Speaking On Alternate Reality Games At The MIMA Summit
August 22nd, 2008I’ll be speaking about Alternate Reality Games at the MIMA Summit in October as part of the their “What’s Now and Next” series.
Like most new things, pinning down a definition for Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) is a moving target. The def I prefer is one provided by Elan Lee, one of the genre’s creators, is than an ARG is “anything that takes your life and converts it into an entertainment space.”
I like this definition because it encompasses all games whose play takes place in setting (both physical and online) that you already inhabit. It’s gaming without the context switch.
You may be familiar with some of the well-known ARGs. TV’s Lost had one. There was one for the Dark Night film. There are consumer-brand ARGs, like the edoc laundry. Others that I’d include in the genre (that a more narrowly defined definition might exclude) include PMOG, the in-browser Passively Multiplayer Online Game and WordyBirdie, my now-offline game whose play happened entirely within Twitter.
It being an interactive marketers conferent, the talk will include content on what kinds of brands/products might be suitable to market with an ARG, the creative, budget and planning aspects of ARGS, and the usual geek-envy stuff I work into my talks. I might — and this is a stretch — even have a game of my own to unveil.
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:51 am
My first ARG experience was with GM’s Live Green, Go Yellow game called “Who Is Benjamin Stove”[1] a few years ago. The purpose was to get people excited about ethanol and by the end the forums did have a good discussion about alternative fuels. I’m not sure how effective the campaign was but it was interesting to follow.
[1] http://www.argn.com/archive/000403who_is_benjamin_stove_wrap_up_pm_chat.php