I'm working on an update to my alternate reality gaming post. To that end, a note about an underappreciated novel with a hidden, delightful ARG compontent: Gene Wolfe, Peace (1975).
Stop here if you fear spoilers.
Towards the end of this subtle, ambitious, surprising novel, a bookseller named Mr. Gold turns out to be a clever, unusual, and inspired forger. He not only sells books, but creates some from scratch, fabricating their stories, their "paper, printing, and binding," aimed at a specific buyer or need. Gold embeds them carefully in historical and bibliographical contexts to build a sense of realism. These are never identified as fakes, except by the novel's protagonist, who decides to stay mum. The books accrete over time, woven into the bases of other, non-fake books.
So these books are hoaxes, not exactly ARGs, but closely related. And the books enter into the reality of books, a la Lovecraft's Necronomicon (which figures in the story). They become part of the larger world itself, like Borges' Lottery. Gold's creations come close to the realm of exposed, but significant forgeries, like the Donation of Constantine.
Where Peace gets even more interesting from a gaming and narrative perspective is the idea of a society or lineage of such hoaxsters, puppet masters patiently toiling in subtle composition over time. Before defending his craft, Gold evokes a guild:
"There are a great many more of us than you think, Mr. Weer. And we go back a long way. Many of the old books you accept are genuine because you see them everywhere are actually reprintings of the original efforts of people like myself - some of them working may hundreds of years ago."
(210, Berkeley pb)
Now when will we see someone seeding the Web with such examples, in varying degrees of concealment? Should we expect the ARG genealogy ARG?
Comments