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July 31, 2005

Book Review: Beyond Reality

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.

Gosney introduces readers to the world of ARG in the first chapter by quoting sources such as the Wikipedia entry for ARG and Cloudmakers, making connections between the games and Immersive Marketing. He even goes as far as drawing parallels between beat authors (such as Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs) and ARG. The next chapter moves away from the overview of ARG and into the game play aspects. Trailheads and ARG resources are discussed, focusing mainly on The Art of the Heist and ARGN. At the end of the second chapter, Gosney has done well to explain how one might approach Alternate Reality Gaming, and has provided excellent ideas for a reader to get more information.

In chapters three and four, Gosney chooses to go through an abridged summary of The Beast, starting at the very beginning with the discovery of Jeanine Salla. Either Gosney had actively played the game in 2001, or he has done his homework, because the analysis is accurate and he gives detailed references (many website screen captures give the reader a better sense of what Gosney is talking about, encouraging readers to read through the Cloudmakers Guide to The Beast. A few puzzles are dissected throughout the two chapters, including Chemisty Elements.

After the trip down memory lane, the book takes a turn towards the present and Route 66, the 'sample ARG' that Gosney uses to further explain how Alternate Reality Gaming works. While the game plays more like a trail, due to the limitations of an ARG played out in print only, it does a good job at exploring the steps taken while playing an ARG style game. It presents the game in three chapters, all the while asking 'what do we know now?'. Through Internet searches and various communication methods, the mystery unravels and unwinds all the way to an endgame scenario. Note: email and fax interactions are discussed in the text, presented as how the players would be receiving them if the game were to be played out in real time. The eighth chapter functions as a post-game analysis of the Route 66 ARG, paying particular attention to the elements of ARG used in the exercise, as well as asking how the print version of the game could be adapted to make it more of a complete ARG experience. I thought that this was an excellent way for readers to journey through an Alternate Reality Game in a short time.

Chapters nine and ten (approximately one-third of the book) give detailed instruction in Web Design. Labelled as "Web Design for Puppetmasters", the section gives information about how CSS stylesheets, tables and frames can be implemented in HTML coding. While these chapters weren't of personal interest to me, I can understand their purpose in a textbook geared towards Game Design. There are a number of handy tips for the hands-on Puppetmaster who wants to create a nice website for their ARG without having to rely on general templates or Web Design software. However, there is no information within the two chapters that pertains directly to ARG -- perhaps Gosney would have been better served to dissect specific examples of websites from ARG history (such as the Mowz pop-up at Bangalore World University) to give technical explanations for what the player had experienced. The focus on ARG does return near the end, as the appendix section includes outlines of many ARG resources, including websites and articles.

This book will not go down in history as the definitive guide for Alternate Reality Gaming, but it does a very good job of making ARG more accessible for the new player. Gosney, who has previously written books on blogging and VHS conversion, does well to explain ARG to a wider audience, specifically game designers. It will be an excellent resource to students learning about game design, and hopefully will spawn a new generation of ARG Puppetmasters in the future.

Posted by Jonathan Waite at 2:56 PM

July 30, 2005

The Traveler - It's A Series?

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.”

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.

Written by a man who, mysteriously, like his characters, prefers to live "off the grid," The Traveler has been heavily marketed, not by normal means of book readings and public appearances, but rather via a viral marketing campaign, comprised of street teams at concerts, live events, and an internet game, which ARGN and UnFiction have been following.

The book itself, a technological twist on the biblical struggle between good and evil, describes the initial meetings between Maya, a Harlequin sworn to protect, and Gabe, a Traveler, capable of escaping the known world through the power of his mind. Struggling to save himself and his brother Michael, Gabe fights against The Tabula, a Matrix-like entity controlled by a corporation and its scientific research endeavor determined to eradicate all Travelers or harness their powers.

What begins as a personal quest evolves into a rich story, complete with enough twists to satisfy any staunch fiction addict. By the end of the novel, however, the story does begin to slow, if only to allow the author to set up the premise for what appears to be a future series of novels involving the characters described in The Traveler and their exploits in the world John Twelve Hawks has created. An unsatisfying ending to an otherwise complete story is forgivable, assuming that Hawks plans to envelop his readers in the fictional world he has created in the series to come.

Though perhaps not a “Run Right Out and Buy This Book In Hardcover” read, The Traveler is definitely worth a look for anyone interested in an intellectual, science-fiction novel that encompasses the concepts and technology of The Matrix with bits of neuroscience, kung-fu kick-ass women, cross-dimensional travel, adventure, and unexpected romantic intrigue.

Posted by Jackie Kerr at 5:51 PM

July 28, 2005

ARGFest New York City is Biggest Yet

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.

After an initial meet'n'greet on Friday night, Saturday provided a great time for those in attendance to delve into the world of Alternate Reality Gaming. Presentations and Q&A sessions with various ARG development teams took up most of the morning. The teams behind Perplex City, Art of the H3ist and Metacortechs gave behind-the-scenes glimpses into their work, and answered questions both live and via the internet, courtesy of a streaming webcast. To wrap things up, 42 Entertainment's Jane McGonigal talked about the high-level issues and philosophies behind this new genre. Most then took part in a StreetQuest which took them all over the city solving clues, until they ended up at a secret location for dinner.

On Sunday, most of us relaxed, met for brunch, and/or took a walking tour of the city. Then farewells were bid and everyone returned home with many great memories of a wildly fun weekend. Plans are already being made for the very next get-together, which we'll announce as soon as details become available.

For us here on staff at ARGN, this was the first chance many of us had to meet each other face-to-face. It was great having Sean Stacey, Jonathan Waite, Brooke Thompson, Krystyn Wells, Dee Cook, Carie Ward and myself all in the same place for the first time. It was also great getting to meet so many of you, and finally be able to put a face to your name.

Sincere thanks go out to those ARG'ers who helped organize the event, much to the benefit of everyone else's enjoyment. Major props go out to:

• Rose, Bagsbee, Diandra and JoeBrent for overall organization, planning and implementation
• the folks at Mind Candy, Haxan Films, Dave Szulborski, Abacus Video and 42 Entertainment for helping to provide the facilities and equipment
• Dave Szulborski for the Street Quest
• xnbomb and SinVraal for help in puzzle design and organization
• Will Starr for the great tunes
• Jane McGonigal
• Kristen Rutherford
• HitsHerMark, Wishi-san, RobMagus, BriEnigma and all the rest who designed posters
• Anyone else who helped and we may have missed
• Everyone else who attended, because you made ARGFest what it was

Be sure to check out various pictures from ARGFest in this Flickr photo pool along with this gallery and this gallery.

Finally, on a personal note, I need to just say how incredibly gratifying and humbling it was to witness the deep friendships that have developed, and the good times that are had by all, both at ARGFest and in the community in general, all because of this thing we call alternate reality gaming. It's just amazing when you think about it, how many lives have been affected in such a positive way, and how many great relationships have been fostered (at least one even resulting in a wedding) all because of....Jeanine Salla. :)

You guys all rock.
Salut!
Cheers!
Stol!

Photo courtesy of celina63

Posted by Steve Peters at 5:08 PM

July 27, 2005

City of Domes Suspended

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.

Posted by Jonathan Waite at 9:21 PM

July 22, 2005

Attack of the Clones, Island Style

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!

Posted by Larry Eisner at 4:50 AM

July 20, 2005

New Book "Beyond Reality: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming"

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.

Posted by Steve Peters at 3:29 PM

July 17, 2005

Email Mystery Announces "Group Read"

The publishers of the highly praised email mystery The Daughters of Freya (review) have announced a unique "Group Read" for readers of ARGN, where everyone will read the mystery at the same time, and discuss it in an online forum as it happens. The idea is to create a shared interactive experience out of what is normally a solitary activity. The story itself - about a journalist investigating a Marin County sex cult - is told through emails exchanged among the characters. But instead of reading them in a book, readers get them as part of their regular email - 4 or 5 a day over the three weeks it takes for the mystery to unfold. The mystery introduces a new and innovative way to use the Internet as a storytelling tool, and has been getting a great response from readers and reviewers alike.

In some ways, these email mysteries are much like ARGs, only without the puzzles. So, we thought it would be fun to offer ARGN readers an opportunity to experience the story collectively in real-time, much like a typical alternate reality game. The folks at Email Mystery have been kind enough to extend a special promotional price of $3.99 for those who wish to take part. The Group Read will begin on August 1st, when the first installment of the mystery will be emailed to readers.

A forum will be set up for discussion of this Group Read as it happens , so watch ARGN for details on that. If you'd like to participate, you can register here. In addition, there is a free preview with the first three emails from the mystery available here.

EDIT: The discussion forum for Daughters of Freya has been set up here.

Posted by Steve Peters at 2:49 PM

July 14, 2005

ARG Parody 'Seen Steve' Takes Off

It's not every day that an ARG that starts off by IM'ing hkdl turns out to be one of the most talked about, but "Seen Steve" has turned out to be just such a game.

Seen Steve is a brilliant parody of the ARG world. So far it has encompassed Acheron, Art of the Heist, BLARGS, The Beast, Chasing the Wish, The Flaming Heart, gAIMs, Gypsysoft, I Love Bees, Lockjaw, Our Colony, Perplex City, RedKore, and Seen James - just to name a few. As a bonus, it also has ferrets and pixies which are near and dear in everyone's heart (or at least they should be).

The game has been keeping a fast pace. In just four days, players at unFiction have discovered nine(!) different websites, several different emails, and have had IM conversations with two different characters. The plot seems to be that Sarah's fake-boyfriend Steve has been sent into the future (where he now makes AIs) while her ex-boyfriend, Jake, has cursed her into going mad. Meanwhile, the vaguely threatening -The Hateful- (don't ignore the peripheral hyphenation) has taken up position as the requisite evil overlord.

Like any good parody, brand new ARG players may not get all of the jokes, but players with a few games under their belt (or a few beers in them) should have a hysterical time walking down memory lane. So jump in while you can, because who knows how long it'll be around to amuse us.

Trailhead
Discussion at Unfiction
Steve
Chat in #seensteve

Posted by Carie Ward at 2:44 PM

July 9, 2005

Perplex City Plays Its Cards Right

The much-anticipated alternate reality game Perplex City came a little closer to full launch yesterday, with the first packs of puzzle cards going on sale at Playlounge in London.

The news reached players through an unexpected tip-off from wannabe-journalist Scarlett Kiteway, just two hours before the cards were to be made available. Two players in the area were able to make their way to the store, where the puppetmasters were waiting excitedly to greet their first ever customers and take a few celebratory photographs. It was reported that the cards had only arrived from the printers that day, and the Mind Candy team had made a last minute decision to dash the first packs over to Playlounge and into the eager hands of its players.

The Sentinel, the game's own newspaper, had run a savage indictment of Mind Candy's "incompetence" the day before, revealing in the process that the cards would be on sale at nine stores around the world (and by mail-order from Firebox) from July 13th.

As the London players made their way home to report back, the online players were discovering a wave of new sites, from the pharmaceuticals company Cognivia to the amusingly well-observed Cheap Ceretin and Brotherhood Of The Six.

Perplex City has been a long time in the making, with launch originally slated for late 2004, but it now looks as if the game is finally set to turn everything up to eleven in the coming weeks. Make yourself very comfortable... and join in the discussion at Unfiction.

Posted by Guy Parsons at 5:36 AM

July 6, 2005

Live Phone-in Chat with H3ist Team: July 10th

The Alternate Reality Gaming Network will host a live call-in phone chat with some of the folks behind the recent alternate reality game The Art of the H3ist, provided by the kind folks at AccuTalk. It will be open to callers both in the US and abroad, and will take place this Sunday, July 10th at 7:00pm Pacific/10:00pm Eastern. Our guests will include Mike Monello, Brian Cain, Brian Clark, Nicole Barré (Nisha), Ben Rock and Dave Szulborski (more as they are confirmed).

This phone chat will work very much like a call-in radio show, as callers will have a chance to talk directly to our guests, and ask whatever questions they like. If you'd like to participate, call (404) 920-6650, then enter the conference code 880772#. You'll be prompted to state your name (or screen name in this case), then will be put on hold until the chat begins.

By default, you'll be in listen-only mode. If you'd like to ask a question or make a comment, press *1. This will put you in the queue, which will be gone through in order. We'll move international callers to the front of the queue. When it's your turn, you'll be 'voiced' and able to talk.

EDIT 7/12: You can download an mp3 file of the chat here (13.5MB).

Posted by Steve Peters at 9:53 AM

July 5, 2005

The Devil's Own Work: A Sable & Shuck Wrap-Up

Sable & Shuck, the promotional alternate reality game crafted by Draft London for Stella Artois, has finally come to its conclusion - not with a bang, not even with a whimper, but with a wall of silence punctuated only by anguished complaints from its players. Despite offering a £10,946 ($19,225) cash prize to the player who cracked the final puzzle, the solve eluded the community and the closing date passed without comment from behind the curtain.

A newcomer reading the post-game thoughts from the players might imagine that S&S was an unmitigated disaster. On the contrary, the game showed many a flash of brilliance during its rocky eight month run. Unfortunately, however, the exceptional design and colourful premise failed to compensate for the chronic gameplay flaws that ultimately rendered the game a much-maligned alternate reality car crash. By squandering such high quality material and even inspiring some players to disown the brand itself, it will live on as a warning to would-be corporate PM's in how seriously 'ARGvertising' can backfire.

So where did it all go wrong?

The game began with mysterious web addresses printed on the reverse of Stella Artois' sumptuous print ads, leading players to a network of sites owned by the sinister Sable & Shuck consortium - a mysterious corporate entity specialising in "soul acquisition" in return for luxurious goods and services. A little exploration revealed that the Prince Of Darkness had diversified somewhat, and now possessed stakes in airlines, travel agencies, design firms and newspapers.

Of course, in the world of alternate reality gaming, no evil conglomerate should be without a gutsy protagonist harbouring deep suspicions. Thankfully, Jon Harker bravely stepped up to the plate with his exposé of Sable & Shuck's dirty dealings, having sold his soul for a quick lift home after a night out on the town. Makes those ill-advised, drunken calls to your ex pale into insignificance, doesn't it?

At launch, then, the promotion showed real promise, with a clever hook and an intricately linked collection of elegant sites. Furthermore, the devil really was in the details, and there were dozens of witty and erudite references to satanic mythology, numerology, and Stella Artois scattered throughout the game as a reward to the eagle-eyed player.

Yet after a brief flurry of activity, including personalised emails to players, six weeks passed before the first update on Halloween. This snail's-pace rate of activity was to continue throughout the length of the game, with the devil never quite able to make sufficient work for such idle hands.

The game took a new direction when Brigid, a woman claiming to be Jon's sister, announced Jon was missing-presumed-in-hiding' and offered a substantial cash reward to whoever could find him. Players were instantly suspicious of her true motives - something of an ARG custom, after all - but some out of game research confirmed that the prize was in fact real and the buzz surrounding the game returned once more. Meanwhile, Jon was on the run from Beezulbub and hunting for the Book Of Star, an ancient tome which was rumoured to contain the secret to vanquishing him. He promised to keep players updated, and searching his site revealed The Hiding Room - a visually stunning piece of Flash that hid numerous clues, not least of which was his journal. In fact, as one of the game's must-see elements, I'd recommend checking it out while it's still online. With their usual eye for detail, the PM's even chose the bottle-opener in Jon's kitchen carefully - a real life product named Diabolix.

Yet this level of minutiae proved to be counter-active at times. With such long spells between updates and players unsure if they had missed vital clues, it sometimes felt as if there were too many subtle hints, and too little to distinguish the playfully cryptic from the genuinely useful. Perhaps more damagingly, it slowly transpired that players had no alternative but to assist the shadowy Brigid in locating our hero despite their deepest misgivings. While it's not unusual for ARGs to be heavily pre-scripted, Sable & Shuck failed to create the illusion that players had the opportunity to influence events, generating a real sense of futility in the latter stages of the game.

On the other hand, Sable & Shuck continued to broaden its scope, making use of voicemail, SMS and multimedia messaging, online auctions, clues in out-of-game websites and increasingly challenging puzzles. The various sites and auto-responders were modified throughout the game, cleverly allowing new players to enjoy the game from start to finish, no matter when they joined in.

Indeed, while the ARG community played the game "as it happened" and enjoyed a little more interaction, it seems very much as if this promotion was designed to be a puzzle trail aimed towards a more mainstream audience, going some way towards explaining the sporadic progress of the real-time game. The prize itself also suggested that the campaign was tailored towards the individual rather than encouraging collaboration, with none of the co-operative puzzles that Perplex City, another prize-based game, has utilised.

Having finally sold out their protagonist to an agent of Satan in February this year, players were at least rewarded (or, in retrospect, cursed) with the deceptively simple last puzzle. Six symbols, each representing a sign of the devil, required positioning on a grid and numbering according to their worth. Nobody suspected that over four months later, this conundrum would remain grudgingly unsolved.

It would have been foolish to expect an easy solution considering the large financial reward, but the final challenge was nonetheless fatally flawed. It echoed the themes that had run throughout the game, from symbology to Fibonacci and the Stella Artois brand itself, but as a result the hunt for clues was met with a shoal of red herrings. The total lack of context or relationship to the game's story gave players no foundation to begin working from. No hints were forthcoming, and the few explicit clues provided - 'It begins where it ends', 'The worth of a thing is what it will bring' - were maddeningly oblique. Potential solutions ran into the billions, and the terms of the contest excluding those from outside the United Kingdom only served to exacerbate matters.

The initial excitement soon waned into bitterness and resentment. With trust in the puppetmasters best described as flimsy prior to this, the remaining goodwill towards the game evaporated away. When the closing date for the competition passed last Monday without so much as a site update, let alone an email or word from the PM's, players were all too eager to have the last word.

"Reassuringly rubbish."
"I'm very disappointed."
"I feel so... empty."
"…frankly I don't care anymore."

Sable & Shuck excelled in many areas, as this review attests. As an exercise in marketing, though, it generated little short of a vitriolic antipathy towards the brand through its disregard for players, and is best characterised as a serious failure. We can only speculate as to the true intentions of the game's designers, but it seems fairly clear that embracing the alternate reality gaming community was never part of their plan - and by largely ignoring a group that had the potential to become the most ardent supporters of the game, Sable & Shuck shot itself in its own hoofed feet. Yes, the passionate fans of the ARG genre can create a fantastic buzz around a product, as evidenced by Audi's just-finished campaign, but this game showed would-be corporate puppetmasters that the reaction to a poorly executed game can be just as strong - and intensely negative.

To quote a biblical passage that the game once referenced: Sable & Shuck, you have been weighed on the scales - and found wanting.

(The Terms & Conditions of the final puzzle state that: "If the puzzle has not been solved by 27th of June 2005, the prize will be given to the participant who, in the opinion of the Promoter, provided the closest answer." With details of the winning entrant due to be announced in the coming weeks, ARGN will keep you posted!)

Posted by Guy Parsons at 10:35 AM