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August 2, 2007
It's Tomorrow Calling. Do You Accept the Charges?
If a relative from the future asked for your help to protect the Earth, what would you do?
This is the first line of the teaser email leading to a new alternate reality game called Tomorrow Calling which is aimed to bring environmental awareness to the ARG community. The game offers the usual (such as hidden clues on the sites, YouTube videos, and cryptic blogs) while the flavorful text speaks of an uncertain tomorrow, and an Earth that we must protect now for future generations.
While ARGNet could find no indication that there is any overlap in puppetmasters, characters in Tomorrow Calling link to sites from another environmentally sensitive ARG, World Without Oil, and refer to it not as a game, but as a "reality."
The message is sent loud and clear within the text as much as within the actual clues. Do you need to find the next website? Then you must read the blog of a woman that muses about her fears for the earth as we know it. Do you want to know why the evil organization is... evil? Check out a Google Earth file with important dates and sites for the environmental movement.
According to its creators, the game so far has welcomed only a few players, in order to work out the kinks for a larger scale launch. With its beta launch back in May, the sites definitely look professional and the blog posts are well thought out. However, it appears to me to be an immersive, but mostly static narrative without a great deal of direct interaction.
The game has garnered some critical acclaim, as its (apparent) creators Jim Wolff and Andrea Sides have won the Grant Challenge Award at the 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth, held this past June in San Francisco. With its aspirations to educate as well as entertain, we are certainly looking forward to more from Tomorrow Calling in the near future.
Posted by Nicko Demeter at 12:23 PM | Comments (4)
March 30, 2007
Why We Eat Strangers' Candy: A Reflection on the ARGFest 2007 Keynote by 42 Entertainment
"Delivering a keynote address to this audience is really difficult. What can we talk about? We can't talk about anything we've done in the past because you were all there experiencing it. We can't talk about anything we're working on right now because that would ruin the fun and the mystery of the experience. We can't talk about anything we have planned for the future because frankly, you are the competition. All that's left is self-deprecation and the elephant in the room...trust." -- Elan Lee
Those words kicked off one of the most fulfilling experiences of the ARGFest weekend, according to many of the participants. The keynote address by Sean Stewart and Elan Lee not only educated the audience (composed of players, puppetmasters, aspiring puppetmasters and other interested parties) but it also provided memorable insights into the successful games that helped establish 42 Entertainment as one of alternate reality gaming's lead design companies.
Early on, the speakers noted that alternate reality gaming has a unique cability to evolve at any given time in accordance with the audience's wishes. That characteristic allows mistakes to be quickly assimilated into the game in a way that avoids the perception of failure ("Yeah, we meant to do that!").
The discussion was split into three main sections:
-- How is trust established?
-- Why should puppetmasters care if the players trust them?
-- Why do ARGs require trust?
Stewart described trust as a capital that puppetmasters can earn and spend. If your balance falls below zero, you are really in trouble. Building trust starts at the very beginning of the game with the rabbit holes: the very thing that gets you to play also should be the first step in establishing a trusting relationship. Drawing an analogy between the player-puppetmaster relationship and a dance, Stewart went on to remark that the rabbit hole should indicate that the experience will be enjoyable -- if you take the puppetmaster by the hand and step onto the dance floor, you will have a good time. As with dancing, running a game is a partnership, and the puppetmasters have to take steps to demonstrate their respect for their 'dance partners,' such as never entering the audience's space uninvited and staying true to the base audience. Also, as I mentioned before, they should be able to change aspects of the experience if the audience demands it.
This led to the idea that the PMs and the players are actually on the same team. This cooperation is a delicate balance that relies on certain factors, some of which Lee and Stewart brought up during this segment of the keynote. One of the concerns for puppetmasters of which Lee spoke specifically was never making players feel stupid for playing: if that happens, the PMs have failed the audience and the trust is lost as a result. Another concern was always treating the players with respect, which both speakers seemed to hold in the highest regard.
The address moved to the topic of why the PMs should care about trust. The overall idea here is that alternate reality gaming is still a new genre which continues to be fleshed out and defined, and if the players do not trust the puppetmasters, the inevitable mistakes which are part of the trial and error, experimentation and innovation needed for the genre to grow will drive the players away. If the players trust the puppetmasters, however, they will forgive mistakes and allow the designers to try again. To prove this point, Stewart and Lee brought up two examples where experimentation and improvisation occurred in their original, pre-42 Entertainment ARG, The Beast. The speakers touched on two specific aspects of game play, the Red King character and the Founder puzzle, and related to the audience that these game aspects did not work as planned or thought originally, but were then implemented in different ways to enhance the game's overall effectiveness.
As anyone who has tried to explain an alternate reality game to someone outside of the community might know, ARGs usually have a rather complex design. To accentuate this point, Lee used a drawing to demonstrate how the characters of I Love Bees were all somehow connected, resulting in a very confusing chart of lines and bubbles. This made it difficult for players to "pitch" the game to their friends. So, why do players stick around after a failed game element? Why do people continue to invest a substantial amount of time into playing an ARG? The speakers had an answer, of course.
Lee and Stewart suggested that alternate reality games require a unique kind of player, making a few references to The Beast and the type of audience that showed up to play the game. Back in 2001, during the game's run, a standard of sorts was established regarding collaborative play, as the duo saw what was originally thought to be a competitive environment morph into a cooperative audience. A statement made by Stewart in which he alluded to how those players changed his faith in humanity supported what was now coming across loud, sincere, and perfectly clear-- those unique players are the key audience members.
The session ended with a Q&A session for attendees, which ended up being short and to the point, touching on how Stewart and Lee responded to unexpected player actions, and the asymmetrical resources between players and puppetmasters.
Overall, this keynote address closed the panel discussion sessions of ARGFest-o-Con on a rather high note. Sean Stewart and Elan Lee are not simply business owners, marketing professionals, authors, and puzzle makers. They are lovers of their art, friends to their audience, and passionate about what they do. After hearing their roundtable discussion earlier that day and this keynote, it is clear why 42 Entertainment continues to amaze people with their intuitiveness and great work in the genre, which is why so many fans (myself included) are looking forward to their upcoming projects.
Posted by Nicko Demeter at 2:47 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2007
Vive La Resistance!
Swirling around the announcement of Nine Inch Nail's upcoming album, Year Zero, are stories of mysterious finds related to the album: songs "leaked" on thumb drives left in bathrooms during concerts, unsettling websites and videos haunted by an ominous presence, and glimpses into a dystopian future not far removed from our own.
Unfolding from the websites, songs, and videos is a tale of oppression, injustice, and revolution. Fed up with increasing violence, civil unrest and terrorism, an unelected U.S. Government created a Bureau of Morality and restarted the nation's clock at Year Zero. The First Amendment is now a thing of the past and the authorities have their thumb firmly positioned over all matters pertaining to art and culture. The quasi-totalitarian administration also utilizes the power of reactionary religious organizations to ensure that U.S. citizens are kept under tight control.
If history tells us anything, however, it is that such a restrictive regime cannot last forever. A resistance has been formed to speak out against the government's oppressive intervention into its citizens' lives. Using codes, flyers, USB drives left in restrooms across the world, spectrograms on MP3 songs, and a handful of websites, the faithful (or fanatics, depending on your point of view) are spreading their message and gathering in secret to discuss the latest salvos in their ongoing battle against The Man.
But there's more going on here than just freedom fighters arrayed against the full tide of an overbearing and illegitimate leadership. A hand-like creature has been seen walking the desert, slipping downwards to earth from the heavens. The sightings started after a drug, Parepin, was added to the water in an effort to prevent bioterrorist attacks. Is it a hallucination? Divine intervention? The Angel of Death? Or, as clever Unfiction players recently suggested, might the Presence be a cross-temporal manifestation of the players themselves?
With speculation that this might be the latest production from 42 Entertainment, curiosity about the way the story is being told (is this a flashback hidden between clips of music, a la The Handmaid's Tale? And how is it being transmitted back in time to 2007?) and a claim from Trent Reznor that this is not "some gimmick to get you to buy a record...this IS the art form," which is "just getting started," interest is high. The scheduled release of the Year Zero album is 4/17/07. Until then do not drink the water.
Get talking on the Unforums, or start at the sources: anotherversionofthetruth.com and www.iamtryingtobelieve.com
Posted by Nicko Demeter at 4:20 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2007
All is fair in cards, love, and ARGs
After a brief break, Studio Cypher has launched Episode 4 in their "multiplayer novel." High Stakes is described as a "comedic love story of cards, kings… and accountants," and the players have already been introduced to a podcast producer by the name of Vox Diaboli. In his latest broadcast he explains the merits of playing (and losing) the mayorship of a city in a game of cards. And if you listen carefully some new characters are making a power play to steal City Hall.
Again, following their (now) traditional pay-to-play system, StudioCyphers have split the game into the people that pay (also called Wakeful Agents) and those that do not and presumably won't get to experience everything this episode has to offer.
If you are interested, head over to the StudioCyphers website to sign up. It’s definitely early in the game, and the plot's not yet to thick for you to comfortably dive in. Now, where did I put my smoking jacket?
Links:
StudioCyphers
In Game Website
Unfiction forum
Posted by Nicko Demeter at 9:06 AM | Comments (0)
February 1, 2007
Dude, Where's My Monster?
We all have enjoyed a monster movie at some point. From the ones that are so painfully bad (you can see the zipper on the rubber suit) to the awesomeness in graphic animation that dawned on films since Jurassic Park. The Host is one of those monster movies. Or is it? Reading around the net about the movie you’d be as confused as I am: described as a “comedy”, a “family drama”, even as a “personal sacrifice epic,” this is poised to not be your typical monster-comes-out-of-the-sea flick.
It also seems that an ARG is also hidden within the marketing for this perplexing movie. After watching the movie trailer and heading over to the official website, one might find themselves staring at a “Monsters are Real” message that links to a website that investigates sightings of Yeti, Nessie, and a weird looking fish.
Link after link, a mystery unravels between friends, college buddies, movie lovers, and tattoo freaks. Why would someone disappear when they are investigating something that must surely be a hoax anyways? Why would you want to implant a chip with a blinking LED in your arm? What will happen in NYC at the special screening of the movie in February 12th? And in general, why is there a mystery surrounding a monster movie anyway?!?
Promised to be an adventure full of twists and turns, Monster Hunter Club is currently being watched via MySpace and the unForums. So hop on over, join in the mystery, and remember: Don’t feed the animals.
Links:
Thing in the Water - Meta In-Game blog to catch up quickly and follow the progress
The Host - Official movie site
MySpace account for the movie and entry point for the ARG
Current UnFiction thread
Posted by Nicko Demeter at 7:27 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2006
StudioCypher Back At It Again
Studio Cyphers returns with the release of the latest chapter of their multi-player novel (MPN), "The Cyphers". This chapter, entitled Descry, starts with The Cyphers diving into the mystical world of rituals and spirits while following the experiments of a curious professor -- experiments that might have gone a bit too far in the investigation of the paranormal.
What remains true from previous episodes is the overwhelming feeling of “spookiness” and the This-Is-Odd factor that players experience when they first encounter an in-game site or clue. Also, the puppetmasters again seem committed to realism by emailing players individually (instead of canned responses from an auto-reply program) and by conducting IRC chats where the professor and his helpers interact in real-time with the players.
In past episodes/chapters, Studio Cyphers has worked with a subscription model where 'Wakeful Agents' (those who pay to play) get information more rapidly, or receive additional clues for game play. For Descry, it is not yet clear what premium content the ‘Wakeful Agents’ are getting. Perhaps a more prominent or clearly defined set of benefits for the subscribing members would draw more players to participate in the paid version of the episodes.
A change of note is that this episode seems a more focused on establishing cooperative play between the players. This is evident by the number of players that currently use IRC and the Unfiction forums to discuss and solve the latest clues, which happened less frequently in previous installments.
To get started, head over to the Studio Cyphers Website and the Unfiction forum section for Studio Cyphers.
Posted by Nicko Demeter at 12:27 PM | Comments (1)
August 22, 2006
The (dark) Cube Hunt
The San Francisco Connection for Perplex City came and went. Below is a brief summary of the events that took place.
Early in the morning several Cube Hunters gathered at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. With the doors still closed, the Hunters entertained themselves by listening to the podcasts, trading cards, and in general having conversations about the game. When the doors finally opened, Hunters were allowed into an area that contained several tables with free cards, a big screen TV with Guitar Hero, and a puzzle table for those that wanted to stretch their mental muscles before the main event.
On a wall, a projector was keeping track of the "solved" status for numerous puzzles. After several minutes of waiting, Hunters were told to gather to the amphitheater next door. There, representatives of Mind Candy explained that the connection between Earth and Perplex City had been severed and that only with the help of the Hunters would the connection be restored.
At the same time, a website set up by Mind Candy started to give out the first wave of puzzles for those playing from home. As Hunters were given puzzle-containing envelopes, some had their laptops out, already looking for a free hotspot in order to contact those playing from home.
The hunt itself was not the greatest experience. The questions ranged in difficulty, but lacked a universal connecting factor between them all - they simply were meant to send the player either on a long drive or to a good internet search engine to find the answer. Teams were to turn in their answers, which would then add to a cumulative score and count towards the successful opening of the connection.
Personal note: In the morning, Hunters were given a packet which contained, among other things, a map with a red dot on Marina Sports Bar & Grill in San Francisco and a red icon of a clock with its hand pointing at 2:30pm. Several players, including yours truly, thought that this was a clue for the game. In fact, the only reason the bar was marked on the paper was because it marked the location of the after-party.
The hunt concluded at 3:30pm with the Hunters returning to the amphitheater to listen to the now restored feed from Perplex City - and that's where things got interesting... During the feed, and with many participants relaxing, thinking that this was the end, the images became blurry. At that time, several cell phones started going off. The message was from none other than the evil Third Power, a mysterious organization that is also looking for the Cube but for their own menacing purposes. (watch video)
The message continued that we should exit the theater as fast as we could. Everyone jumped and ran towards the side entrances. This author ran straight into the photo shoot of a wedding. Everyone was looking around for clues. And then we heard them.
A pair of low flying black helicopters started menacingly to circle around us. The cell phones started ringing again and this time the Third Power was letting us know: They were here.
It appears that while the Hunters were restoring the connection, the Third Power was able to connect via a wormhole and port several of its agents to Earth. What was once safe is now tainted, and what was once a simple game now has become a deadly race to find the cube.
Quite frankly, that was the highlight of the day. Many that were there without prior experience of ARG's were rather disapointed right up to the point of the helicopter appearance. The scavenger hunt, other than a point gatherer, had no real purpose in the day's events, and the scavenger hunt itself seemed hastily put together.
Mind Candy promised to return with another live event soon. We hope that this has been a learning experience and that players can look forward to more great events. But watch yourselves - the race for the Cube has become much more dangerous.
Posted by Nicko Demeter at 2:33 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2006
Stranger Adventures or Waiting Game?
"We want to let everyone know that we will release Daily Rage! very soon. Although we can not supply a specific start date..."
And so came and went another update from Tech Support at Stranger Adventures, an ARG that uses Flash technology to grant the user access to an interface in which they can gather clues, watch videos of the updates, and help solve the case.
After three runs on plots that spanned the period of days, Stranger Adventures announced that it will be creating the Daily Rage, an interactive self-concluding daily ARG. While the player base remained sceptical, the developers announced that the cash rewards (yes, winners there get real money) will continue with the Daily Rage and will be awarded to the winners, well, daily.
However, the already ambitious project seems like it has been placed on an indefinite hold. The SA fans, loyal to the core, proclaim that they will remain steadfast until the release of Daily Rage, yet plenty of them have already signed off. The updates from SA, while filled with ambiguity, hint that the release date is not far. We will remain on the case, as it were, and let you know when you can go visit and get your dose of Daily Rage.
Posted by Nicko Demeter at 2:20 AM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2006
Treasure Hunters: The Hunt Is Almost Complete. Will There Be More?
It started with an all-call at NBC for short audition videos of unique teams of three willing to put themselves on the line using their brains and stamina. From the submissions, NBC picked ten teams that would be emerged into a part-reality show, part-ARG, hunt for treasure. Teams receive directional messages via video and text messages to their cell phones, while driving, flying, sailing, riding, hiking, and climbing their way to the clues and, ultimately, the treasure. The game itself has hints of the movie National Treasure (with the music having a VERY familiar undertone to the movie's score), and it educates the viewers and the participants in the mysteries surrounding the American Revolution and the initial creation of the United States.
This is the second endeavor of a TV network to place participants in an ARG-like situation, rather than running an ARG parallel to the show as in Push, NV, following Fox's cancelled Murder in Small Town X. Will this show be more successful? So far they have managed something that seems to be important to current, large-scale ARGs: corporate sponsorship. The fact that companies bought into this plan gives hope that the ARG's are not only the future of gaming, but the future of entertainment for the masses, be they participant or spectator.
The series comes to an end next week, airing live Monday, August 21 at 9pm on NBC. From the original 10 teams, three remain: Air Force, the Geniuses, and the Southie Boys. Tune in to watch the exciting conclusion of the hunt.
Posted by Nicko Demeter at 8:09 PM | Comments (0)