Notes from ARG Panel at Virtual Worlds London,

1. ARGs and Virtual Worlds
Dan Hon CEO
Six To Start
http://danhon.com/
Foe Romeo Head of Digital Media
National Maritime Museum
http://foe.typepad.com/
Kim Plowright Production Mgr
Oil productions
http://mildlydiverting.blogspot.com/
Roo Reynolds Portfolio Executive, Social Media
BBC Vision
http://rooreynolds.com

2. ARGs and Virtual Worlds
ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) have become a hot
topic in recent months. It's hard not to think of an
ARG as a virtual world in which the interfaces
(including websites, email, text message, even
telephones) are those we know from everyday life. Is
there even more to them than that? Recent franchise
tie-ins raise startling questions about business
models, while war-stories about user engagement
will be of interest to any virtual world designer.
Do virtual worlds have anything to learn from ARGs?

3. Dan Hon
• CEO, Six to Start
• alternate reality game and cross-platform
entertainment production company
• Since 2001, the Beast (MSFT promotion for AI)
• COO at Mind Candy for Perplex City
• We Tell Stories for Penguin
• The Shadow War - Puffin
• Spooks: Code 9, Liberty News - BBC (Kudos)

4. What is an ARG?
• intersection between story and game play
• story + narrative + game design
• platform agnostic (online is the glue)
• immersive entertainment experience that
uses any platform it can get its hands on

5. Kim Plowright
• 10 years in television, web, games, drama
• production manager at Oil Productions
• an interactive entertainment studio
• studio rather than agency
• large educational ARG for UK broadcaster
• previously: moo.com, BBC

6. Why do people play ARGs?
What’s the appeal?
• combination of challenge and delight
• surprising yourself and letting yourself
play along
• unexpected and transporting experiences
• cerebral pleasure

7. Foe Romeo
• [Head of Digital Media, National Maritime
Museum]
• produced Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom
• produced Science of Spying at Science
Museum

8. ARGs are in their
infancy
• not many people have played ARGs
• breadth of interactivity
• new ability: interact with fictional
character as if it was a human being
• natural interfaces
• the internet is the glue

10. Having people in
the process
• designing an experience using technology
is constrained
• experience which uses people (staff or
players) is flexible

11. User Generated Content
in ARGs
• a game gives a reason to participate
• book-writing example from Perplex City
• story and gameplay as a driver for UGC
• adding purpose

12. Incentives
do you need a prize?
• reward is helpful as a PR hit
• all about the experience
• in players’ interest to recruit other players

13. ARGs vs VWs
• depends on the virtual world experience
• ARG is on-rails (e.g. a game, an MMO)
• social VWs reward habitation
• ARGs construct a narrative thread
• flexibility of an ARG to reach people
where they already (and will) hang out

14. ARGs vs TV
• ARG as scripted TV show
• narrative closure
• seasons
• using the right interaction method for the
story
• example: ‘we’d love to use QR codes’
• use the platform in most natural way

15. Endings
ARG (can) have a finite nature
• finite investment; time-bound
• for both investors and players
• something very sad about the slow death of
a community
• easier to manage if there’s a narrative

16. http://vmk.disney.go.com/

17. http://youtube.com/watch?v=2qLVeQpTRZk

18. Replay
• most experiences are ‘live’ and over when
they’re over
• how can we make them re-playable?
• how can we jump to the best bits?

19. Metrics
• always interest in metrics, especially from
broadcasters
• we can show engagement
• the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport moving to system of peer-review
• moving from quantitate to qualitative

20. (Brand) Engagement
• something powerful about fleeting
moments, narrative epiphanies
• moving moments used to ‘fix’ the message
• example: Superstruct (superstructgame.org)
• ARG players are playing as themselves, not
a character
• carrying the experience with you

21. Re-Telling of ARG
has anyone done a re-telling of an ARG?
• no
• model: epistolary novel
• there is fan fiction
• live nature means no retelling
• re-play, yes. re-telling, not yet

22. Alternate Goods
could there be ARG assets with RL value?
• Perplex City ARG from Mind Candy
• collectible card game with rarity model
• value in the IP: franchise, characters
• artifacts in instantiations
• intangible assets: sell your leveled-up char?
• could you sell your experiences?

23. http://sf0.org/

24. Thank You