My presentation on Alternate Reality Games, persuasion and context from this years FROG Vienna games conference.

1. ARGs - PERSUASION IN CONTEXT
Fares Kayali, Margarete Jahrmann, Josef Schuh, Brigitte Felderer
University of Applied Arts Vienna

5. “In a very basic sense, the magic circle of a game is where
the game takes place. To play a game means entering into
a magic circle, or perhaps creating one as a game begins.”
Salen, K. & Zimmerman, E. (2004) ‘Rules of play’.

6. spaces of possibility
Nathalie Pozzi & Eric Zimmerman, 3h ago.

7. Juul, J. (2005) ‘Half-Real - Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds’.

8. Juul, J. (2008) ‘The Magic Circle and the Puzzle Piece’.

9. “We need to draw on [..] theories that provide a more
comprehensive understanding of social life, and locate
gaming and play as part of a much wider canvas.”
Crawford, G. (2009) ‘Forget the Magic Circle (or Towards a Sociology of Video Games)’

10. “I assume that definitions of a situation are built up in
accordance with principals of organization which govern
events […] and our subjective involvement in them; frame is
the word I use to refer to such of these basic elements as I
am able to identify.”
Goffman, Erving (1974) ‘Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience’.

11. “This app is a dream machine that transforms the world
around you into a dreamworld. It uses augmented sound
to induce dreams through the headset of your iPhone and
iPod Touch. It will change your perception of reality.”
http://inceptiontheapp.com/

12. layers of context
urban space -------------
inception: the movie ---
mobile play -------------
game mechanics ------

13. layers of context
distorted audio ----------
urban space -------------
inception: the movie ---
mobile play -------------
game mechanics ------

14. layers of context
music ----------------------
distorted audio ----------
urban space -------------
inception: the movie ---
mobile play -------------
game mechanics ------

15. layers of context
active listening -----------
music ----------------------
distorted audio ----------
urban space -------------
inception: the movie ---
mobile play -------------
game mechanics ------

16. layers of context
…
active listening -----------
music ----------------------
distorted audio ----------
urban space -------------
inception: the movie ---
mobile play -------------
game mechanics ------
…

18. http://bachodi.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/inception-the-movie-in-pseudo-code/

20. http://www.worldwithoutoil.org/

21. “Can an online social music game allow Viennese teenagers
to change their understanding of cultural diversity in order
to overcome ethnical boundaries?”
Department of Communication, University of Vienna
Institute of Design and Assessment of Technology, Vienna UT
http://igw.tuwien.ac.at/seriousbeats/

22. “Serious Beats is a social impact game that lets players
DJ with snippets of youtube videos. It empowers them to
make music together.”
http://igw.tuwien.ac.at/seriousbeats/

23. TAKEAWAY
◊ ARGs can be regarded as composed out of permeable
intertwined layers of social, cultural and play context.

24. “Technology, Exchange and Flow”
Artistic Media Practices and Commercial Application
“The crucial question is how can we understand the
relationship between commercial applications and
implementation of artistic media practices in
Europe? Is it determined by technological
opportunity? Or the exchange between artists,
producers and consumers?”
http://trans-techresearch.net/tef/

25. Pervasive Prosumer Play (PPP)
It will explore, through theory and practice, [..]
Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), used as a tactic of
persuasion by both artists and industrial producers
of political propaganda and marketing strategies.
http://trans-techresearch.net/tef/vienna

26. Pervasive Prosumer Play (PPP)

27. BUILD ON GAME LITERACY
Gonzalo Frasca (2002), September 12th

28. /ppp/SCANNER
Map Scanner Inventory Voting

29. /ppp/codes

30. /ppp/scanner

31. “Subliminal messages subtly persuade us. Sometimes the
subliminal message is what is implied and not spoken
consciously.”
(Burroughs, W. S., 1964. Nova Express, New York)

32. M. Jahrmann, F. Kayali, J. Schuh, B. Felderer (2011), AAA Profiler

38. TAKEAWAY
◊ ARGs can be regarded as composed out of permeable
intertwined layers of social, cultural and play context.
◊ building on game literacy helps game elments to reach out to
different contexts and to enable ‘persuasion’.

39. ‘ABSURD COUPLING’
“[..] as the mass of commodities become more and more
absurd, absurdity becomes a commodity in its own right.”
Guy-Ernest Debord (1967) ‘The Society of the Spectacle’.

40. Feng Mengbo (2002), Q4U

41. /ppp/grotesque

42. “The distortions introduced in the detourned elements must
be as simplified as possible, since the main impact of a
détournement is directly related to the conscious or
semiconscious recollection of the original contexts of the
elements.”
Guy-Ernest Debord ‘Methods of Détournement’.

43. /ppp/daisy

44. /ppp/DAISy
Inventory

45. /ppp/daisy

46. TAKEAWAY
◊ ARGs can be regarded as composed out of permeable
intertwined layers of social, cultural and play context.
◊ building on game literacy helps game elments to reach out to
different contexts and to enable ‘persuasion’.
◊ conversely games can uncover ‘tactics of persuasion’ and
‘propaganda’ by distorting these contexts.

48. thank you!
@faresK