An ARG is an interactive narrative in which players work together to solve puzzles and co-ordinate activities in the real world and online, using websites, GPS tracking devices, telephones, newspaper adverts and more. All of which sounds as if it must require even more effort and resolve than a public holiday gym session, but ARGs employ media - text messages, blogs, social networking sites, video-sharing - that many people already use every day.
The concept that an alternate reality can be developed at game level and used to solve problems and change thinking is central to the Superstruct game and is taken up in the online Guardian article:
"The fact that the genre is growing up is exciting. The opportunities are limitless. You can easily see how they might be used in a training setting in business, or in a medical environment to teach doctors how to cope with large-scale crises. What will be really exciting is when biometric information can be more easily integrated into gameplay. For instance, a real-world game that delivers challenges based on heart rate or other physical criteria." Siobhan Thomas, a research fellow at the University of East London and ARG design lecturer.
No comments:
Post a Comment