“It’s not a game to me”:ARGs, Game Design, and

Secret Agents in the Schoolroom

Kari Kraus @karikrausAmanda Visconti @literature geek

Derek Hansen @shakmattAnn Fraistat

Beth Bonsignore @ebonsign

ARG Ingredients

• An interactive narrative– Storytelling as archeology1

• Malleable – Puppetmasters & players influence

storyline

• Real world as medium • Mandatory collaboration• “This is not a game” or a hoax

(TINAG)1 Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game

Entertainment/Marketing

• The Beast• I love Bees• The Lost Experience• Metacortechs

“Serious Games” (Education)

• World Without Oil• Evoke• Pheon• ARGOSI

• Cathy’s Book• Personal Effects: Dark

Arts• 39 Clues• Trackers

21st Century Literacies

• Gather: finding, accessing, & evaluating

• Make sense: analyzing, synthesizing, & reflecting

• Solve: problem solving, experimenting, & innovating

• Create: creating, remixing, & modifying

• Manage: managing, organizing, & preserving

• Respect: acting ethically, respectfully, and legally

• Collaborate: collaborating & communicating

The Counterfactual Imagination

“Reality shimmers with glimpses of counterfactual alternatives”

• Joints or faultlines of reality(Ruth Byrne)

• How to reconcile ARGs with the abiding values of educational institutions such as libraries, schools, and museums?

~Ruth Byrne

Challenges & Opportunities

• Replayability?• Mobile apps for strange loops• Inclusive learning and secret societies• Time paradoxes and the IRB• Dealing with scale, time travel errors• Cross-institutional steampunk support• Securing funding for chronolyzers,

transversers, kairographs• Red herrings

?

For more on theUMD iSchool ARG team’s research and ARG creation: ArcaneGalleryOfGadgetry.org

For more on transmedia and alternate reality games:

THINKTransmedia.org

Special thanks to ARG team creative writer Ann Fraistat (aka April G.)!