I’ve never really cared for the term Puppetmaster for a person behind the scenes in an Alternate Reality Game,but I haven’t come across a term that I want to replace it. The term “puppetmaster”conjures up images of a mindless audience or characters in a story being controlled by one god-like entity. It can also imply an ownership of the characters in a narrative,and Remix Fiction believes that the story and the characters are guided by everyone who participates in the experience.
People in the Cross-media industry (there’s another disputed term) have come up with several variations which have merit,like Jeff Gomez from Starlight Runner Entertainment who mentions “Trans-media Producer”in his interview with Digital Media Wire. He suggests that there is yet another title that will evolve in the next five years for a person who will be a universe steward or world caretaker who manages the non-linear cooperative storytelling within each intellectual property.
So,what do I want to be called? I guess for the time being,if you must give me a label,you can call me a Trans-Media Producer. More than likely I’ll hear another term I like better in a week and write another post about why I don’t want to be called a Trans-Media Producer. Yeah,I’m already starting to dislike it.
What do you think of the term “Puppetmaster”? Do you think there is a better term? Share your opinions in the comments –we’d love to hear from you! Also,special thanks to Christy Dena for sending out the link to this video in her twitter stream.
I use the term puppetmaster and I like it. It’s fitting for someone who directly building the stage and has control over the narrative &characters during the live run of some sort of interactive experience thing –like ARGs. And,as much as I like joining titles together with dashes and slashes,it’s a bit much to constantly write out Designer/Producer/Editor/Copywriter/Storywriter/Online-Character-Actor/Puzzle-creator/Occasional-Web-Geek. And,really,is there anything else out there that conveys all of those elements as much as puppetmaster has come to?
It’s a colloquial term and it’s a gift from the community for the people that bring them such experiences. It’s meant as an honor and,so,who am I to spit on that? Just like some communities call us “Ninjas”–personally,I’ve always preferred Pirates to Ninjas and,of the two,which one is actually likely to say ARRRRRRRG? But if they want to call me Ninja –I’ll wear that title with pride.
Professionally,I use Experience Designer and most of my invoices go to “Experience Design”. I like it and it works well for me. It has a failing similar to that of “Transmedia Producer”in that it uses a term already specifically geared towards something else. And while I enjoy production more than design,I’m better suited for the design role,so Experience Designer works better for me than Transmedia Producer. Plus,I think Experience Design is more provocative and begs better questions that let me expound more on what I do.
evocative!
Not provocative.
I mean,sure,I can be rather provocative but that’s totally not what I was going for there.
me speek english gud