Alternate Reality Games and the Cusp of Digital Gameplay

Description

Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) challenge what players understand as “real.” Alternate Reality Games and the Cusp of Digital Gameplay is the first collection to explore and define the possibilities of ARGs. Though prominent examples have existed for more than two decades, only recently have ARGs come to the prominence as a unique and highly visible digital game genre. Adopting many of the same strategies as online video games, ARGs blur the distinction between real and fictional. With ARGs continuing to be an important and blurred space between digital and physical gameplay, this volume offers clear analysis of game design, implementation, and ramifications for game studies. Divided into three distinct sections, the contributions include first hand accounts by leading ARG creators, scholarly analysis of the meaning behind ARGs, and explorations of how ARGs are extending digital tools for analysis. By balancing the voices of designers, players, and researchers, this collection highlights how the Alternate Reality Game genre is transforming the ways we play and interact today. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page CONTENTS Introduction Antero Garcia and Greg Niemeyer Who plays ARGs? Treading a definition Tropes and histories The cusp of digital play The changing landscape of ARGs and looking ahead An assurance and a warning References PART ONE Guiding Principles of Alternate Reality Games CHAPTER ONE From Alternate to Alternative Reality: Games as Cultural Probes Alternate reality games as cultural probes Political games: ARGs and LARPs SEED: design principles Conclusion: overwhelming reality Games References CHAPTER TWO The Game Did Not Take Place—This Is Not A Game and blurring the Lines of Fiction Introduction Reading alternate reality games as a text Blurring of the worlds Playing in the fiction Playing as a community Playing with ethics Playing alternate reality games as relational art Playing alternate reality games Constructing alternate reality games Conclusion DVD and TV References CHAPTER THREE Alternate Reality Games for Learning: A Frame by Frame Analysis Introduction Describing DUST Designing DUST Frame analysis Alternate reality games for learning: a gnarly design space Conclusions: framing through Cooperative Inquiry References CHAPTER FOUR Promotional Alternate Reality Games and the TINAG Philosophy Methodology Promotional ARGs and the TINAG philosophy Negotiating promotional intent Affective economics TINAG and corporate sponsorship Player/PM communication and identification “Hoaxing,” marketing, and the ethics of TINAG Breaking TINAG is part of the fun—live events and meta space Conclusions Notes References CHAPTER FIVE The Coachella Disaster: How the Puppet Masters of Art of the H3ist Pulled a Victory from the Jaws of Defeat This Is Not a Game: aesthetics of transgressive play Art of the H3ist: a cross-country car chase Coachella disaster: pulling victory from the jaws of defeat Coda Acknowledgments Notes References CHAPTER SIX Designing and Playing Peer-Produced ARGs in the Primary Classroom: Supporting Literacies through Play Aims and methodology of the research project Overview of the Mighty Fizz Chilla ARG Pedagogical and theoretical implications References PART TWO New Frontiers of Alternating Reality CHAPTER SEVEN Games Beyond the ARG Introduction Early ARGs: design patterns and limitations Gameplay in Reality Ends Here Process intensity and player agency Conclusions Games References CHAPTER EIGHT Methods: Studying Alternate Reality Games as Virtual Worlds ARGs as social institutions ARGs as virtual worlds Methodologies for approaching analog virtual worlds Two notes on strategies Conclusions Notes References CHAPTER NINE A Typology to describe Alternate Reality Games for Cultural Contexts Introduction Digital games and gamification in a cultural institutional context Alternate reality games (ARGs) as pervasive games: defining expansive boundaries Cultural alternate reality games (CARGs) Our typology to describe CARGs Conclusions and future works References CHAPTER TEN Sociability by Design in an Alternate Reality Game: The Case of The Trail Storyline Designing The Trail: a sociability framework The concept of sociability Group dynamics Analysis Conclusions Notes References CHAPTER ELEVEN Ingress: A Restructuring of the ARG or a New Genre? An Ethnography of Enlightened and Resistance Factions in Brazil Ingress Is Not A Game, or is it? Ingress ing into game dynamics Ingress’s social dynamics Final considerations Acknowledgments Notes References Conclusion Antero Garcia and Greg Niemeyer Wild experimentation Research tools for ARGs: studying the digital in the wild Learning within ARGs: the myth of the educational ARG What’s real in ARGs: Slipping across binaries The future of ARGs: looking through the kaleidoscope of the imaginary Finding the fun References CONTRIBUTOR BIOGRAPHIES APPENDIX — NODES INDEX