History of Alternate Reality Games

Despite alternate reality gaming is a new concept in internet, its roots reach back to 1980, when Jordan Weisman founded leading RPG company FASA (short for the Freedonia Aeronautics and Space Administration, named after Groucho Marx's mythical country in Duck Soup). Back then in 1980 FASA created many popular role playing games, just to name few: MechWarrior, BattleTech. If you think you are familliar with term MechWarrior, then you are probably right because few years ago there was a computer game called MechWarrior. But you may ask: what does it have to do with ARGs? A lot of - because founder of 42Enterteinment leading Arg design company is ... Jordan Weisman, but we will get to that later.

Starting out BIG

First ARGs were developed by big companies and they were supposed to be more of viral marketing strategy then a game. If you are not familliar with term "viral marketing" - then just keep in mind that it is some kind "word of mouth" marketing where interesting information is passed along and suddenly you realize that everyone is talkin about it. The same technic was used by Wizards of the coast to promote their new collectable card game Netrunner (it was in 1996).

Netrunner launched with a proto-alternate reality game called Webrunner: The Hidden Agenda, which cast players as hackers against the evil Futukora corporation. Players broke through seven puzzle-themed "gates" to get the secret data ("agenda"). The popular game was the first online game tied in to a product release, making the front page of the New York Times technology section. The sequel Webrunner II: The Forbidden Code turned the tables, casting players as security agents defending against hackers. This marketing strategy was highly effective so Wizards did several more such games in the late 1990s for its games BattleTech and Magic: The Gathering, and one more ("Horsemen") for Hecatomb.

The very first Alternate Reality Game

As i said before Wizards created proto-Arg, the first successful ARG was developed to promote Steven Spielberg film A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). The movie had an unusual publicity campaign consisting of a new type of "game" involving approximately 30 interlinked websites. This type of game has since become known as an alternate reality game (ARG). The A.I. game did not have an official name, but became known as "The Beast" by its most ardent fans, the 7000-strong team who called themselves the Cloudmakers. The Beast was wildly successful as a game, attracting a much more devoted audience than the game designers had expected. It set the tone for future ARGs, and defined much of the genre's terminology.

In the game, the interlinked websites purported to be sites for a number of organizations (universities, businesses, and personal home pages) set in the fictional world of the movie in the 22nd century. Hints to the websites' existence were contained in posters, trailers and other movie publicity materials.

By studying the information on the sites, a story set in the world of the movie involving the murder of one Evan Chan became apparent. Solving various puzzles and hints, some involving email, physical meetings in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, telephone calls and telephone answering services, allowed the unlocking of more websites which gradually revealed the story of whodunnit and why.

Electronic Arts - forstall

Not many of you know about it but before The Beast was even invented, Electronic Arts was already developing secret project named - Majestic. Majestic was a science fiction thriller based on a Majestic 12 shadow government conspiracy theory. As an ARG, the game was played by phone, email, AOL Instant Messenger, fax, and by visiting special websites. Gameplay frequently involved the player receiving clues that they would use to solve puzzles and unravel the story. All the messages were automated, with limited dialogue options, but AIM provided some interactive conversations.

The game's tagline, "It plays you," emphasized the nature of ARGs and the game's suspense. One of the first things the player experienced in Majestic was news that the game had stopped, yet they would receive messages suggesting that there was a conspiracy behind the stoppage. Majestic was said to have been inspired by The Game, a 1997 movie that featured something like an ARG and repeatedly confused the main character into thinking he was not playing. If you don't really understand what ARG is then i highly advice you to watch this film.

Many of players said that Majestic is a total failure however it was recognized as the "Best Original Game" at E3 in 2001 and one of the five "Game Innovation Spotlights" at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2002. Electronic Arts dumped this project in April 2002, because of too few players.

LockJaw

By the time when Majestic lifetime was coming to the end, Cloudmakers were already enjoying Lockjaw one of the first successful independent ARGs. Despite it wasn't as big as other ARGs it was maybe even more important then "The beast" and "Majestic" put together because, it kept the momentum started by "The Beast" alive and solidified the current ARG community as well as popular websites www.argn.com (source of news for ARG community) and www.UnFiction.com (lets call it arg players hangout) were developed by Lockjaw players.

In Reality it's Just a Game

One of the most commercial ARGs to date remains the Nokia Game. Although mainly a competition through which Nokia promotes their latest phones, it is a true ARG which fuses various forms of mass media such as: phone calls, SMS, TV adverts, newspaper articles and emails to give clues to the player. Promotes communication between players, and features involving storylines which change every year.

The original Nokia Game took place in 1999, and was only open to residents in the Netherlands. The 2005 edition was open to participants in more than 20 countries. Although notorious for the frequent bugs and crashes experienced during the Europe-wide live finals, the games were very popular. It is unknown if Nokia will continue producing Nokia Games, as there was no game in 2004 and the 2005 game was very different in style from the others. As each game lasted only a maximum of 3 weeks, deadlines for mini-games were strict, with many sections of the game only giving players one chance to solve it.

I love bees

Since 2003 many ARGs where launched one of the most important for us is "I love bees" this game served as a viral marketing campaign for the Halo 2 video game. It is a product of leading ARG design company 4orty2wo Entertainment and Sean Stewart, commissioned by Microsoft and approved by Bungie Studios - the creators of Halo 2.

What is interesting founder of 4orty2wo Entertainment is ... Jordan Weisman the one who founded FASA in 1980.

Like all ARGs, I Love Bees was a cross-media game that deliberately blurred the line between in-game and out-of-game experiences. To "play" I Love Bees, interested people would generally visit websites thought to be involved with the game, collect and document the shifting information on these sites, and discuss the game with other users. Players also interacted with the game in unexpected ways, for example by receiving unexpected phone calls from Artificial Intelligence characters, or by sending and receiving emails.

The game culminated by inviting "crew members" (players) to visit one of 4 cinemas where they could get a chance to play Halo 2 before its release, as well as collect many items of memorabilia, including a DVD summarizing the events of the game.

This is not a game

In January 2005 there was worth mentioning fact - "This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming" was released, the first book to cover the phenomenon of Alternate Reality Gaming in detail, providing an overview and history of the genre, and tips for players and would-be puppetmasters.

Perplex City - first commercial ARG

In April 2005 Mind Candy (company that specialises in puzzles - from Su Doku style logic puzzles at one extreme, to global, cross-media, treasure hunts, at the other) launched Perplex City probably first commercial ARG that involves the purchase of puzzle cards as well as an online trail and live events.

Perplex City is a massive metropolis that has an unknown connection to Earth. It has a near-future feel to it, with advanced mobile technology, neuro-enhancing pharmaceuticals and kilometer-high skyscrapers. There is also a slightly more utopian element to city life than we commonly find on Earth. The most important characteristic of the city's culture is the importance they place on puzzles and other mental pursuits. Their leading competitive event, the Academy Games, is primarily a competition of intellectual skill rather than physical strength. In fact, nearly every part of their culture touches upon the cryptic and mindbending.

The puzzle cards which were mentioned earlier are intended as an introduction to the characters and story of Perplex City itself, and the deeper mysteries of the Cube theft. Clues found on the cards direct players to various websites, blogs, emails, phone calls, and SMS messages, originating from Perplex City. These often feature puzzles of their own, whose solutions lead to further puzzles. Frequently these puzzles require players to co-operate in reaching various goals.

Did you got - LOST?

One year later after start of Perplex City the makers of the TV series Lost started their own ARG called the Lost Experience. American television network ABC joined with Channel 4 in the UK and Australia's Channel 7 in promoting a revamped web site for The Hanso Foundation. The site is focused on the fictitious company that is prevalent in the storyline of Lost, the TV series. The game has been promoted through television advertisements (run during Lost episodes) featuring the company's name, web site URL and one of three telephone numbers (depending on which part of the world the ad is being run) that connects to the Hanso Foundation company directory. Players can find out more about the Lost universe by accessing the web site. Several additional websites have been created to further the game and offer clues.

Beginnig of the end or end of beginning?

This is the end of the story, currently there are many new ARGs launched each month some of them are worthless some are not, some are fun some are not. If you want to stay on top with what is hot here is a little list of resources i recommend you to read.