ARG project

As wonderfully explained underneath this blog entry, our ARG project is about a man that wakes up in what appears to be a hospital and has to go through the process of figuring out where he is. As things move along, we finds a means of communication with the ARG players and he has to discover the meaning behind his being there. Our ARG really began as a brainstorm of ideas, just trying to come up with an intriguing story that would draw in players and keep them interested. Since the idea of waking up somewhere and not remembering what happened is a theme that can be found in all forms of media, we thought it would be a good basic concept to go with. After we had this idea down we just built upon it until a story formed.
So many different ideas went into the final product. Coming up with the topics for the websites was probably the hardest part besides writing the story line. This involved figuring out all the specifics of the game and coordinating facts. This was especially difficult because we were on Thanksgiving break trying to communicate with each other. Constructing this project on a Wiki page took so much time and effort; it would have been easier to work on if we could have gotten together in person more than just a couple times. It is more efficient and easier to express ideas. After the web pages were assigned and the puzzle was constructed, things started to fall into place. At our final meeting we finished writing the narrative (another difficult task to do over computer communication) and put things into order. Playing the game in class was frustrating because to actually play through our game so many other aspects would have to be implemented. The time, effort, and money that must go into real ARGs just go to show how committed people are to them.
The concept of Alternate Reality is very interesting. In a way it is an escape from the real world, but in many aspects it is also just a different story line than your own. By involving yourself into a scheme or a different role than you have in reality; you could be living out a fantasy. Many children say they want to be spies when they are little, but choose a career path for monetary and ability reasons. Others just want to be famous, and inside the concept of ARGs, you can do that. Just like with the idea of Second Life, people are able to enter into identities that they don’t actually possess. The power and mystery involved in some of these excites people and draws them in. I originally found it fascinating that people became so involved with ARGs and invested so much time into them, but if you are truly interested in the topic or the puzzles, then it makes sense. It is like these players can enter into a whole other world. Everything comes back to the idea of escaping reality through different means.