“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.)!