October 12, 2011 at 19:48About alternate reality games
ARG, or Alternative Reality Games is one of the surest ways to kill time and have fun almost without getting up off the couch. Those who are tired of boring and uninteresting game wallpapers are immersed in an alternative reality in search of countless treasures - by the way, really existing ones. Such games are a great advertising move to promote a movie, game, or some boring math software.
Under the cut - the history of games in alternative reality, their present and future. In addition, you will find a very small how-to, which will help you save about ten minutes if you decide to promote your product in this way.
The ARG genre itself was born only ten years ago. The father of the industry can be considered the game The Beast, revolving around the film Artificial Intelligence (AI, Artifical Intellegence).
... Microsoft's Creative Director Jordan Weisman and game designer Alan Lee came up with a detective story that was supposed to happen on hundreds of sites using email, mobile communications, voicemail, and fictitious advertisements.
- Russian Wikipedia.
The target (and not so) audience liked the game - so much so that the game almost became more popular than the film. The community of Cloudmakers, by the way, still exists.
The brave Belarusian guys, of course, got involved in time and founded Encounter, which in 2001 was also called “Fight”. Saying fun also pleased the people - what could be more romantic than a night ride headlong through the city in search of a clue to the next rebus? Of course, the atmosphere and work of the organizers have to pay wooden, but according to the people who regularly take part in these games, it is worth it.
Speaking specifically about ARG, then nothing impressive over the past ten years has been. A similar idea slipped and came to life several times (for example, here ) - but in reality no one in Russia has taken up this matter.
The Americans in this regard, of course, were ahead - to take at least The Beast and three million Cloudmakers. Most of the popular games - Vanishing Point, Art of the Heist, I love bees - were quite successful and gathered a lot of people under their flags. So, in the above-mentioned game Vanishing Point, organized by Microsoft and dedicated to the release of Windows Vista, was attended by more than 70 thousand people. Vanishingpointgame.com was viewed over 20 million times, and the first person to solve all 48 puzzles set off into space on a personal rocket.
One of the last games in alternative reality gathered the ranks of volunteers in the spring of 2011. The author of "potato ARG" was the dashing igrodel Valve. The plot was twisted around the release of the game Portal 2. Users from all over the world played certain games using the Steam digital distribution service (owned by Valve, by the way) to collectively access the game several hours earlier.
Of course, such games are a great advertising tool. A person who accidentally noticed something unusual, involuntarily becomes a participant in the game - and it is not so important whether he has experience in participating in such projects or not. Such games are becoming more inventive, the number of participants is growing every time, and the effect after the completed puzzle is indescribable.
In addition, in recent years, people are increasingly using the Internet outside their home or office. All sorts of variations of portable communicators may well contribute to an increase in the number of games in alternative reality. And the operational space is really vast, especially in Russia.
As an ordinary citizen, I am interested in participating in such projects. But they, unfortunately, are still few, and they do not differ in the quality of the supply of material. Therefore, for the sake of the common good, it would be nice to highlight three fundamental points that may well belong to the pen of K.O .:
ARG is a new, powerful tool for social interaction. With proper allocation of funds, you can get incredible results. Millions of people around the world solve such puzzles, every minute doubting the unreality of what is happening.
And finally, I note that ARG is not a game. Everything is real here - sites, phone numbers, places and sometimes even people. Participants do not know the rules - they rely on their own mistakes. And if you decide to twist something like that - know that you also have to hurt your head against the pitfalls and think ahead of a well-organized and, possibly, conspiratorial community.
Under the cut - the history of games in alternative reality, their present and future. In addition, you will find a very small how-to, which will help you save about ten minutes if you decide to promote your product in this way.
Where did it go ...
The ARG genre itself was born only ten years ago. The father of the industry can be considered the game The Beast, revolving around the film Artificial Intelligence (AI, Artifical Intellegence).
... Microsoft's Creative Director Jordan Weisman and game designer Alan Lee came up with a detective story that was supposed to happen on hundreds of sites using email, mobile communications, voicemail, and fictitious advertisements.
- Russian Wikipedia.
The target (and not so) audience liked the game - so much so that the game almost became more popular than the film. The community of Cloudmakers, by the way, still exists.
Slavic expansion
The brave Belarusian guys, of course, got involved in time and founded Encounter, which in 2001 was also called “Fight”. Saying fun also pleased the people - what could be more romantic than a night ride headlong through the city in search of a clue to the next rebus? Of course, the atmosphere and work of the organizers have to pay wooden, but according to the people who regularly take part in these games, it is worth it.
Speaking specifically about ARG, then nothing impressive over the past ten years has been. A similar idea slipped and came to life several times (for example, here ) - but in reality no one in Russia has taken up this matter.
What about the Americans?
The Americans in this regard, of course, were ahead - to take at least The Beast and three million Cloudmakers. Most of the popular games - Vanishing Point, Art of the Heist, I love bees - were quite successful and gathered a lot of people under their flags. So, in the above-mentioned game Vanishing Point, organized by Microsoft and dedicated to the release of Windows Vista, was attended by more than 70 thousand people. Vanishingpointgame.com was viewed over 20 million times, and the first person to solve all 48 puzzles set off into space on a personal rocket.
One of the last games in alternative reality gathered the ranks of volunteers in the spring of 2011. The author of "potato ARG" was the dashing igrodel Valve. The plot was twisted around the release of the game Portal 2. Users from all over the world played certain games using the Steam digital distribution service (owned by Valve, by the way) to collectively access the game several hours earlier.
Forward to the future
Of course, such games are a great advertising tool. A person who accidentally noticed something unusual, involuntarily becomes a participant in the game - and it is not so important whether he has experience in participating in such projects or not. Such games are becoming more inventive, the number of participants is growing every time, and the effect after the completed puzzle is indescribable.
In addition, in recent years, people are increasingly using the Internet outside their home or office. All sorts of variations of portable communicators may well contribute to an increase in the number of games in alternative reality. And the operational space is really vast, especially in Russia.
Oh, exploitable!
As an ordinary citizen, I am interested in participating in such projects. But they, unfortunately, are still few, and they do not differ in the quality of the supply of material. Therefore, for the sake of the common good, it would be nice to highlight three fundamental points that may well belong to the pen of K.O .:
- ARG should get the nth mass of initiative users who will take on their broad shoulders the burden of spinning the game itself. To achieve this goal, you need either the holy hope that the players will be found by themselves and no one needs to do anything, or they need a banal PR (if someone makes a movie, a game or something that is somehow known in the world, this will become starting point for future players).
- ARGs are solved in communities, so you can - and even need to - provide players with a place: a forum or even a VKontakte group, where they can discuss the details. Of course, players like to unite themselves, but you must admit that it will be nice to have some kind of “spies” who will look for and even try to fix the wrong decisions, in addition, they will also troll the organizers for organizational money.
- ARG is a game in the plot of which, in principle, there may be small spaces. But we must not forget that in every story there is a beginning, there is an end and there is a plot connecting both of these parts. You need to think through at least two moves ahead - in no case should you let things slip. In addition, any such game is somehow connected with the Internet - therefore, do not forget about the links. Therefore, with a responsible approach, you need to start from the end.
Instead of a conclusion
ARG is a new, powerful tool for social interaction. With proper allocation of funds, you can get incredible results. Millions of people around the world solve such puzzles, every minute doubting the unreality of what is happening.
And finally, I note that ARG is not a game. Everything is real here - sites, phone numbers, places and sometimes even people. Participants do not know the rules - they rely on their own mistakes. And if you decide to twist something like that - know that you also have to hurt your head against the pitfalls and think ahead of a well-organized and, possibly, conspiratorial community.