So, I might as well admit this to you now…

I’m addicted to Lost. 

Judge me if you must, but I’m proud to be a card-carrying Lostie. 

What, do you ask, has this to do with experience design?  Well, everything, of course!  Sit down and let me explain.

When Lost first premiered, I watched the first season and was intrigued. But life got in the way, I missed a few episodes, and decided that I missed way too much to keep up, so I dropped the show for a while.  That is, until mid-season two.  I happened upon a recap episode when I heard that there was a guy in a hatch, a computer with a button, and a tail section – WHAT?!  Well, let’s just say my mind was blown.  I love a good mystery, and Lost was turning out to be right up my alley. 

Now, all of this intrigue had me jonesing for more information, so where could I turn but the good ol’ internets?   After doing a search for “Lost” and “theories”, I came upon a forum, one of many, where people just as befuddled as I could gather to try to make sense of this perlexing show.  A little oasis in a desert of confusion that became my little Lostie home away from home.

ok, ok, I’m getting to the point…

So, after that second season, some rather interesting developments cropped up in the form of unusual advertisements and Lost-related websites that drove Losties like me to search for more information.  It was the start of Lost’s first ARG – an “alternate reality game” designed by the show’s creators to expand the storyline of the show and to bring worldwide fans together in an online experience.  By the end of this first ARG, those who followed along were treated not only to an expanded backstory and plum information about the Dharma Initiative and the Valenzetti Equation (you can look it up…), but – more importantly - were treated to an experience with fellow Losties that required them to pool their efforts and help one another to piece together the clues that ultimately led them to their mythological treasure.

Since that first ARG, Lost has offered up similar experiences, usually kicked off at Comic-Con and running during each hiatus.  Some ARG’s have been more successful than others , but each time the bond between ultimate fans and the show gets stronger and stronger.  How’s that for marketing in the new age?

And now I come to the true purpose of this article, Lost’s latest ARG:  The Lost Underground Art Project (also known as Damon, Carlton and a Polar Bear).  Again, kicking off at Comic-Con this summer, the creators, with comedian Paul Scheer, set off a chain of events that would lead clue-hungry Losties to the ultimate scavenger hunt.  Beginning in August, the first clue led Losties to a club in LA with a show by the late DJ AM, and a special appearance by Sterling Beaumon (young Ben Linus), who revealed the purpose of this ARG:  A Lost fan appreciation event whereby 16 limited-edition Lost-inspired prints by some of today’s most collectible artists would be released over the next four months. It would again require the efforts of the group to follow the clues to each print, which were revealed at small events from LA to NY and Tokyo to Glasgow. 

So from August to December, Lost fans were treated to a little adventure that helped pass the long – and I mean long – hiatus leading up to the final season of the show.  Being that I live in Lost, I mean Los, Angeles, I was lucky enough to be able to attend several of the clue-finding missions, including a trip to my local Crumbs bakery to find a clue on the backs of the staffs’ uniforms, and another jaunt to Ron Herman to pick up a nifty canvas bag containing another clue.  Along the way, I always headed back to my collection of online forums where Losties like me would gather together to discuss the clues, share information, await the next poster release, and generally shoot the…you know. 

As the campaign drew to a close, the final clue led to a culminating experience that would prove to be the peanut butter on the Dharma crackers…er, cherry on the cake.  The final reveal would be a gallery show at Gallery1988, the brains (along with the Lost team) behind the ARG operation.  Luckily enough, the gallery is minutes from my home.  I win again.

After weeks and weeks of what had been a fun, though sometimes maddening, adventure, this final event was a must-see experience for any Lostie who could break away from the normal course of events and head to LA on December 15th.  People from all over the country flew in, and some even camped out overnight, to be first in line to walk into the gallery and see what was in store.  True to the Lost M.O., even waiting in line proved to be an experience filled with jubilation, drama and mystery, where those lining up on the street were treated to everything from pizza deliveries from the President of ABC, to another clue hunt from the gallery owner, to a special gift drop-off for the overnighters from the two Lost show runners, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.  As the line grew, along with the anticipation, Losties took pictures, tweeted and even took streaming video as it all happened to share with those who couldn’t attend, allowing the collective experience to continue.

At 7:00pm, the doors opened to the gallery and revealed not only a full set of the 16 limited-addition posters that had been revealed throughout the ARG, but an amazing collection of original art and other memorabilia provided by more artists, many of whom were in attendance alongside Lost’s writers and producers.   Each person who walked through the door recieved a lithograph of the final poster, which was revealed at the show, and had the opportunity to have it signed by Lindelof and Cuse, who returned shortly after the doors opened.

I will say that it was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in a while.   But while clue-hunting and poster reveals were a unique way to pass the time, it was the partnership with the online community to help solve the clues, come up with solutions and pool efforts that made the experience so memorable.  I really will never forget it.  And lucky for all of us, LostARGs.com documented the whole thing, so we can relive it whenever our little Lostie hearts desire.

So, in addition to my undying love for Lost as a show, it is the commitment of the show’s creators to design these extra credit experiences for the fans that make it a fitting first article for this blog about Experience Design.  Now on to Season 6!

Here are some peachy recaps for your viewing pleasure:

Next Article:  A Tale of Two Events:  It was the best of experiences, it was the worst of experiences…

as a lover of LOST, you are probably already aware of how remarkable the ronie midfew arts posters are. Last week, courtesy of an announcement on doc jensen’s twitter, I discovered that a blogger by the name of Robert Murphy (http://ramhatter.com) was holding a contest where the winner would receive a free copy of the print “jacob’s cabin.” The rules: “In 108 words or less, what is something you’ve learned from Lost that you’ve applied to your life?” Naturally, I went to work and created a poem consisting solely of life lessons from John Locke.

Well, as it turns out, I am a winner! Not the winner, mind you. But I am a runner-up, so huzzah still! I am eligible to win one of these prizes.

Natch, I listed the autographed photo of Michael Emerson first, shirtless Sawyer second and so on. When I receive Robert’s generous package, I will be sure to share the glory with you.

For a summary of events, as well as the winning entry, visit www.donttellmewhaticantdo.com. Thanks, again to Robert for this great opportunity!

Over on BoingBoing, Douglas Rushkoff wrote a description of a new alternate reality game that ties into the story of a graphic novel he was involved with. Part of his description:

So people might follow my characters through a series of graphic novels, and learn something about them that they can then use in the games, or an artifact they find in the game might help them decode something in the comics. And even the ARG that people are beginning to play right now – through which they are “finding the others,” and forging coalitions with other gamers in their own parts of the world to solve certain challenges – is a set-up for the bigger game, where these larger groups will be responsible for various aspects of the coming war.

Why, oh why, oh why can’t we find a way to work this kind of experience into writing classes? (No really, why?)

This article was originally submitted as a poster presentation at the International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference, Edinburgh, 2009.  I was pleased to win the poster prize for this contribution.

You can download a printable pdf of the original poster here: IEEC 2009 Poster.

Summary

Entrepreneurial learning is enhanced when learners:

• are immersed in authentic or near-real experiences (transformed into knowledge and understanding-1)
• are able to reflect on these experiences
• are able to synthesise key concepts by construction of links between theory and practice (a deep approach to learning-2)
• are motivated and engaged
• are allowed to imitate, experiment (play) in a safe (low-risk) environment

Simulations, case-studies, role-plays and, more recently, computer-based simulations (hereafter collectively referred to as “simulation(s)”) are the commonly used experiential teaching “tools” employed to approximate realistic experiences.

Although becoming more sophisticated these interventions are generally unconvincing proxies for real life experiences often requiring a large leap of imagination on the part of the participating students.

The best experiential teaching techniques shrink the “reality gap” (figure 1) that exists between classroom “simulation” and authentic life experience (the wider the gap – the harder the participant has to work to suspend their disbelief).

A functional hallmark of Alternate Reality Game (ARG) design is the use of immersive techniques to blur the boundary between what is story and what is reality (ARGs are often referred to as immersive games).

These same techniques (see “2. What is an ARG?”) are to be employed in a taught enterprise unit in an attempt to create what might be termed a hyperreal simulation or hyperreality – an experience that will produce a sense of realism far in excess of that of traditional “simulations”

A well designed ARG based unit also provides the opportunity to enhance student motivation and engagement through the use of techniques employed by traditional game designers (competition, reward etc).

What is an Alternate Reality Game (ARG)?

“Alternate Reality Games take the substance of everyday life and weave it into narratives that layer additional meaning, depth, and interaction upon the real world.”3

Alternate Reality Games (ARG’s) tell rich, interactive stories through narrative elements that are distributed across various platforms.

Pieces of the story are distributed online or off across multiple mediums. These may include websites, blog posts, email, video clips (maybe on youtube, television or cinema), audio clips (podcasts, voicemail messages, radio broadcasts), print ads in magazines and newspapers, billboards, posters in shops, payphones (cards or real-time calls), people with placards on streets and packages sent through the post.

The stories are carefully concealed from players until appropriate moments determined by the game designer(s) or ‘puppetmasters’.

Game play involves players working collaboratively (often globally) using email, phone/sms contact, real-time interactions and extensive online engagement to solve problems (puzzles) revealed through the narrative.

Players of ARG’s often develop strong emotional connections with the story characters who are designed to appear as real people. Devices such as real-time communication with the players (using blogs, social networks, video, VOIP, sms, telephone, online chat etc) and development of realistic, rich character histories make this possible (Figure 2).

Instead of requiring the player to enter a fictional game world, ARG designers attempt to enmesh the game within the fabric of the player’s real world by harnessing as many media technologies and interfaces as possible. By doing so, ARG’s expand the frame for the game beyond the computer monitor or television screen, effectively making the entire world the “game board.” (above modified after 4).

ARG players report unprecedented levels of immersion in the presented narratives as well as high levels of engagement.

Why ARGs for Enterprise Education? (after 5)

Realistic, interactive narrative (characters/story)

• Not just a “normal” simulation / roleplay. Extends the simulation
• paradigm towards authentic experience
• Contextualised – the narrative can be modified to fit ANY real-life
• situation
• Experiential – application of theory in a low-threat, realistic
• environment

Self directed play – influence on outcomes

• Ownership / responsibility for learning
• Enquiry/research based
• Facilitates critical (deep) academic thinking
• Motivating

Progress and rewards (leaderboard and prizes)

• Provides incentive, motivation, competition, sense of achievement, fun!(feedback/reflection)
• Regular delivery of new problems/events
• Key to maintaining engagement/interest
• Large, active communities
• All the benefits of learning in groups (collaborative, self-supportive, peer feedback, vicarious learning)
• Development of teamworking skills

Novel method of delivery

• Engagement, Fun, Motivation

Utilises Existing technologies

• Removes barriers = Buy-in
• Promotes engagement

The Unit: Enterprise in Context (Level One, 10 Credits, One Semester)

The Scenario

Students will be participating in an Undergraduate Training Programme (UTP) run, in collaboration with Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise, by a company who specialise in turning around failing businesses.  The company is called Phoenix UK Ltd.

Phoenix UK Ltd has directors, employees, a history, a web presence, email addresses, Skype and Twitter accounts.  The managing director is a character called Simon Brookes!! Simon will be running the UTP.

Phoenix UK Ltd are based in the City of Porthampton which has a council (www.porthamptoncc.org.uk), a newspaper -  The Porthampton Bugle
(www.porthamptonbugle.co.uk) and a football team (non-league!).

In small groups the students will be working with a “real” business that is suffering financially.  Their task is to turnaround the fortunes of this failing business.

The failing company, Salter & Son, is a rather old-fashioned, high street, gentlemen’s outfitter whose “brand” and product range leave much to be desired!
(www.salter&son.co.uk)

Salter & Son, also based in Porthampton, has a new Managing Director (Craig Salter) and several key staff who deal with different areas of the business; Christine Parker – Marketing; Barry Scott – Finance.

The scene is set!

Delivery

Mostly self-directed (or guided self-research), usually in response to triggers from Salter & Son employees.

The students will need to communicate and work closely with each of Salter & Son’s key personnel in order to get the information they need to make their final recommendations.

Communication will be through email, conference calls, online chat, video and traditional mail (Students will receive packages through the post sent from Salter&Son Employees).

As the unit progresses the students will learn about the basics of marketing (retail slant), business finance, business management and personnel issues (the unit learning outcomes).

Several workshops or master-classes will supplement the students own research, delivered by “external consultants” (in reality academics role-playing consultants).

Students will need to keep on their toes and be ready to respond to the clients requests, moods and whims. There will be some surprises!

Assessment

Assessment one – small group presentation to the client (in this case Craig Salter) on the findings of a “best practice” fieldtrip the students will have undertaken in a local high street (students also have an opportunity to spend some time interviewing the owners of several local clothes retailers).

Assessment two – individual short answer tests.  At five points throughout the unit each student will receive an email from a Salter & Son employee which will contain questions pertaining to that employees area of responsibility (marketing, finance etc).  The answers emailed back to the client will be assessed.  These marks also contribute towards the Phoenix UK Leaderboard™ score (see “The Leaderboard”).

Assessment three is designed to encourage the students to reflect on their performance as a member of a team.  Every fortnight the students will self- and peer-assess each other’s teamwork performance against a number of pre-selected criteria.  An individual 500 word essay reflecting on their overall performance will be assessed.  The total mark at each assessment also contributes towards the Phoenix UK Leaderboard™ score (see The Leaderboard).

Assessment four is a group submitted, 2000 word report, written for the benefit of the failing company, Salter & Son.  This report will include all of the students’ recommendations (marketing, financial, personnel etc.).

The Leaderboard

A bespoke, online leaderboard has been developed for this unit.

Throughout the duration of the unit students are given marks for various tasks completed (answers submitted to client’s questions and also for teamwork contribution).

These marks convert to scores which will be added to the Phoenix UK leaderboard.

Students will be able to view their scores and those of their colleagues online, throughout the programme.

At the end, prizes will be awarded to the highest scoring individual and also the highest scoring team.

The leaderboard was included as a way of introducing an element of competition (this is a game!) and fun to the unit.

References

1.    Stokes, D. (2009, March 26). Action learning tools for building self-efficacy and entrepreneurial skills. Paper presented at Essential Tools for Entrepreneurship Education, University of Reading. Retrieved August 25, 2009, http://www.heeg.org.uk/Heeg/e1e2_event_details.aspx?eventDateId=2008121515135305817561&websiteId=0&previousPage=e1_Event_List.aspx?websiteId=0&step=detail.

2.    Biggs, J. (1999) What the Student Does: teaching for Enhanced Learning. Higher Education Research & Development, Vol. 18: 1, 57-75.).

3.    Martin, A., Thompson, B. & Chatfield, T. (2006). Alternate Reality Games White Paper – IGDA ARG SIG. Retrieved August 26, 2009 from http://www.igda.org/arg/resources/IGDA-AlternateRealityGames-Whitepaper-2006.pdf.

4.    What is an ARG? (2008). Retrieved August 26, 2009, from the Argology.org website: http://www.argology.org/_what-is-an-arg/

5.    Mosely, A. (2008). An Alternative Reality for Higher Education? Lessons to be learned from online reality games. Retrieved January 28, 2009, http://moerg.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/moseley2008a.pdf

6.    Harvey dent demo photo. Retrieved august 29 2009 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/thestacester/2352683541/sizes/l/

7.    Phillips, Andrea. “Deep Water.” (July 26, 2001) http://cloudmakers.org/editorials/aphillips726.shtml Access: May 6, 2002.

<SerializableAttribute> _
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
<ClassInterfaceAttribute(ClassInterfaceType.None)> _
Public Class Exception _
    Implements ISerializable, _Exception

A catch block handles an exception of type T if the type filter of the catch block specifies T or any type that T derives from. The system stops searching after it finds the first catch block that handles the exception. For this reason, in application code, a catch block that handles a type must be specified before a catch block that handles its base types, as demonstrated in the example that follows this section. A catch block that handles System.Exception is specified last.

If none of the catch blocks associated with the current try block handle the exception, and the current try block is nested within other try blocks in the current call, the catch blocks associated with the next enclosing try block are searched. If no catch block for the exception is found, the system searches previous nesting levels in the current call. If no catch block for the exception is found in the current call, the exception is passed up the call stack, and the previous stack frame is searched for a catch block that handles the exception. The search of the call stack continues until the exception is handled or until no more frames exist on the call stack

Exception Type Categories

Handling and Throwing Exceptions.

Allows exceptions to be thrown across process and even machine boundaries.

Exceptions offer several advantages over other methods of error notification, such as return codes. Failures do not go unnoticed. Invalid values do not continue to propagate through the system. You do not have to check return codes. Exception-handling code can be easily added to increase program reliability. Finally, the runtime’s exception handling is faster than Windows-based C++ error handling.

Because execution threads routinely traverse managed and unmanaged blocks of code, the runtime can throw or catch exceptions in either managed or unmanaged code. Unmanaged code can include both C++-style SEH Exceptions and COM-based HRESULTS.

ApplicationException Class (System)

If you are designing an application that needs to create its own exceptions, you are advised to derive custom exceptions from the Exception class. It was originally thought that custom exceptions should derive from the ApplicationException class; however in practice this has not been found to add significant value.

SystemException Class (System)

SystemException does not provide information as to the cause of the Exception. In most scenarios, instances of this class should not be thrown. In cases where this class is instantiated, a human-readable message describing the error should be passed to the constructor.

SystemException is thrown by the common language runtime when errors occur that are nonfatal and recoverable by user programs. These errors result from failed runtime check (such as an array out-of-bound error), and can occur during the execution of any method. SystemException adds no new functionality to Exception.

Exceptions Overview.

The runtime uses an exception handling model based on exception objects and protected blocks of code. An Exception object is created to represent an exception when it occurs.

The runtime creates an exception information table for each executable. Each method of the executable has an associated array of exception handling information (which can be empty) in the exception information table. Each entry in the array describes a protected block of code, any exception filters associated with that code, and any exception handlers (catch statements). This exception table is extremely efficient and there is no performance penalty in processor time or in memory use when an exception does not occur. You use resources only when an exception occurs.

The exception information table represents four types of exception handlers for protected blocks:

• A finally handler that executes whenever the block exits, whether that occurs by normal control flow or by an unhandled exception.
• A fault handler that must execute if an exception occurs, but does not execute on completion of normal control flow.
• A type-filtered handler that handles any exception of a specified class or any of its derived classes.
• A user-filtered handler that runs user-specified code to determine whether the exception should be handled by the associated handler or should be passed to the next protected block.

Each language implements these exception handlers according to its specifications. For example, Visual Basic 2005 provides access to the user-filtered handler through a variable comparison (using the When keyword) in the catch statement; C# does not implement the user-filtered handler.

Note that the order of exception handlers is important: the innermost exception handler is evaluated first. Also note that exception handlers can access the local variables and local memory of the routine that catches the exception, but any intermediate values at the time the exception is thrown are lost.

If no match occurs in the current method, the runtime searches each caller of the current method, and it continues this path all the way up the stack. If no caller has a match, the runtime allows the debugger to access the exception. If the debugger does not attach to the exception, the runtime raises the UnhandledException event. If there are no listeners for the UnhandledException event, the runtime dumps a stack trace and ends the program.

Exception Class and Properties.

The Exception class is the base class from which exceptions inherit. Most exception objects are instances of some derived class of Exception, but you can throw any object that derives from the Object class as an exception.

Note that not all languages support throwing and catching objects that do not derive from Exception. In almost all cases, it is recommended to throw and catch only Exception objects.

The InnerException property.

This property can be used to create and preserve a series of exceptions during exception handling. You can use this property to create a new exception that contains previously caught exceptions. The original exception can be captured by the second exception in the InnerException property, allowing code that handles the second exception to examine the additional information.

• For example, suppose you have a method that reads a file and formats the data. The code tries to read from the file, but a FileException is thrown. The method catches the FileException and throws a BadFormatException. In this case, the FileException can be saved in the InnerException property of the BadFormatException.

To improve the caller’s ability to determine the reason an exception is thrown, it is sometimes desirable for a method to catch an exception thrown by a helper routine and then throw an exception more indicative of the error that has occurred. A new and more meaningful exception can be created, where the inner exception reference can be set to the original exception. This more meaningful exception can then be thrown to the caller. Note that with this functionality, you can create a series of linked exceptions that ends with the exception that was thrown first.

It is not recommended that you catch a SystemException, nor is it good programming practice to throw a SystemException in your application.

The most severe exceptions — those thrown by the runtime or in nonrecoverable conditions — include

• ExecutionEngineException,
• StackOverflowException,
• OutOfMemoryException.

Interoperation exceptions derive from SystemException and are further extended by ExternalException.

• COMException is the exception thrown during COM interop operations and derives from ExternalException.
• Win32Exception
• SEHException

Best Practices for Handling Exceptions.

1. Know when to set up a try/catch block. For example, you can programmatically check for a condition that is likely to occur without using exception handling. In other situations, using exception handling to catch an error condition is appropriate.

The method you choose depends on how often you expect the event to occur. If the event is truly exceptional and is an error (such as an unexpected end-of-file), using exception handling is better because less code is executed in the normal case. If the event happens routinely, using the programmatic method to check for errors is better. In this case, if an exception occurs, the exception will take longer to handle.

• When creating user-defined exceptions, you must ensure that the metadata for the exceptions is available to code executing remotely, including when exceptions occur across application domains. For example, suppose Application Domain A creates Application Domain B, which executes code that throws an exception. For Application Domain A to properly catch and handle the exception, it must be able to find the assembly containing the exception thrown by Application Domain B. If Application Domain B throws an exception that is contained in an assembly under its application base, but not under Application Domain A’s application base, Application Domain A will not be able to find the exception and the common language runtime will throw a FileNotFoundException. To avoid this situation, you can deploy the assembly containing the exception information in two ways:
  • Put the assembly into a common application base shared by both application domains

    - or -

  • If the domains do not share a common application base, sign the assembly containing the exception information with a strong name and deploy the assembly into the global assembly cache.

• In C# and C++, use at least the three common constructors when creating your own exception classes. For an example, see How to: Create User-Defined Exceptions.

Imports System
Public Class EmployeeListNotFoundException
   Inherits Exception

   Public Sub New()
   End Sub 'New

   Public Sub New(message As String)
      MyBase.New(message)
   End Sub 'New

   Public Sub New(message As String, inner As Exception)
      MyBase.New(message, inner)
   End Sub 'New
End Class 'EmployeeListNotFoundException

• Return null for extremely common error cases. For example, Open returns null if the file is not found, but throws an exception if the file is locked.
• Design classes so that an exception is never thrown in normal use. For example, a FileStream class exposes another way of determining whether the end of the file has been reached. This avoids the exception that is thrown if you read past the end of the file.
• Use exception builder methods. It is common for a class to throw the same exception from different places in its implementation. To avoid excessive code, use helper methods that create the exception and return it. For example:
  Visual Basic

  Class File
     Private fileName As String
  
     Public Function Read(bytes As Integer) As Byte()
        If Not ReadFile(handle, bytes) Then
           Throw NewFileIOException()
        End If
     End Function 'Read
  
     Function NewFileIOException() As FileException
        Dim description As String = __unknown ' Build localized string, including fileName.
        Return New FileException(description) '
     End Function 'NewFileIOException
  End Class 'File

Handling COM Interop Exceptions.

Choosing When to Use Structured and Unstructured Exception Handling.

you might use unstructured exception handling under these circumstances:

• You are upgrading an application written in an earlier version of Visual Basic.
• You are developing a preliminary or draft version of an application and you don’t mind if the program fails to shut down gracefully.
• You know in advance exactly what will cause the exception.
• A deadline is pressing, you need to take shortcuts, and are willing to sacrifice flexibility for speed.
• Code is trivial or so short that you only need to test the branch of code generating the exception.
• You need to use the Resume Next statement, which is not supported in structured exception handling.

The common language runtime catches exceptions that are not caught by a catch block. Depending on how the runtime is configured, either a debug dialog box appears, or the program stops executing and a dialog box with exception information appears. For information about debugging, see Debugging and Profiling Applications.

Brrr, it’s time to shake the moths out and parade your winter woolies down on the Southbank.

Autumn means the London Film Festival (more about that soon) and within it the fantastic Power to the Pixel; a cross media forum that explores the cutting edge of digital moving image, motion design, film-making and all manner of cross media production, marketing and distribution including innovative promotional activity and techniques for content creation where live meets the digital realm (my particular favourite area of intrigue).

Expect to learn more than the latest insights in to crowd funding and sourcing for movies, or the newest technologies that are infuencing the creation of digital media. Last years insights in to ARG’s (Alternative Reality games) was a big hit and I expect Augmented Realities will be feature this year.

Presented at BFI Southbank and at The Royal Society for the Arts – I highly recommend the three-day event which spans conferences, presentations, workshops, one-to-one business mentoring and think tank sessions.

There are also awards and partner funding initiatives available for new cross-media projects. Last year ‘Breathe‘ was presented at concept stage – a modern day murder mystery which mixes film, online and real-life events and performance to tell a rich and interactive story that immerses the audience in a shadowy and sinister underworld. The launch of three fifteen-minute episodes will be launched at this years event.

Videos of presentations and other insights are also published on the PTTP website.

Digital resistance is futile!

1. The Setup

We discussed Jane McGonigal’s article “Why I Love Bees: A Study in Collective Intelligence Gaming” in Alice Robison’s ENG 553: Videogame Studies on Monday. Alice brought up another article by McGonigal, “The Puppet Master Problem: Design for Real-World, Mission-Based Gaming,” and I mentioned it was one of the most disturbing academic articles I’ve ever read. I’d like to briefly sketch the reasons for that response.

This isn’t intended as a thorough, and absolutely not an original, critique of McGonigal: I strongly suspect other people have covered this territory and done it better. It’s a quick explanation of my own response, coupled with some speculation and associations with things that don’t find themselves linked all that often.

McGonigal introduces “a new mode of digital gaming… I call it the power play.” Power plays are created and run by “puppet masters:” “Unlike virtually any other game you could think of, ‘mastered’ or not, in power plays the player’s actions are entirely predetermined… There is simply no optionality to the power play  – do exactly what you’re told, or there’s no play for you. The underlying power structure requires a level of overt submission from gamers that is simply unprecedented in game culture.”

She discusses critics of “pervasive gaming,” in which a large number of online players direct the actions of a few in the physical world, the reverse of the dynamic in Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) like I Love Bees, which which she was involved. Those critics, she says argue that pervasive games “will naturalize the PM [puppet master]-player dynamic and therefore make players more likely to accept out-of-game puppet masters in their real, everyday lives.”

She addresses that criticism obliquely, not refuting it, but making a case for, essentially, the joy of submission, or constraint.

McGonigal aruges that “reality” is that which is constrained, “virtuality” that which provides options, but then defines contemporary culture as one of virtuality, suggesting that the escape provided by games should be one of escape from the option space of our real virtuality into a game of manufactured constraint:

“In a culture where everything is designed for maximum optionality, and reality is defined by having to accept a situation exactly as it is with no special customization, modification or self-authorship, the most immersively realistic game is the one in which a puppet master tells you exactly what to do, when to do it, where and for how long. For immersive gamers, the escape from constant optionality is the pleasure of the relative powerlessness of a power play.”

2. Games as Learning Spaces

Jim Gee argues that video games are powerful tools for learning (as distinguished from teaching). Gee’s catchily-titled What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy sets out 36 principles of learning, and demonstrates how digital games can and do embody them. One of his first observations is

“Like reading and thinking, learning is not general, but specific; like reading and thinking, it is not just an individual act but a social one. As for learning being specific, video games teach us that a good game teaches the player primarily how to play the game and, then, to be able to generalize to games like it. But all learning is, I would argue, learning to play ‘the game.’”

I’m willing to posit that ARGs, digitally mediated games played out in physical as well as digital spaces, embody most of Gee’s principles of learning. But, in traditional games, as McGonigal discusses thoroughly, what is learned is efficacy, empowerment, mastery. But that empowerment and mastery is reflexive, not transitive. What is mastered is a “semiotic domain,” be it the role of Orc Shaman, or city planner, or poor Haitian family trying to prosper. The empowerment is of ability to act in that semiotic domain, of being able to make choices that lead to desirable outcomes.

What pervasive games and ARGs teach, by McGonigal’s own description, is transitive: it is power over others, mastery of others. In pervasive games, the player is the master over game-runner servants, in ARGs, the player is the servant of the puppet master.

People learn from games.  From good games, people learn to be capable, to be active players rather than passive spectators, to master semiotic domains rather than to be taught “content.” Good games are inherently political: they create citizens in a culture that would have us be consumers. Good games move power from those who hoard and wield it – schoolteachers, old media conglomerates – to the people.

Bad games – and working off McGonigal’s description, ARGs are bad games – teach values that benefit the wielders of power and disempower the people. McGonigal’s defense is “but people want it- submission is joy!” Even granting the truth of that – and I’ll discuss that statement below – it’s not a rebuttal.

Do people learn from games? Yes. Do they learn from power plays? Yes. What do they learn? The joys of submission, or at best, of participating in relationships of power over others, as master or as servant, in a broadly social context. Are these good things? No.  The lessons taught by power plays are antithetical to those of a free, democratic society.

3. Helicopter Parents to Puppet Masters?

So, reading McGonigal’s article, I had to ask myself, “Is she right?” Do people crave escape from option spaces? Is there a desire to submit to the puppet master?

Barry Schwartz coined the phrase “the tyranny of choice” in a 2004 Scientific American article, and later wrote a book entitled “The Paradox of Choice.”  His argument is a fairly specific one about stress from choosing among too many not-really-different alternatives, but it seemed to resonate culturally in a more general sense. When we can be anything, live anywhere, choose any partner or none, how do we make coherent decisions? Certainly political conservatism and religious fundamentalism are seen by their adherents as attractive constraints and submissions in response to a globalized culture without clear rules and mandated roles.

McGonagle noted in “Why I Love Bees” that the 2004 game’s participants were “largely high school and college students.” It’s entirely possible that “the pleasure of relative powerlessness” has a generational appeal: having been “helicopter parented,” considering their parents their closest confidants, that population may find being puppet masterered a warm return to the safety of childhood, an escape from the hard and fearful work of becoming adults. One suspects that Generation X, who were autonomous “latchkey kids,” finds the notion incomprehensible, and the rebellious Boomers find it anathema.

4. Is Electronic Love to Blame?

(with apologies to Apoptygma Berzerk)
OK, the first thing I thought of wasn’t helicopter parents, but the prevalence of D/s (Domiance/submission, or power exchange) in digital worlds. I’ve said more than once that the Second Life tutorial should include a couple hours of BDSM education, and I’m not entirely facetious about it.

I think there are three different things going on with digital D/s, and only one of them bears on McGonagal’s claim – but it definitely does.

The first is, some of the motivation for BDSM sexual practices is a desire to heighten sensation to compensate for lack of physical contact in online sexuality: it’s “I want (you to) really feel this,” when the intercourse is aural, textual, audiovisual, and not flesh-to-flesh. So, the tightening of a restraint, the sharper bite, the harder push, compensates for the lower bandwidth of the medium. To generate enough physical arousal digitally, some might have to increase the stimulus. So, sadomasochistic sex doesn’t have any bearing on the issue.

(technosage also points out that when sex is mediated through language, whether spoken or written, it necessitates practices much like those of D/s, in which negotiating what you want done or to do, monitoring sensation levels, and giving commands are important. She also suggests an excellent research agenda for someone: does electronic sexuality (phone sex, sex in virtual worlds, etc.) lead to greater inclusion of D/s or D/s-like practices in one’s physical sexuality?)

The second is aesthetic: outfits and toys that are fairly impractical in the physical world can work digitally, and that can be pretty and fun. Ballet heels? Latex? Spanking skirts? Ball gags? Spreader bars? Painful or risky in the physical world, but the digital world allows the aesthetic enjoyment without the lower back pains One of the most ubiquitous pieces of Second Life furniture, the St. Andrew’s Cross, can’t be separated from the visual affordances and  constraints of the screen: it’s pretty, it’s easy to move the viewpoint camera around, and it’s an iconic, conversational object in a way the bed isn’t.  So, the digital popularity of bondage-inspired fashion doesn’t have any bearing on the issue.

But the third, the real D/s community, the people who’ve made the Restrained Life Viewer one of SL’s most popular tools – they have bearing on the issue. D/s isn’t a subset of sexual practice, but about the joy of submission, of restraint, of surrendering one’s options to another’s will (mediated through software in the case of the RLV and RLV-compatible toys). So, digital spaces allow for an expression of D/s different from that of the physical world: there’s no RLV for RL. They also, of course, enable similar D/s practices to those of the physical world. But clearly, digital spaces and tools offer an opportunity to explore D/s, and that exploration is very popular (and big business).

Yet, I don’t think that the RLV is bad, while I think the ARG power play is.

D/s can become political (see, e.g., Gorean communities), but it isn’t, inherently. It doesn’t ordinarily structure social relations, let alone political or economic ones. However, the power play takes the D/s impulse and translates it into a social medium: it makes that joy of submission into a political act.

That is a perversion, in a fundamental, literal sense of the term.

The great triumph of social media has been its politicization of individual expression: it has reclaimed creativity from a professional elite and returned it to all of us. It has taken power from corporations, from political parties, and returned it to the people. The ARG takes the deeply intimate impulse of D/s and turns it to political and commercial ends: it teaches a joy of public disempowerment, a profoundly immoral act.

5. Slumming

If there’s anything that says “spoiled yuppie brat,” it’s “I’m so oppressed by my freedom, I need to play at powerlessness.”  What’s next, an ARG theme park featuring the “North Korean Blackout” zone, the “Smuggled Across the Border” ride,  the “Chain Gang” mixer, the “Thai Slave Brothel” teahouse? Playing for the frisson from the conditions that still ruin the lives of millions is contemptible.

You feel oppressed by your freedom? Give mom and dad back their tuition and go work at WalMart, and try to keep your health insurance and car payments up. There’s a fun game – and it’s just like reality!

O ARGFest 2009 ocorreu entre os dias 17 a 19 de julho, em Portland, Oregon, nos Estados Unidos, e contou com diversos profissionais não somente do mundo dos alternate reality games, mas de diversas outras produções transmídia.

O ARGFest 2009 também realizou uma homenagem especial a Dave Szulborski, que infelizmente veio a falecer no início deste ano. Suas obras e jogos com certeza serão eternamente importantes para os admiradores dos ARGs (minha monografia foi baseada em grande parte nos livros dele), e por isso o evento deste ano foi inteiramente dedicado à ele.

Ao visitar o site do ARGFest você percebe que o evento parece ter sido muito interessante. Infelizmente não tive a oportunidade de conferir ao vivo (mais uma vez), mas é possível encontrar alguns vídeos no Youtube de palestras e convidados. Mesmo sem ter assistido, só de conferir os trabalhos e portfolio dos palestrantes você já tem sua inspiração multiplicada.

ARGFest 2010, me aguarde!

Jane McGonigal, games designer extraordinaire, has long pointed out that games are better designed than most jobs.   I agree with her, but oddly I still prefer work.

Nonetheless, agreeing that games designers make better use of work psychology than psychologists do, I’ve been deliberately playing games from beginning to end.

Getting into games, the autonomy dimension of Ryan & Deci’s ARC model is clear.  We need to be be able to see what to do at glance. We shouldn’t need elaborate instructions or encouragement.

I am stepping through the levels quite doggedly.  That should be the competence dimension of Ryan & Dec’s model.  In truth, games are quite fun while I am figuring out the rules – or when I think I can push myself to a new level.  But they also get boring quickly.  Dogged is the feeling I have!

I think I don’t use the social aspects of games sufficiently. Social or relationships, is the third component of Ryan & Deci’s ARC model.

I am probably not very sociable because my motives for playing games aren’t social.  But, equally, I probably get bored quickly because I am not being sociable.

What has interested me more has been the way my preconceptions affect my game play.

In a game in which I played the role of explorer in Africa, it took me a long while to realise that I could deliberately kill people and even longer to do it.

In Mafia Wars running on Facebook, I am yet to start a fight. I am yet to invest in armour.  The jobs I do all against an anonymous enemy.  When someone attacks me, I just clean up and take out some more insurance.

In Farmville, I would like to share my tractor.

Does social mean more than sending gifts and energy bonuses? Are our ‘identities’ and ‘values’ also important to us?

…and back to Torchwood again. No coincidental LOST times at home, I don’t think. A very good meal though. Yay.

A new frame is up! A new frame! I love the Damon, Carlton etc picture that’s used to signify the new clues – it seems oh so slightly surreal.

I suppose we may conclude that, at least until all the pictures are done, there is no game-in-itself, and that this is paintings-only. This is fine with me and I do want to try and get one eventually, if there’s such a one that I like, but meanwhile, keeping up is fun. The new clue is some kind of bakery or similar on Wall Street, Larchmont? I gather this only from the excellent www.lostargs.com, as I was away when the clue turned up. Presumably Further Instructions will await those who live nearby. I was wondering if, somehow, they used Lost University signups or something to assert the areas in which people might be most likely to turn up for these things. Or something. Who knows?

ETA: New new clue is a baker’s dozen, yes? Wonderful =) Will there be LOST-related cupcakes? That would be marvellous…
___________________________________________________________

So, new podcast! I’ll be recording one soonish, this week sometime if I get the chance, or next week if the book I want to look into isn’t here yet. Things I will be talking about include:

- my ‘Re-listen’ to the Official LOST podcasts
- a little more from LOST & Philosophy
- LOST and German literature

as always any more topic suggestions or comments are very, very welcome, so do please skip over to the Contact Me page and make them known to me!

Also a massive thanks to Matt and Leslie from the wonderful Keys To LOST podcast for their much-appreciated shout-out, and a considerable ‘HELLO!’ to everyone who came over here and checked out my podcasts and blog – feel free to join in and thanks!

e vamo que vamo!

Hoje entreguei o segundo capítulo para os orientadores do meu TCC. O maior capítulo do trabalho, sem dúvidas… acho que foram umas 60 páginas *—-*

Nele, eu falo sobre os precursores dos ARGs, e as características entre os ARGs e os videogames comuns… é um tema bem complicado mesmo, e tive que me controlar para não escrever 200 páginas sobre isso. Agora, com o capítulo 2 pronto, o terceiro ficará bem mais fácil (onde vou falar sobre redes sociais).

Vocês já tiveram a sensação de que sempre tem  algo para mudar no seu trabalho escrito? Cada vez que eu leio, quero mudar alguma coisa… isso não é bom. Acho que vou deixar os dois primeiros capítulos de lado por um tempo.

def func(*args, **kwargs):

Python functions and methods can pass and receive arguments in two forms:

1. positional argument (the order is important)

2. keyword argument(names along with the values)

—

In Python, list and dictionary types are used for positional and keyword arguments respectively.

Passing a list as an argument and prefixing it with a single asterisk(*) will cause each item of the list in order. This will be used as a separate positional argument.

Passing a dictionary and prefixing it two asterisks(**) will cause the keys of the dictionary to be used as names for separate keyword arugments and the dictionary’s values to become the values of these arguments.

With the second Tron movie in production, we knew that eventually the marketing machine would start up.  It seems that the first viral website for the movie has appeared online.  According to Tron 2.0’s IMDB page, the movie will feature the search for Kevin Flynn.

Genius, Visionary, Modern Hero.

 

That is Kevin Flynn.

 

He came into our lives and showed us the limitless possibilities of the future. And then, all of a sudden, he “disappeared.”

 

Some people believed he died. We don’t. We know that Kevin Flynn Lives.

 

We’re not crazy, we’re not obssessed, we’re not lunatics. We simply have followed the facts wherever they lead. And the facts tell us that Kevin Flynn Lives.

 

We are here for Kevin. Nobody can make us stop believing that he is out there, that he’s waiting for us, and that he will return when the time is right.

 

Quem estuda ou gosta de ARGs quase sempre tropeça na comunidade dos Cloudmakers em seus primeiros passos no mundo dos jogos de realidade alternativa. Isso também aconteceu comigo, ainda no fim de 2007, quando comecei a descobrir mais informações sobre a ficção interativa e os jogos imersivos.

Mas o site dos Cloudmakers é muito mais do que uma comunidade de admiradores do gênero. É também uma verdadeira mina de ouro para aqueles que buscam compreender parte das experiências vividas com o “pai” dos alternate reality games – The Beast. The Beast foi um ARG (o primeiro, por assim dizer) produzido pela Microsoft (ahá! eles denovo) e pela Dreamworks, para o filme Inteligência Artificial, de Steven Spielberg (em 2001). Notem que eu não usei a frase “para a divulgação do filme”, pois não foi isso que The Beast fez, diretamente.

A história do jogo se passava num ambiente futurístico como o do filme, mas em nenhum momento os dois foram associados pelos produtores de A.I. Mas aqui não pretendo falar sobre The Beast, e sim sobre os Cloudmakers!

Visitei o site dos Cloudmakers muitas vezes, mas como são tantas as informações legais publicadas por lá, em alguns momentos você nem sabe ao certo por onde começar. É por isso que, na semana passada, descobri que além do guia de cada passo do roteiro do jogo, eles também contam com páginas, puzzles e outros materiais, que estavam fora do ar depois do término de The Beast, e agora são hosteados pelos próprios Cloudmakers.

Encontrei puzzles fantásticos (não sei o que mais me interessa nos ARGs – se é a narrativa ou a criação de puzzles), sites com interfaces muito bem feitas e uma linha do tempo super inteligente de contar uma história. Para não me empolgar muito, deixo aqui algumas fotos que encontrei na comunidade dos Cloudmakers. Vale a pena ler o material publicado ali – é muito material! Aos poucos eu falo mais sobre The Beast aqui no blog

Ein ausführlicheres Blogpost gibt es später, jetzt zunächst einmal den Link zur Aufzeichnung – ich fürchte, wir haben die Übertragung der Diskussion ins Web versehentlich abgebrochen. Dabei hatte ich ja extra alle Fragen nochmal wiederholt B-) Nun ja, so eine Wiederholung kann einer Diskussion ja auch ein zusätzlich sinnstiftendes Moment geben. Ich muss Michael Thurm fragen, ob seine Aufnahme der Diskussion geglückt ist.

Hinweis: Einbetten in diesen Blog ging im Fall nur über Vodpod (finde nicht heraus, was der ustream.tv embed code ist, wenn es denn einen gibt) – leider fängt dann das Video ganz vorne an, und da hatten wir noch Tonprobleme. Bei 3:48 geht es ohne Probleme weiter – auf Ustream selbst habe ich die Startzeit entsprechend eingestellt. Kostet einen Klick, das Video direkt dort zu anzusehen.

Perplex City foi um ARG de longa duração, lançado em Abril de 2005 pela Mind Candy (Londres). A primeira “temporada” desafiou os jogadores a procurar pelo “Receda Cube” (geralmente mencionado pelos personagens da história como “The Cube”) – um artefato científico e religioso muito precioso para os moradores da metrópole fictícia conhecida como “Perplex City”. O Cubo havia sido roubado e escondido em algum lugar do planeta, e o jogo ofereceu um prêmio de £100,000 (aproximadamente 200,000 dólares!) para quem o encontrasse.

Como vocês já puderam perceber, Perplex City não foi um ARG produzido para promover algum produto, filme ou coisa do tipo – ele se auto promoveu, vamos dizer assim. A idéia, como vocês verão a seguir, é muito parecida com a série de livros 39 Clues.

O que aproxima esses dois ARGs é o fato de que “cards” eram vendidos aos jogadores, contendo puzzles e mistérios do jogo. Outras informações da trama eram soltas em blogs e outras mídias. Apesar de não ter sido lançado em livro, como o 39 Clues, Perplex City contava com um site extremamente bem feito, com características detalhadas das pessoas que viviam ali, mapas da cidade, problemas que o roubo do “Cubo” trouxeram e muitas outras informações. A imersão conquistada na história ficou, de fato, pelo ótimo trabalho realizado pela Mind Candy em construir esse mundo fictício com tantos detalhes.

O jogo começou em 2005 e em Fevereiro de 2007, foi declarado como vencedor o jogador Andy Darley, de Middlesex, também no Reino Unido.

O que mais me atrai em Perplex City são justamente as ‘minhas dúvidas’ em relação a denominação de ARG ao projeto. Porque, geralmente em jogos de realidade alternativa, não se busca um vencedor somente, alguém que consegue vencer os outros na corrida pelo prêmio. Por esse lado, poderíamos pensar que o jogo trouxe um aspecto solitário ou egoísta por parte dos jogadores que, em teoria, tentariam resolver os puzzles, cada um por si, para ultrapassar os outros. MAS não foi isso que aconteceu.

Perplex City possui, ainda hoje, uma imensa comunidade de fãs e jogadores que ainda tentam desvendar cards sem solução! Mais do que isso, na época em que o jogo ocorreu, o mesmo aspecto colaborativo, tão presente nos jogos do gênero, também podia ser encontrado. E eu acho interessante notar essa atitude dos jogadores, pois algumas vezes podemos ter uma visão errada sobre a idéia de um “ARG com prêmios”. The Beast e ILB, por exemplo, não foram assim. Mas Perplex City tornou-se um grande sucesso, e provou que novidades são bem vindas no mundo dos ARGs.

Acabei me empolgando novamente (vocês já notaram que em escrevo textos um pouco longos demais, né?) e por isso vou deixar a análise do ARG Perplex City para outro post. Por enquanto, deixo alguns materiais que recolhi do projeto para o meu trabalho.

**As imagens contém links para as páginas onde foram encontradas.

Mapa de Perplex City

Receda Cube - Perplex City

Arte do ARG Perplex City

Além da monografia, meu trabalho consiste numa hipermídia – um complemento do trabalho escrito. Nessa hipermídia criarei uma interface com resumos de campanhas antigas e outras informações importantes, como puzzles, a terminologia dos ARGs, antecessores, etc.

Aqui no blog vou postar os resumos das campanhas que entrarão na hipermídia. Os resumos são uma mistura das informações que peguei em game guides estrangeiros com algumas opiniões minhas. Nada melhor, então, do que começar esses guias pelo primeiro ARG – The Beast.

=============

The Beast

The Beast foi um ARG desenvolvido pela Microsoft e a Dreamworks para divulgar o filme Inteligência Artificial, de Steven Spielberg. Considerado o jogo que deu origem aos Alternate Reality Games, suas influências podem ser notadas em muitas campanhas atuais. Ele ocorreu durante os meses de abril a julho de 2001.

Rabbit Hole

O rabbit hole de The Beast teve dois momentos importantes. O primeiro foi a descoberta de estranhos círculos e quadrados nos pôsteres de divulgação do filme I.A. Os círculos formavam a frase “Evan Chan was murdered” (Evan Chan foi morto) e os quadrados “Jeanine was the key” (Jeanine é a chave).

Mais tarde, as atenções realmente aumentaram quando um crédito no fim do filme foi atribuído a Jeanine Salla, “Terapeuta de Máquinas Sensitivas” (Sentient Machine Therapist). Ao procurar o nome da cientista na Internet, o primeiro resultado encontrado era uma página aparentemente simples, com uma pequena biografia sobre Jeanine, membro da equipe da Universidade de Bangalore. O mais interessante nesta página era, porém, um pequeno detalhe que mostrava a data da descoberta da Universidade – no ano de 2028.

O Roteiro

A história de The Beast ocorreu em 2142, 80 anos depois dos eventos da história de I.A. Depois de seguir os rabbit holes, os jogadores encontraram uma página sobre Jeanine Salla, membro da Universidade de Bangalore. Neste website também existia um link para a neta de Jeanine, Laia Salla, assim como o telefone da pesquisadora. Tais pistas apontavam para o website da Família Chan, composta por Evan e Nancy Chan.

Informações contidas ali logo mostravam que Evan havia falecido de forma misteriosa pouco tempo antes, a bordo de seu barco – o Cloudmaker. A pergunta inicial da história era, então, quem seria o responsável pela morte de Evan Chan. Porém, ao longo da campanha, os jogadores começaram a descobrir diversos websites relacionados a outros mistérios, como quem estaria exterminando robôs, o paradeiro de uma robô com a qual Evan teve um affair, pouco antes de morrer, e organizações como a Milícia Anti-Robôs e empresas que divulgavam diversos serviços de inteligência artificial.

O roteiro do filme mostrava que em 2142, a tecnologia havia evoluído no que diz respeito à inteligência artificial. Esses sistemas de I.A. eram capazes de simular o comportamento humano e serem encontrados não somente em robôs, mas também em programas de computador, barcos ou casas. Tanto quanto no filme, embora em épocas diferentes, as discussões das pessoas da época eram divididas – os mais de 11 bilhões de seres inteligentes artificialmente existentes em 2142 deveriam ter direitos iguais aos humanos? Ou era necessário impor limites aos robôs?

“The Mother” era quem geralmente interagia com os jogadores, principalmente por meio de emails. Dentre os mais de 30 websites da história, alguns mostravam a idéia da “Evolução dos Robôs”, pedindo direitos iguais entre humanos e máquinas. Do outro lado, encontrou-se também a Anti-Robot Militia, que se vangloriava em ter “matado” mais de 10.000 robôs em 2141. No fim das 20 semanas de campanha, os jogadores também receberam ligações telefônicas dos personagens do jogo e participaram de passeatas anti-robôs (com a organização Anti-Robot Militia) em Nova York, Chicago e Los Angeles.

Links

Um guia completo sobre o ARG The Beast pode ser encontrado no site dos Cloudmakers [em inglês], AQUI.

Outras informações sobre a campanha estão disponíveis no website de Sean Stewart, AQUI.

Encontrei essa entrevista super interessante sobre a narrativa nos ARGs. Quem responde as perguntas é nada mais, nada menos do que Elan Lee, um dos fundadores e Chief Designers do Fourth Wall Studios (que tem como especialidade criar ARGs) e Sean Stewart, também um dos criadores do Fourt Wall e Designer Criativo do Estúdio.

Traduzi algumas partes da entrevista que achei interessantes, mas a versão original, em inglês, você encontra aqui. O título do artigo é Storytelling 2.0, e se refere às novas formas de interação e narrativa presentes nos ARGs.

Q: Você acredita que o alto nível de engajamento que um ARG requer de seus jogadores limita a audiência? Existe algo como um ARG “casual”, que pode ser jogado nas horas livres enquanto aguardamos o jantar?

R: Elan Lee: ARGs até agora têm sido como concertos de rock. Milhares (ou até milhões) de pessoas reúnem-se num certo momento para fazer parte de uma experiência coletiva incrível. Eles se divertem, cantam durante o show e talvez comprem uma camiseta, mas, quando vão para casa contar a seus amigos sobre tudo isso, esses amigos não podem fazer muito a não ser esperar não perder a próxima oportunidade de vivenciar tudo isso. O ARG tradicional é uma experiência que existe entre o início e o fim de uma campanha, e se você não estiver lá no momento certo, você simplesmente perde sua chance.

Q: Muitos ARGs foram desenvolvidos como ferramentas promocionais para outras mídias: lançamentos de músicas, filmes, séries de TV, videogames e novos livros. Existe alguma percepção de que os ARGs precisam dar suporte a alguma coisa, ao invés de ser apenas uma forma de entretenimento por eles mesmos?

R: Elan Lee: ARGs tiveram suas raízes no marketing porque, honestamente, nesse estágio inicial é um ótimo lugar para encontrar dinheiro. Os profissionais de marketing têm um trabalho complicado todos os dias, em tentar encontrar formas de fazer com que sua mensagem seja ouvida na multidão. É uma ótima situação para ambos os lados: os “marketeiros” conseguem engajar sua audiência de uma forma que atrai, envolve e mantém a atenção da audiência ao redor de um produto. Os ARGs se beneficiam pela oportunidade de buscar novas experiências enquanto damos vida à essa nova forma de arte.

=======================
Eles ainda discutem aspectos de ARGs produzidos pelo Estúdio e a questão social e interativa dos jogos de realidade alternativa. Vale a pena ler toda a entrevista

Elan Lee

Eu nem sabia que esse ARGFest existia… descobri por acaso, quando pesquisava no Youtube sobre ARGs.

O site do ARGFest 2009 mostra que neste ano a festa acontece em Oregon, nos Estados Unidos, dos dias 17 a 19 de julho (já estou sonhando em ir). Ele reúne os profissionais da área para discutir sobre (err) ARGs. Entre a lista de palestrantes estão o Dave Szulborski (que escreveu dois livros da bibliografia do meu TCC) e desenvolvedores da Mind Candy e Urban Hunt (ARGs de sucesso dos anos anteriores).

Encontrei vídeos das palestras de 2007. Infelizmente para quem não manja do inglês, fica complicado :*

O primeiro abre uma discussão sobre o que são ARGs de fato. Os outros definem algumas características dos ARGs e o futuro do gênero no entretenimento online. Não note as calças altas, barriguinhas de batatas-fritas e cabelos assustadores, THEY ARE AMERICANS!

Um vídeo de um cara com cara de louco, mas gente boa… apresentando o Akoha, que é um jogo que mistura ARGs e Jogos de Tabuleiro. Gosto da definição simples dele sobre ARGs “não quero perder tempo definindo ARGs, mas eles são algo como… jogos que saem do virtual e pulam para a vida real… então você recebe telefonemas de personagens do jogo ou é obrigado a sair de casa e fazer algo… good stuff!”

Simples e direto, é isso aí! O jogo parece muito legal e bem pensado

Nesses últimos dias venho pesquisando mais sobre a coleção dos livros da série 39 Clues. A coisa é bem mais interessante do que imaginei! A comunidade envolvendo os mistérios da história e os puzzles dos cards é enorme. São milhares de vídeos, posts em fóruns, comunidades e blogs sobre o tema.

Abaixo você confere o trailer inicial de 39 Clues.

Leia o post inicial do gameidea sobre a série.

Acabei de descobrir também que o terceiro livro já está disponível nos Estados Unidos e é chamado The Sword Thief! No site do jogo você encontra uma contagem regressiva para o lançamento do quarto livro.

Esse é o nome do mais recente livro sobre os jogos de realidade alternativa que encontrei. Escrito em inglês, a obra Career Building Through Alternate Reality Gaming, de Meg Swaine, foi também publicado em 2008 (mesmo ano dos dois livros publicados pelo Dave Szulborski e que são a base principal do meu trabalho).

Não li o livro todo, mas parece ser interessante (não interessante do tipo “uau!”, mas que vale a pena ler…). Ele é legal porque dá uma visão geral do que pode ser feito no mercado de ARGs – ou melhor, uma visão geral dos profissionais que esse mercado precisa!

Não é o melhor livro para retirar conteúdo acadêmico sobre os ARGs, mas pode até dar uma luz para os interessados em trabalhar na área. No Google Books tem alguns trechos disponíveis para leitura.