Month: May 2011

Unlocking the Future at the New York Public Library

May 26, 2011 / Michael Andersen

Growing up, my parents had me convinced that one of the local librarians lived the building’s basement. For years, Jim Caccamo was an archivist at the Hudson Library and Historical Society, and spent countless hours preserving the library’s collection of artifacts. He spent so much time there, it was a relatively simple matter for the librarians, with a little help from our parents, to convince many younger library patrons, myself included, that he never left the building. I suspect that one of the reasons we were so willing to believe this local urban legend was because the prospect of staying overnight at the library with all of its artifacts from history was such an exciting one. Sadly, Jim is no longer with us, but the legend he inspired stuck with me through the years. On May 20th, the New York Public Library invited five hundred people to stay overnight as part of the Centennial celebration. I was lucky enough to be one of the attendees at the launch of Find the Future, letting me live out the fantasy Jim planted in my head so many years ago.

Find the Future is a game developed by Jane McGonigal and her husband Kiyash Monsef along with Natron Baxter Applied Gaming and Playmatics, on behalf of the New York Public Library. The game itself involves a mobile scavenger hunt to discover one hundred artifacts including a fireproof copy of Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451, Malcolm X’s briefcase, the stuffed animals that inspired A.A. Milne’s stories of Winnie-the-Pooh, and Charles Dickins’ letter opener with a handle made from his cat’s paw. QR codes near each object can be scanned in using iPhone and Android apps to unlock writing prompts that ask players to think about their futures. The game provides individuals with a casual way of exploring many often overlooked details of the library along with prompts designed to make visitors think about how each artifact is relevant to their own lives. Interacting with the experience is a deeply personal, contemplative experience that plays out over time as players gradually return to the library and post their responses online. Players are rewarded with points for unlocking artifacts and submitting stories, allowing them to level up their writer level and receive achievement badges. Players can then assemble their favorite stories into an online Epic. Visitors to the public library can play the Find the Future game through the end of the year.

The Write All Night event invited 500 players to experience an intensely collaborative version of the Find the Future game. Players were selected from a pool of 5,000 entrants who explained what they would accomplish by the year 2021. The goal for the night was to create a 600-page book collecting player responses to each artifact prompt between 7PM on May 20th and 5AM on May 21st: in turn, the library promised to preserve and protect the book as long as New York City exists. Paper Dragon Books’ Gavin Dovey was on hand to bind the entries into a book before the night’s end, and editors made themselves available to help participants polish submissions. Before the event started, McGonigal assured players, “we have not rigged this game so you will win: it’s up to you.”

A Bloody Poker’s Paradise from vm-people

May 16, 2011 / Michael Andersen

While it often goes unremarked here at ARGNet, Germany has a thriving community dedicated to alternate reality games. Leading the charge in the German-speaking world, vm-people created a landing page to welcome German-speaking players to the world of alternate reality games at Folge dem Kaninchen (Follow the Rabbit). Over the years, vm-people have successfully deployed a mumber of highly immersive alternate reality games including The Final Mill and Join the Pirates. More recently, the company has specialized in games exploring how to bring alternate reality games into the publishing space. Two years ago, the company sent two American players of Push11 to join the game’s German player base for a live event promoting Sebastian Fitzek’s thriller,Â Therapy. vm-people worked with Zoe Beck to create 66 Letters, a literary puzzle that extended past her novel,Â Das alte Kind, released last year. Now, the tradition continues with an alternate reality game set around Max Landorff’s new thriller, Der Regler.

I received a package in the mail this weekend bearing vm-people’s “Folge-Dem-Kaninchen” stamp. Inside was a plastic bag labeled “4/15/2011” holding a microSD card. After loading the card into my phone, I was able to watch a video dated 4/10/2011 showing members of a gang gunning down the owner of a mysterious briefcase. At his blog, Alex Vladi translated the Japanese conversation into German and revealed the mailing’s connection with Wer Ist Der Regler.

Socks Inc. Introduces Players to a World of Sockcraft

May 12, 2011 / Kris Nordgren

Prepare to work your socks off at Socks Inc.,Â the factory that makes Believe.Â Socks Inc. is the largest employer of sock puppets in the world and if you play your cards right, you too could be hired, starting today. To complete your employment application,Â create a sock puppet,Â go the Socks Inc. website, and register to join the fun. Socks Inc. is the second alternate reality game to come from Awkward Hug, following up on their romantic comedy Must Love Robots.Â Over the coming months,Â Socks Inc., lovingly referred to as “World of Sockcraft” by Awkward Hug’s lead game designer Jim Babb,Â plans on sending you and your sock puppet on countless storytelling missions that will keep you on your toes.

The main storyline of Socks Inc. is explored in Mr. Barnsworth’s office, the boss at Socks, Inc. Other themes, stories and missions Â are available in the company’s other departments: so far, these include Athletics, Groundskeeping, Politics, Waste Management, and Research & Development. The webpage has a few empty slots left for future departments and added content. Socks Inc. employees are sent out into a world of storytelling adventures, which are usually introduced by one of the many colourful characters running the different departments. Once you have accepted a mission, you and your sock puppet avatar need to go into the real world to complete it, and this is where the potential for creativity kicks in.

Given the task of recording your sock puppet rapping, you could just download the beat and rap a few lines. Or, you could spend days building a set and directing a full-blown music video. Whatever you come up with, the next step is to upload your picture or video onto theÂ Socks Inc. site, where it becomes visible on your profile page and can get responses from other players. If you happen to have made a particularly embarrassing attempt, there is also an option to make your video private so only you can view it. As you complete each mission, you unlock more adventures, stories, and badges. Progress is measured on a gauge and a progress bar on your profile page.Â Co-developer Julie Coniglio confirmed that the game is scalable, with new online content being planned as well as future live events.

Win a Pocket Movie Camera Through Socks Inc. Twitter Contest

May 12, 2011 / Michael Andersen

To coincide with the launch of Socks, Inc., Awkward Hug has found it in their hearts to offer ARGNet readers a chance to win all the tools necessary to join the fun in style. So put your talents at tweeting to the test for a chance to take home a portable movie camera and Super Awesome Sock Making kit.

The Socks, Inc. Twitter Contest
Socks, Incorporated needs your help to come up with tweet sized commercial tag-lines for the game! They will award a Super Awesome Sock Puppet making kit complete with a Sanyo Full HD 1080 Pocket Movie Camera to the person (or sock) with the best Socks, Inc. themed Tweet. Mr. Barnsworth is taking time from his busy schedule of hanging out with underwear models to judge the contest himself!

To enter the Socks, Inc. Twitter contest, all you need to do is:

Write and Tweet a commercial tagline for Socks, Inc.; and
Make sure to include the Socks, Inc. website, http://socksinc.com, and the hashtag #argn

Mr. Barnsworth will be judging on creativity, so go nuts!

The deadline for submissions is Thursday, May 19th, 2011 at 11:59PM EST. ARGNet and Awkward Hug will contact potential winners via twitter on May 23rd. Read on for the Official Rules.

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A Walk Through Westeros: Retracing “The Maester’s Path”

May 3, 2011 / Michael Andersen

Images courtesy of Campfire

On Sunday, April 24th, HBO’s newest show, Game of Thrones, brought viewers into the world of Westeros, a land flush with political machinations and magic. Based on George R.R. Martin’s highly acclaimed Song of Ice and Fire book series, the franchise came pre-packaged with a committed fan base that has been somewhat patiently waiting for the next installment for six years. With Game of Thrones, HBO hopes to replicate the success of True Blood, their previous foray in fantasy adaptations. To help that along, the studio turned to Campfire, the advertising agency behind True Blood‘s Blood Copy alternate reality game.

With True Blood, Campfire introduced the town of Bon Temps to audiences through a narrative that guided them through the introduction of vampires to human society. However, a similar tactic was out of the question for Game of Thrones, due toÂ Martin’s openly protective stance towards the characters and worlds he creates. Since one of the goals of the campaign was to reassure fan communities that Game of Thrones was staying true to its source material, Campfire chose to focus on the world of Westeros itself through The Maester’s Path. As Campfire’s Executive Creative Director Mike Monello explains,

The work we did with True Blood was really an exercise with building a fan culture for the show, [and] what HBO has seen is how that really helped sustain the show. For Game of Thrones, a lot of this work was designed to facilitate the fan culture that was growing around the show and have HBO be a part of that, to have the fans know that HBO respected that . . . there’s more to fan culture than just “put the show on the air.”

The result of this thinking was a five-week long sensory exploration of the world that brought the rich lore of Martin’s stories to the forefront in “Stark” relief.

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Current TV’s Participation Tango, Bar Karma

May 2, 2011 / Nathan Maton

An old man stands behind a bar.Â Half butler, half mad scientist, he sports a three-piece gray suit, an all-knowing smile, and the frayed messy grey hair of an aging genius.Â He withdraws a deck of cards labeled with simplistic circles and lines, slowly shuffling the deck before placing a handful of cards in front of a patron at the bar going through a turning point in their life. Every time he touches a card, the card’s face is replaced by a glimpse into one of the patron’s many potential futures.

Welcome to the signature scene fromÂ Bar Karma, a science fiction themed television show on Current TV. This past Friday,Â Bar Karma ended its first season.Â The show features characters from different times and places as they unknowingly enter a bar outside time and space when they have a tough decision to make.Â The show repeatedly asks questions about fate and free will as the barkeep and his small but attractive staff attempts to help each new character while protecting their renegade consultation shop from a mysterious evil entity.Â Each episode’s narrative is created in part by an active portion of theÂ Bar Karma audience that proposes and votes for plots.

Co-produced byÂ former Nickelodeon executive Albie Hect andÂ Sims creator and game industry legendÂ Will Wright, the show is experimental TV on the bleeding edge of interactive storytelling. Â Â “The mission is to extend to the viewing audience an unprecedented amount of input and participation in the development of the series,” says David Cohn, General Manager for Current TV.Â “To create the world’s first community-developed series.”