This article from SciFi media site IO9 is an interesting discussion of the pros and cons of Alternate Reality Gaming campaigns and how they work (or don’t). Many of the points they make are things I think I agree with, specifically about relying too much on puzzles and schwag and not enough on compelling storytelling.
Here’s some choice quotes:
Lost is running an ARG at Comic-Con this week where the fictional Dharma corporation tries to recruit new employees, and the Sarah Connor Chronicles had a tie-in ARG that was quite artful in which employees of the Enitech Corporation discover a camera that takes pictures of the future and predicts the rise of the machines.
One reason I liked the Sarah Connor Chronicles ARG so much was that it actually functioned as its own, compelling story. It was almost like the Heroes webisodes – stories set in the same universe as their parent story, but shorter and with a lower budget. The Dark Knight ARG, on the other hand, felt like it really was just advertising with a few perfunctory interactive bits thrown in.
Well I’m glad the author dug our work and I can’t complain about having our project called “artful.” He makes some good points and I’m glad this discussion is going on now. ARGs are walking the fine line between art, entertainment, and advertising, so it’s important to start pushing these questions out there.
—– I’m part of a panel at ARGfest this weekend talking about Extended Media Experiences and specifically my work on Terminator. Here’s a summary of what we’re discussing:
ARGs and Extended Media Experiences -
Connecting ARGs with marketing can be both an amazing challenge and an amazing experience for both player and puppetmaster. The members of this panel are uniquely poised to offer insight into the various ways that ARGs can be used to generate buzz and excitement for other media properties, as well as the challenges and hurdles required to navigate the terrain of expanding copyrighted properties, such as TV shows, video games, and movies.
As a Creative Director at Millions of Us, I’ve had the opportunity to work on some really amazing and exciting projects. From what some have already figured out, and as reported by Virtual Worlds News in March, our company, has been working to create spaces for Playstation Home the last several months. The idea is to create some really cutting edge virtual and social experiences in this new 3D world, for some of the biggest titles in the video game world.
Yesterday at E3, some footage of this work was unveiled to the general public for the first time:
This is one of those highly top secret projects I’ve been dying to tell people about, but had to remain absolutely silent about until launch. Well, as of Wednesday last week the cat is out of the bag and all over the press. Google entered the virtual world social space and we were a part of the creation of the offbeat and unique project.
For the past few months, I’ve had a very exciting chance to be a creative role during the development of experiences in an awesome new virtual tool by Google called “Lively.” [Read more →]
ARG – An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants’ ideas or actions.
For several months, I’ve been working on writing and directing a top secret project to create a live-action thriller alternate reality game campaign. 2 weeks before the launch of the new Fox show “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” a website for an unusual company appeared. In their first video they claimed to have developed a tachyon camera that sensed faster-than-light particles and could therefore generate images of the future. Their first blog post generated significant online controversy, with 53 posts suggesting ways of testing the camera’s capabilities. In their second video, the researchers followed the audience’s suggestions, taking photos of mirrors, newspapers, and cityscapes. The images they revealed suggested a dark and apocalyptic future. Soon the audience became directly involved in the story, digging up similar camera devices around the United States. Finally, the researchers found themselves being hunted by a deadly entity seeking to stop their work permanently. The drama built to an explosive conclusion in the parking lot of Enitech’s offices.
Now that it’s concluded you can watch the full story from start to finish. If you want to know more, check out Enitechlabs.com.
This is a project I produced recently that took a rather interesting approach to virtual worlds. Rather than explain it, I think CNN’s article probably does a better job reporting on it than I could (hopefully because that is their job):
CNN enters the virtual world of Second Life November 12, 2007 — Updated 1649 GMT (0049 HKT)
(CNN) — So, what exactly is news in a virtual world? CNN aims to find out by opening an I-Report hub in Second Life, a three-dimensional virtual world created entirely by its residents.There, CNN will look to those most familiar with the virtual world — the Second Life residents themselves — to determine what constitutes news “in-world.”
Winning awards is always neat, and this project was especially fun and thrilling. We brought World Wrestling Entertainment into Gaia Online with an alternate reality experience like no other… Kind of a celebrity meet and greet that turned into a secretly pre-planned chaotic disaster. Like wrestling itself. Hard to define but here’s a video that helps explain it…
And now there’s a little pointy award now sitting on my very messy desk at work ready to impale someone if they should trip.
UPDATE on the Cinematic Geography of LA project: CNN Headline News wanted to interview me about the short film we created that became a hit on YouTube. This was basically a brief behind the scenes piece to talk about how we created the film:
130,000+ views and counting. This was my satirical tribute to the glorious accomplishments of many decades of communist governments around the world. After so many attempts in history, it seems the ideology still has legions of fans and supporters. The notion behind this film was to quickly explain how and why communism works exactly as it does on the state and the people living there.
I’m part of a panel at ARGfest this weekend talking about Extended Media Experiences and specifically my work on Terminator. Here’s a summary of what we’re discussing:
This is one of those highly top secret projects I’ve been dying to tell people about, but had to remain absolutely silent about until launch. Well, as of Wednesday last week the cat is out of the bag and all over the press. Google entered the virtual world social space and we were a part of the creation of the offbeat and unique project. 
Already the recipient of an 
This is a project I produced recently that took a rather interesting approach to virtual worlds. Rather than explain it, I think CNN’s article probably does a better job reporting on it than I could (hopefully because that is their job):
Winning awards is always neat, and this project was especially fun and thrilling. We brought World Wrestling Entertainment into Gaia Online with an alternate reality experience like no other… Kind of a celebrity meet and greet that turned into a secretly pre-planned chaotic disaster. Like wrestling itself. Hard to define but here’s a video that helps explain it…
