One of the biggest complaints about the ARG storytelling format is if the audience doesn’t discover the story in the very beginning they feel like it would be too much work to get caught up on the narrative.  It’s like walking into a movie after it has been playing for twenty minutes.  By telling our story in short bursts and then putting the game in intermission we’ll make it easy for players to get caught up and hopefully they’ll be more willing to participate in future chapters.  This also solves another problematic aspect of traditional ARGs – most people can’t commit 6-8 weeks of their lives to a game that runs at the pace of real life.

This new format also allows us to adopt an iterative approach to game design similar to software development.  We’ll be able to take what we learned from Chapter 1.0 and roll that into Chapter 2.0 while keeping the same storyline.  It will also allow time between chapters to incorporate player actions into the plot of the story.  The story already has a very strong outline, but there are several places along the way that will be heavily affected by how the players interact with characters and interact within the storyworld.  It also gives us the opportunity to reward the most dedicated players with “guest appearances” as official characters in the story.

The last thing I’ll tell you about is our points system.  Players who register at MartinAggett.com will be able to earn “Facilitator Network Experience Points” (FXP) and climb the ranks on our leaderboard.  We’ll use the leaderboard rankings to reward the top players with character interaction, swag, guest appearances in the story, and other benefits.  If players also fill out the optional survey they will have a chance to get phone calls, packages, text messages, chat, tweets, or emails, from characters in the story.

We can’t wait to get this next phase of our project jump started!  Join us.

So, what can game designers do if they want to keep the “real time” aesthetic of traditional ARGs but still want to reach a large audience?  During his presentation, Patrick discussed several ways that VM-People is tackling the challenge, and Remix Fiction was busy taking notes.  Patrick noted that after the end of each campaign the most common question he gets is “Where do I have to register to get informed about the beginning of a new Alternate Reality Game?“.  VM-People’s answer to this question is their www.folge-dem-kaninchen.de website (in English “follow the white rabbit”) that allows players to register their interest and contact information so that they can be included in future projects.

We have done something similar with our Personalized Privacy Sign Up form where we ask questions about how you would like to interact with Remix Fiction characters and give you an opportunity to share contact information.  Like VM-People, we will never share this information with any third party and we will delete your information as soon as you send us an opt out notification.  So far, we’ve only used the contact information to send out a few postcards and a couple gifts, but as our game deadline gets closer we’ll be using our list to do more game mechanics testing,  and of course we’ll use it to send trailheads when our game launches next year.

What do you think?  Should game designers continue to create ARGs that play out in real time or should they shift to a more single-player and replayable mechanic?  Let us know in the comments.

[VIDEO] ARGfest – Follow the White Rabbit.

Jim has done something unprecedented in the independent ARG community.  He raised more than $7,000 in funding from one hundred people in about a month, and he did it with just a video proposal and a promise that the game would be “super duper fun”.  Pure Genius.

Jim spoke at ARGfest on the topic of casual games and we pulled him aside and asked him a few questions about Socks Incorporated.

RF: The majority of the backers pledged $25 and will receive “a limited edition Socks, Inc. embroidered patch featuring the game’s main character” – did you think that the patches would be such a big incentive to contribute?
JB: The value of the patch is not about it’s monetary value, but what it symbolizes.  The patch is similar to those given to girl and boy scouts for their achievements; and together we are making this game! Most of the backers are people who will be playing the game.  I also I sent a patch of 011iver to all of the players of Must Love Robots.

RF: How much influence did your internship at the Top Secret Dance Off have on the concept development for Socks Inc.?

JB: Jane McGonigal is a huge influence to everyone making ARGs and big games in general, but she has been an especially huge inspiration for me.  Seeing the behind the scenes of Top Secret Dance Off was a starting point for how a game like Socks, Inc. might work.

RF: Your last production included some adult-themed humor and a few swears – will Socks Inc. be rated G?  Are you trying to target a younger audience?

JB: Socks, Inc. is a family friendly game.  Everything will be PG rated, but there will be nods and winks to adult audiences, much like a Pixar movie.

RF: I know that you said you’re only in this for the “joy currency”, but are there any plans to monetize Socks Inc. in the future?

JB: The game will be free to play, but we are not eliminating other ways of monetizing it.  We are open to tasteful brand content, advertising, and merchandising.  Since this is one of the first funded indie ARG projects, we do want to start making head roads into creating a sustainable indie game ecosystem.  Another possible road to monetization is licensing our back-end platform that runs Socks, Inc’s core mechanic.  Daniel Grace, the super talented developer behind doomstick.com has been creating a robust system that can easily be used for other games in the future.  It is important to remember, that while we are open to generating $$$, our focus first and foremost is on making an awesome fun game.

ARGfest – Keeping it Casual (Jim Babb) from Martin Aggett on Vimeo.

We’re excited that Nina has agreed to be a guest on Remix Fiction Television to talk about the creation and behind the scenes aspects of the Valemont ARG.  The episode will be recorded live tomorrow night (Dec 22nd from 5-6pm Pacific time) with the video being made available soon afterward.  We encourage you to join our live audience and ask questions about Valemont or any of Nina’s other projects.

Valemont, which was created by Brent Friedman and Christian Taylor, was a true transmedia experience, extending across multiple platforms.

As always, you can participate in every broadcast by sending in your questions for our guests in advance or during the show.  We would love to hear your opinions and get your questions about Six to Start’s latest project.  Smokescreen is a flash-based internet simulation that incorporates video and alternate reality gaming aspects to tell a story.  You experience the narrative through thirteen missions that invite you into the exclusive online social network of White Smoke which was created and is managed by teenagers.  Sponsored by UK’s Channel Four, this project aims to educate teens on the hazards and potential consequences associated with online behavior.

They claim their latest project is a “pioneering concept offering a unique cinematic experience that breaks down the wall between actors and audience”.  Breathe will provide several layers of depth to serve a variety audience interactivity preferences.  Casual or passive audiences will be able to experience the narrative through three short films released weekly, and more active participants will have the opportunity to solve a murder mystery by interacting with characters from the story and could be featured in the films.

We’re looking forward to the launch of the first installment of Breathe which will coincide with the Power to the Pixel conference being held in London next week.  You can still reserve your seats for one of the free screenings being held on October 14th in the Debating Chamber at London’s County Hall at 7PM, 8PM (sold out), and 9PM.

Breathe is a continuing saga, the story starts in London, and moves to Paris, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Sydney, and ends in Berlin.  The project will work with local production crews, new and emerging local talent, artists, fashion designers, and musicians to deliver a localised experience, each comprising of film, live events, online interactions, adventure and much more.

We’ll dive behind the scenes and learn what was happening on the other side of the curtain as players chose their alliances and helped co-create this complex tale of class oppression.  We’ll talk to the actors who portrayed Randy, Earl, Melissa, and the rest of the characters who communicated with the audience through email, tweets, and Facebook messages.

We want the players of Purity Towers to be a big part of this special broadcast of Remix Fiction Television by helping us come up with interview questions.  You can submit your questions by typing them into a comment, or you can call and leave a voicemail (206-350-1072) which we’ll play on the air.  We also encourage you to video your question and upload it to a video sharing site.  Just leave a link to the video in the comments and playing those videos during the show will be our top priority (there will also be a surprise for some of our video question authors)

Funnel Productions:  Our mission is to create the best games around and to build a broader community of ARGamers in the process.  We are a grassroots alternate reality gaming organization. We have day jobs, though one day we hope to create games full time.  Our games are produced entirely out of our own pockets, but we do our very best to keep them fun, immersive, and enjoyable for the players.

Remix Fiction’s Martin Aggett was an active player during the last few weeks of the game and got to see first hand how much the fans enjoyed this 12th Street House production.  That’s why we’re excited to announce that he will be hosting a post-game interview on 27 August at 8PM (Central time) with the creators of this amazing story.  The interview will be broadcast live on Remix Fiction’s ustream channel and will also include a simultaneous chat session with the cast and crew.

Because Maddison Atkins wouldn’t have been a success without their dedicated fans, we’re going to ask “The Community” to join in one last time and send Martin their questions for the broadcast.  There are several ways you can ask your questions, and they will be answered based upon the following criteria:

• Priority one:  Video questions (uploaded to YouTube please) with the fan on camera
• Priority two:  Video questions with text or audio with the fan off camera
• Priority three:  Audio only questions (just leave a voicemail for Martin at his house 206-350-1072)
• Priority four:  Questions asked in the comments of this post or during the live chat session

Please keep your video short (3-5 minutes) and limited to one question per video so that everyone gets a chance to ask a question.  Once you make a video you’ll need to leave the link in the comments so we know where to find it.

12th Street House is a media design company based deep in the Texas Forest Country which produces short and feature-length Independent Film, Documentaries, and Alternate Reality Games.  Their mission is to find that balance between quality entertainment, effective advertising, and a reasonable budget.

During the course of Pinocchio’s adventures he joins a marionette show and sings “I’ve Got No Strings” for a live audience who show their approval by throwing coins onto the stage at the end of the performance. Even though Pinocchio is not a live actor his contribution to the enjoyment of the theater patrons was still very much real and acknowledged. It’s been said that despite Rachael Webster’s now apparent fictional condition her commentary on video games is refreshing, insightful, and adds value to the game blogger community. Daniel Purvis from the Graffiti Gamer had this to say about the incident in a comment on the Brainy Gamer blog:

However, the substance of the work posted on the blog is still true. The thoughts posted regarding Far Cry 2, Fracture and others are still legitimate critique and, though this might be rather stupid now considering circumstances, I’d hope that the author of the blog, whoever that may be, continues to provide similar conversation further down the line.

Many share the opinion that this fictional character makes a significant contribution to the game-blog community while others argue that her fictional status voids any value that would have been achieved had she been a “real girl”. A corollary argument could be made for Martin Aggett’s attempt to contribute to the photography community. Martin has written several articles for the iPhoneography website providing reviews and commentary on iPhone photography applications. When not writing feature articles he comments on articles written by others. He even entered an Easter-themed photography contest and won one of the top prizes. Does his fictional condition invalidate his contribution to this site? Should the other participants in the Easter contest protest his entry and “demand a recount”?

This creates yet another philosophical dilemma. Can fictional characters be trusted to become productive and contributing members of society – assuming your definition of society extends to the online space. Some dismiss this possibility with a simple “No. Not at all.” while others expand on the argument by addressing the very nature of social interaction in real life and online.

What I’ve learned in building the online persona of Martin Aggett over the past year is that this whole debate can be summarized in two words – Free Will. As is the nature of most analogies and metaphors used to describe this genre, under close scrutiny they tend to fall apart quickly.

The fairy who grants Geppetto’s wish by giving his wooden puppet the gift of life explains to Pinocchio that “to make Geppetto’s wish come true will be entirely up to you.” You see, along with animating the inanimate wooden puppet the blue fairy also gave Pinocchio the gift of free will. The Blue Fairy also provided a way for Pinocchio to improve his current condition by saying “Prove yourself brave, truthful and unselfish and someday you will be a real boy.” This is where the analogy begins to unravel.

No matter how brave, truthful, or unselfish Martin proves himself to be he can never become a “real boy” because he can’t cut the strings of the puppetmaster and make decisions of his own free will. The debate would then shift and be better framed as; Can the people controlling fictional characters be trusted to make a productive contribution to society through their fictional constructs? For now, we’ll save that debate for another time so that I can address what I think is a much bigger concern.

The creation of fictional online personas and concealing their true origins is not only irresponsible game design, but borders on the unethical. It creates an imbalance in the power that is shared between game producers and players, and ignores the fundamental tenant that game play must be voluntary.

Sean Stewart describes this concept best during the ARGFest 2007 keynote address (starts at 21:02) on trust in alternate reality game design. Sean uses a dance metaphor saying [explaining the concept of leading in a couple's dance] “The man proposes the step, the lady decides whether she will accept the step. We will propose the step, we will never accept the step for you.” In Martin’s case, the people he came in contact with during his online activities did not even know they were dancing.

As Martin began interacting with real people and acting as though he were a real person (which is his job as a character – to believe himself a “real boy”) I negated the free will of actual real people to voluntarily invest effort in their relationship with him. This fact should stand as the fundamental argument when trying to dissuade future game publishers from adopting this method of creating deep and complex characters in online communities. This practice takes the immersive and fun experience you’ve intended to create and turns it into a hoax that can engender feelings of betrayal, anger, and mistrust.

So Martin will forever be stuck in purgatory between the fictional world and the real one, and never become a “real boy”. My analogy started out strong but quickly fell apart when looking at it through the lens of free will. Perhaps the lesson to learn from the mistakes that have been made comes down to a simple song from Jiminy Cricket “Give a little whistle, and always let your conscience be your guide”