Alternate reality game catches more news

Alternate reality games edged a bit further into public awareness as Perplexity, a/k/a Syzygy, caught some

media coverage this week.  The article is intro stuff, but does get the key thing about blending game into digital life, and has this nice passage from two leading designers, who assess the genre as:

a developing art form--even if it's equivalent to moviemaking in 1903--rather than simply a convoluted promotional vehicle.
"The Internet basically is about searching for things and gossiping, and we invented a way to tell stories that's about searching for things and gossiping," Stewart said. "It is a much nicer way to deliver art across the platform."

However, the article errs in not seeing ARGs not sponsored by corporations, such as the brilliant Matrix game we blogged last year.  It's more accurate to observe that ARGs these days, like the net itself, straddle the border between self-publishing and business.

(thanks to Steven)

Comments

[Wolf]

Seems like ARGs are getting more press lately. In the Meta Discussion forum on Unfiction (http://forums.unfiction.com/forums) there are a couple of news articles from just this week--although the most recent one badly underestimates the quality and strength of the grassroots, fan-created games, in my humble opinion.

But I might be biased there, just a little.

[Bryan]

Good catch, Wolf. I wonder if this isn't going to be a durable argument about the emergent field.
It reminds me of the Romantic squabble about market-oriented vs sui generis art.

[typer]

Anyone else seen this yet?
http://www.lulu.com/tinag/

[Wolf]

A good read (and cheap) for anyone interested in the developing genre.

I've read excerpts that cover the two games I was a co-writer of (Metacortechs and Lockjaw). Nice overviews of both, and he not only heaps the kudos all over us for our writing quality (particularly in Lockjaw), he even names us individually.

Does that make me famous? And if so, when does the "rich" part of "rich and famous" come knocking on my door? I'd like to be at home when it does :)