1. Alternate reality games (ARGs) are immersive storytelling experiences that use the real world as a publishing medium and involve collaborative puzzle solving by players. 2. ARGs have been used to promote movies, games, and albums through interactive online and real-world experiences. They can also be self-sustaining games without a commercial purpose. 3. ARGs involve different tiers of play from online puzzles and interactions to live events, and can be either synchronous experiences for players to collaborate together or asynchronous for players to participate independently.

1. Alternate Reality Games Chad Haefele Reference Librarian for Emerging Technologies, Davis Library [email_address] Slides online:

2. The Beast 2001, A.I. Movie poster:

4. What is an ARG? An immersive storytelling experience Multimedia The real world is the publishing medium Collaborative “ No one knows everything, everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity” Pierre Levy, Collective Intelligence

5. Example: I Love Bees 2004, promoted Halo 2

6. Example: Last Call Poker 2005, promoted Gun

7. Example: The Dark Knight 2008, http ://www.firstshowing.net/2009/02/26/viral-recap-the-dark-knights-why-so-serious-campaign/

8. Grassroots/Self Sustaining ARGs Metacortechs – 2003 Perplex City – 2005

9. Vocabulary “ Rabbit Hole”: The method of an ARG’s launch “ Puppet Master” (PM): A person running an ARG “ This is not a game”: Many ARGs don’t explicitly admit they are games.

10. Tiers of play Source: http://42entertainment.com/see.html

11. Real-world crossover

12. Anatomy of a puzzle Mysterious audio file:

13. One spectrograph later…

14. Anatomy of a live event

17. Synchronous vs. Asychronous Players can come together Players can collaborate apart OR

18. ‘ Viral’ vs. ‘Experience’ vs. ‘Game’ Same tools used in all three ‘ Viral’ is often a one-time event or production ‘ Experience’ is a trail of puzzles & interactions, linear, repeatable ‘ Game’ is more collaborative, longer term

19. Why participate? Swag! Recognition Immersion ‘Wow’ factor Interesting stories

20. Community

22. Serious Game: Year Zero 2007, Nine Inch Nails Civil Resistance

23. Serious Game: World Without Oil 2007, non-promotional http://worldwithoutoil.org/ Asychronous, collaborative, explicitly educational Worked on a limited budget See also: RubysBequest.org

24. Serious game: Skeleton Chase IU Bloomington, Fall 2008 Structured around physical fitness

25. Serious Game: Ghosts of a Chance Smithsonian, 2008 www.GhostsofaChance.com Final report: http://ghostsofachance.com/GhostsofaChance_Report2.pdf

26. Teaching about issues Players re-interpret their lives Imagining the issues inspires real thinking Source: WorldWithoutOil.org

27. Information Literacy ACRL Info Literacy standards (in part): Students should be able to… "Recognize that existing information can be combined with original thought, experimentation, and/or analysis to produce new information." "Identify the value and differences of potential resources in a variety of formats (multimedia, database, website, book)" "Create a system for organizing information" "Utilize technology for studying the interaction of ideas and other phenomena" "Validate understanding and interpretation of the information through discourse with other individuals…" "Apply new and prior information to the planning and creation of a particular product or performance." "Manipulate digital text, images, and data, as needed, transferring them from their original locations and formats to a new context."

28. Tangential Learning Expose a player to new ideas and potential for learning, without forcing it on them (source: http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/the-power-tangential-learning ) ARGs can take it even further: learn new skills along the way

29. So you want to play an ARG… Experiences: www.EagleEyeFreeFall.com www.Love-Resurrected.com Community: Unforums: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/ www.ARGN.com Ongoing ARG: www.RubysBequest.org

30. So you want to make an ARG... Allow far more time than you think Complete everything in advance Target a core audience to start Structure around the tiers of play Story is key Monitor your community of players

31. For further reading Dena, Christy. "Emerging Participatory Culture Practices: Player-Created Tiers in Alternate Reality Games." Convergence 14.1 (2008): 41-57. Kim, Jeffrey Y., Jonathan P. Allen, and Elan Lee. "ALTERNATE REALITY GAMING. (Cover Story)." Communications of the ACM 51.2 (2008): 36-42. Szulborski, Dave. This is Not a Game : A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming . [Pennsylvania]: New-Fiction Pub., 2005. IU Bloomington gets $185k grant- http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/8300.html The Power of Tangential Learning - http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/the-power-tangential-learning