ARG

As the author of the Unforums and one of the (I imagine) leading pioneers of ARG (or has he likes to call it, Chaotic Fiction), Spacebass obviously has a lot more experience and understanding of the genre-medium than I do. And after spending enough time interacting with ARG's and understanding the theory behind them, the author grew wary of the term "ARG" itself, as it does not properly convey what the "game" is all about.

I should probably preface this by noting that Spacebass's article is called "Undefining ARG", rather than "defining" ARG. Right from the beginning, "Chaotic Fiction" is therefore considered either an incomplete term (but MORE complete than ARG) or a term embodying a type of game so intrinsically malleable and fluid as to defy all definitions entirely.  read more »

So our readings recently have dealt with various definitions of ARGs and debate on what to call them. The two main options are Alternate Reality Game vs. Chaotic Fiction. In a way, this can go back to the Narratology vs. Ludogy debate. Are ARGs games? Are they stories? Can they be both? I thought the chart in Spacebass' "Undefining ARG" was particularly useful here.

Chart

It shows how some ARGs are more gamelike, with the player really being able to influence how things unfold, while other are more fiction-like, with the author having more control over the story. If ARGs can have so much difference in how gamelike or storylike they are, then, would it really be fair to apply just one label to them?  read more »

I'm not a big gamer, never was. This class was fun because it was sort of a exploration of that unknown territory formerly known as "what my boyfriend does when we aren't hanging out." I liked most of the games we played this semester; I think that when we look at a game from a narratological standpoint, it just adds whole other layer to the game, which makes me appreciate/respect it more.

When we started playing ARGs, however, I was unsure of how I would like them. At first, when you read stuff like Cathy's book, it doesn't seem as real, mainly because you purchase the book at a store and so forth. But the thing with ARGs that you can find on the web, I don't know, they just seem a little too real for me. I like playing games as something to pass the time, something to do when I have an hour to kill or something. But some really well made ARGs are so realistic that it kind of creeps me out. Some where borderline scary to the point that I had to turn off my computer and go for a run.  read more »

The first thing I learned for myself about ARGs and ARGing is that being confused is generally a typical state of affairs. For me, it didn't help that I started off reading four forum threads simultaneously, switching between each of them after reading a page of posts. (Though the ensuing 'narrative' about parasites killing television hosts through people's memories while incorporating GPS technology - well, it would have been one heck of a plot.) Also, unfoums.com is definitely not to be confused with unforum.com. Though a United Nations sponsored ARG would be pretty cool.  read more »

In we discussed some of the reasons Szulborski gives as to why Alternate Reality Games (ARG's) are not real games. One of the reasons was because there was no imaginary playing space, no "magic circle". The "magic circle" is a concept we've obviously discussed earlier this semester, which is pretty much a nickname given to the defined playing space of a game. According to Szulborski, ARG's do not have these circles. However, I would argue that in fact they do only the playing space has expanded much wider and not so defined. Someone could argue that the gaming space is so vague that it really doesn't exist at all but I think that there are limits.  read more »

What I have gotten from Spacebass' Undefining ARG article is clearer than I expected. The author started off saying that in defining ARGs we would learn that there is no clear definition, but to me although there may not be a written in stone definition of what they are, there are commonly agreed upon components that make an ARG an ARG. It's not as confusing as I thought. In fact I see the article as a clear articulation of what ARGs are by someone who can communicate it. Basically, what I have been thinking since we've started reading and learning about ARGs, but definitely communicated and expressed more concretely and clearer. It's not as hard to understand as I had thought, given my lack of experience with ARGs. According to Spacebass, ARGs are chaotic play (an experience of chaotic fiction): Chaotic in that the end result is undetermined and play because the audience takes part in the process and they are who influence the outcome. From this experience of chaotic play comes chaotic fiction: again chaotic meaning the end result was not predetermined and fiction meaning that a work that is intended to be imagined and not real.  read more »

I am surprised to find my interest in alternate reality gaming to be of significance. The details that each of these stories employ are impressive. While I do not foresee myself pursuing them further, I have come to an appreciation for their creators and their followers. The work and creativity that is required to create a successful ARG is immense and therefore warrants an appreciation.
The article on Undefining ARG, comments on players' notions to focus on one of two elements of an ARG: the interactivity or the fictional construct. I believe that I am one to focus on the fictional construct. I researched the ARG "48 Hours in Purgatory" and I found the back story to be quite fascinating. The story develops through a series of stories. This series creates a larger narrative that the ARG is centered upon.  read more »

After looking over a few ARGs, in order to get ready for the quiz Friday, I really began to appreciate how in-depth they can be. And it made me wonder, how often does the line of reality and game get blurred?
I think we mentioned this in class but, every time I think of ARGs and the real world I think of the movie, The Game. Long story short, ok movie about a guy who is wrapped up in an elaborate, real life ARG, but doesn’t even know it. I think that people can get so wrapped up in these games that they forget reality, or better yet, they wish for the game to be real. I’m not sure if its escapism, or just a yearning for something they enjoy to be a reality. I know that when I read a good fiction book I wish some of the characters were real, that the story was real. I think that ARGs in that sense are important. They allow people to participate in things that entertain them, get their mind of the world. I think Zach said in class that there is a little level of excitement- cubical worker by day, ARG puzzle solver by night, uncovering mysteries, and scouring the internet for clues.  read more »

It's really interesting to me as to how interesting Cathy's Book and Photopia were. Both of them were plainly written with zero flare yet it just kept building momentum. When diagramming the narrative of Cathy's Book from left to right on a linear line in class and then putting all of the little side bits to the top and bottom all I could think about was depth vs breadth. The side information to Cathy's Book and other args could be looked at as depth, but the way I saw it was as the narrative being extremely wide with each part not being terribly deep but the sheer breadth of it all makes it great. The main narrative could be incredibly well written and that would be nice, but it doesn't have to be. Photopia and Cathy's Book are both similar in how they use mystery and interaction to propel themselves forward.  read more »

Is Cathy's Book an ARG or not? I say yes! Using Dave Szulborski's explanation of Alternate Reality Gaming, I would definitely say so. Szulborski's introduction to defining ARG's is the fact that its main goal is to deny and disguise the fact that it's even a game. When I picked up my copy of Cathy's Book earlier in the semester, I was excited because I thought that it was some sort of mystery book and that the pouch of articles was some sort of pouch of clues to help us along the story. They have helped us through the story, but in so many more ways than just by looking at each item at face value. While reading Cathy's journal, without even knowing it, we are being pulled into this ARG. Some of us choose to engage ourselves within the story: calling phone numbers, figuring out pass codes, and visiting web-sites, all the while immersing ourselves more and more into this game that isn't a game, or rather having the game immerse itself into our realities. Szulborski states that most successful ARG's are really about relationships between characters, entities in the game and the players, I think Cathy's Book covers these relationships quite well.  read more »

Cathy's Book was kind of cute, I mean don't get me wrong, I enjoy angsty narcissistic teenage girl fiction as much as the next person, but as far as it qualifying as an ARG, I believe that it's sort of like a hybrid between standard literary narrative and an ARG. The book as a discourse contains a relatively linear story with characters, plot, etc., all of the components for a narrative. The addition of the extra clues, or "kernels" and "satellites" if we're applying Chatman's terminology, make the story ARG-esque, but it doesn't actually meet the criteria of an ARG.  read more »

When I was in 6th grade, this book (I can no longer remember the name or the names of the characters) that was made up of postcards. The gist of the story as that two artists, who are starting to fall in love with each other, but this on different continents start writing to each other on these elaborately decorated postcards. the post cards were glued to the pages, some were in envelopes that you could actually take out of the book, and all the text was hand written. If it went through the mail and they had mentions that it was raining when it was dropped in the mailbox, the letter/postcard would be all crinkled and some parts of the text would be ineligible. I loved that book!  read more »

Now that we've all finished Cathy's Book, I think it is safe for me to say that I don't consider this book an Alternate Reality Game. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book - the mysterious forbidden romance was captivating [I know real girly]. Its a great book, but claiming Cathy's Book to be an ARG is a bit of a stretch. In my opinion, ARG's are supposed to magically break the barrier between fictional world and reality [not to the psycho extent of some people, as we discussed in class on Wednesday, but you know what I mean]. By definition, an ARG uses the real world as a platform; Cathy's Book however, lacks that. Sure one could say all those clip-bits, websites, and phone numbers are "real world," but get real. Those added props make the story more interesting, but personally I don't think its ARG material. It would have been more believable if the numbers in the book had to be called during a certain time period. For instance, 10:00 p.m ET, 9:00 p.m CT, or 7:00 p.m PT to get a certain message, other than the "normal" time [any other time excluding the times listed above] messages. Yes, that would have been more convincing.  read more »

Since I missed class today, I wasn't exactly sure what Zach's email concerning the YouTube links was about. So I started watching them, then went over to Unforums...and proceeded to watch all 10 and read all 195 posts (I suggest not watching all the videos in one setting). In doing so, I pretty much killed the first half of my evening. They aren't joking when they say they're spending hours figuring stuff out (I was just catching up!!)

Our discussion in class today and my experiences with Cathy's Book have made me think about my experience with Public Records searching and reporting.

All journalism majors, including myself, are required to take "Fact Finding" a course that essentially teaches you about individual rights to public information as well as how to go about finding this information efficiently and legally for the sake of accurate reporting.

Although the class sounds rather boring to most (oo, the joys of perusing through microfilm, old forms and computer records at your local clerk of the court and county offices) I actually found it rather fascinating. It's amazing, and a little scary, that I know exactly how easy it is to dig up any kind of information on someone, and often times, it is equally possible to find supposedly private info like social security numbers, etc., just because of some clerical worker's blind mistake.  read more »