for the talk: “Too Weird for GDC”.
Jane began the session with some explanations of what ARGs are. They are interactive narrative, or immersive drama. They are played out online and in the real world, taking place over several weeks or months. Tens, hundreds, sometimes tens of thousands of people play, forming collaborative social networks and working together to solve a mystery or problem which is impossible to solve alone. Platforms utilized include e-mail, websites, SMS, phone calls, radio, IRC, instant messages, newspapers, real world artifacts and events, and Elan’s dream: toasters that print messages on your bread. Since this is the second time in two days that a 42 staffer has mentioned toaster messages, extra vigilance is recommended when cooking your breakfast. Be prepared.
This past weekend, Last Call Poker hit Washington D.C. with a live game of Tombstone Hold ‘Em. A crowd of 25 took part at the event, which included a poker tournament and a small favor for Lucky Brown, creator of Last Call Poker.
The games took place at Historic Congressional Cemetery near RFK Stadium in D.C. where participants were greeted by a pointy, fuzzy-headed girl acting as the liaison for Lucky and drizzly rain. There, they were given chips for the tournament, instructions for tournament play, and the opportunity to peruse the historical section of the cemetery to be used during the game. Players met at the chapel in the center and were introduced to the cemetery and its history by the Chairman of the Board. Among the more flavorful members of the cemetery are John Phillip Sousa, J. Edgar Hoover, and some early members of Congress. Following the introduction, the tournament began and “tables†of 4 to 5 pairings were sent off to duke it out in Hold ‘Em. Winners of the tournament include UnFiction members LouMac, Cortana, and Rowan.
Today saw the opening of the Game Writers Conference, a subset of the Austin Game Conference which opens tomorrow. Of particular interest to ARGers was the discussion by Maureen McHugh from 42 Entertainment about the work that went into The Beast and I Love Bees.
Maureen was contacted in 2004 to write for I Love Bees. She has a background in teaching English and writing science fiction. She made some interesting points about the emergence of varying types of entertainment being dependent upon what technology is available. As the printing press made novels possible, so has the internet made Alternate Reality Gaming possible. Additionally, she spoke about the emergence of the novel in comparison with the different ARGs we’ve seen so far. In the beginning were fake memoirs – Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders – which were originally published as actual diaries rather than a made-up story. From there, novels moved to an epistolary form (such as Clarissa) where the reader eavesdropped on conversations between strangers. She compared this with The Beast, where the players dropped in on writings which were originally intended for other in-game characters. Next in history, the novel moved into an art form with an omniscient narrator, such as Tom Jones. Could this be where ARGs are headed?
Unfiction member MaxSteele writes in with the following:
On October 13, community member Addlepated discovered
href=”http://giantology.typepad.com” target=_blank”>Giantology
from a video showing a colossal discovery on the coast of Southern
India posted on
href=”http://www.snopes.com/photos/tsunami/colossus.asp”
target=”_blank”>Snopes. Over the next several days, different
entries appeared on this site ranging from an underwater
statue/fossil of a fish in the Philippines to giant
footprints found in Northeastern Iran.On October 21, an entry titled “Giant Creature Discovered in Siberia”
appeared on the site. The entry linked to
href=”http://arkadysimkin.pl” target=”_blank”>Arkady Simkin’s personal
website. On here, there was a
href=”http://arkadysimkin.pl/Siberian_Ice_Giant.wmv”
target=”_blank”>video and a
href=”http://arkadysimkin.pl/radio_interview.mp3″ target=”_blank”>
radio interview detailing the discovery of a “mammoth type
creature” found in the Arctic by irregular radar readings.After sending an email asking if Mr. Simkin wanted assistance, I
received a very lengthy email reply from a friend of his who told me
the site had been compromised, and Mr. Simkin’s email link changed to
a different one. His apartment has also been ransacked, and he is
currently ‘out of sight from those who would like to find him’.Is this real? Is it the start of a big production ARG? Either way,
there is definitely activity surrounding this discovery. I believe
our community should begin to take a look. If nothing else, our
abilities to find out information and problem solving could help with
this new find in the Arctic.
Discussion and information can be found here. Thanks, Max!
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