Week 6 Term 3 Blog Post: ARGS!

Hey hey hey! Welcome back to my blog post! Since my last post, I have delved into the deep pit that is ARG design. And I'm pretty proud of myself. I've done over 3 in-school ARGs and I'm still thinking of more! This is a piece of writing that I did about what they are.

"An ARG (Alternate Reality Game) is an interactive story that uses real-world concepts as a platform to build a story. Most commonly these are made for fun, but sometimes they are made for businesses. A good example of this would be Local 58. ARGS usually start in the first stage of creation, brainstorming. The Gamerunners (people who control the game) will try to come up with an idea for a compelling story. They usually do this in private, as to not spoil the story.

After they formulate an idea, they need a timeline. The timeline can either be loose, where the Gamerunners will adapt the story based on the players, or Fixed, where they have a set story they want to tell. The most important aspect of creating a convincing story is to leave some room for your story to change. After creating a timeline, they will usually create a medium for the gamerunners to tell their story. Multiple great ARGS use twitter, youtube, reddit, or instagram, but there are also multiple real-world mediums like posters, found footage, and custom-made websites.

Once they have created their medium to tell their story, formulated a plan for their story, and prepared content for the players, they can start the game. This usually starts with a trailhead, posted on a popular social media site to gain more attention to the account and continues on for a number of months or weeks, but it can also not be publicised, left there for people to stumble on.

While players interact with the account and the content, it is good to keep track of them. Make sure to help them if they absolutely need it, and don’t feel afraid to break character if you need to. ARGS are mainly about entertainment and learning, so make sure you enjoy the process of creating and running your project.

Once your project is complete and the players have been given a satisfactory ending, you can pat yourself on the back. Usually, after an ARG’s runtime, it is archived, but if you’d wish, you can remove all proof of the ARG. In conclusion, running an ARG is a long, strenuous process, but it’s always worth it to have fun and enjoy the process and interact with your fans."

I really enjoyed writing this, and I feel like it helped me improve my writing skills along with my punctuation. I hope you enjoyed it too! Thank you for reading, and I'll see you next post!