This course will become read-only in the near future. Tell us at community.p2pu.org if that is a problem.
Alternate Reality Games are interactive narratives that use the real world, augmented reality and even virtual worlds as platforms for real learning.
Part of Inevitable Instructors
hashtag #ARGed
Please feel free to share what you find. Also if you are so inclined, we have a diigo group and you can add it to the diigo group. Diigo - can be used for any blog, website, pinterest board or article we find related to ARGs, augmented reality or interactive fiction. http://groups.diigo.com/group/arg-academy
Hey, fellow ARGers, anyone know the context for which this video called, "What is in the Box?" was made? I am 99% sure it was for an ARG. The suspense, story, technology, editing, sound, and effects are well done. Creeps me out everytime I watch it. Good fodder for science learning.
I happened upon a VERY interesting blog post entitled "15 Serious Games Aiming to Change the World." Most of these are amazing ARGs (notebly "World Without Oil," which I have heard of before). I played "On the Ground Reporter: Darfur" out of curiosity (due to not completely understanding the Darfur conflict and wanting to see how this game would teach me about it), and let me tell you, I definitely was absorbed in the game for about an hour and ended feeling much more educated on the issues between what is now North Darfur and South Darfur. The interactivity of the whole thing lures you in, which is an ideal aspect that every ARG should try to attain.
Here's the full URLs:
Blog post---
http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/04/15-serious-games-aiming-to-change-the-world/
On the Ground Reporter: Darfur---
http://www.radiodabanga.org/darfurgame/english/index.html
It almost seems like ( no..I actually do this) I should start looking at the literature for the definition of immersion. I think this is really how we're going to need to explain ARGs to people who haven't played an ARG or a video game.
Just skimmed but I agree it does look comprehensive. It made me pull out my copy of Janet M. Murray's Halmet on the Holodeck. The discussion of World of Warcraft (WoW) works also, since most of the faciliators are coming out of another open coures where we spent a week in WoW. We're deciding on the essential reads for Week 1 and I think this just made the list.
I started following Tish Shute's Ugotrade blog many moons ago when she was more involved in SL and OpenSim, largely as an esteemed commentator. She moved on to other topics, notably AR and latterly ARGs. So I'm offering this snippet from a recent blog reporting on a talk by Will Wright of Sim*/Stupid Fun Club/Linden Lab fame.
I can't believe we don't have this one up on the Diigo site. I thought we did - I found the Ugotrade site earlier this week following a trail from a Google alert for an augmented reality conference. I think we do want it all - reality, augmented reality and virtual reality.
So anyone who would like to - please do join ARG diigo group http://groups.diigo.com/group/arg-academy
and we'd also like build Mendeley site too - we'd like to have academic research papers so whoever is asked the "where is the research" question has somewhere to go.
There's some really great information about ARGs coming in. Please consider adding it to the ARG Academy Diigo area as well, as it provides us with certain functionality that will be useful to our curation & learning efforts, e.g. tagging, sorting, rating, commenting, etc.
The Diigo group is set up to be public with a moderated membership process. You will need to click the button labeled, "Apply to join this group" (see image below), in order to add resources and access some of the additional functionality.
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Just stumbled upon this:
How to Invent an Alternate Reality - tips from Jane McGonigal
http://www.slideshare.net/avantgame/make-an-alternate-reality-game
The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262693646.199
For those coders out there.. check out Layar: http://www.layar.com/ . It has an SDK that allows you to create your own layars for users to download and play. They just need a compatible phone and download the layar app.
For non-coders, Kae and I have used http://tagwhat.com/ and drop.io to build some ARG components into. However, drop.io has been acquired and shut down by Facebook. :(
The 5 Most Insane Alternate Reality Games
http://www.cracked.com/article_19346_the-5-most-insane-alternate-reality-games.html
Criteria:
The program LOST comes to mind.
I wonder if Children's Paracosms qualify?
I think they would Grid. The one thing that really seems to be evident in successful ARGs is the idea of subcreation or world building: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcreation. The designer has to develop a world and backstory for the event. Most ARGs use our world to be the time and place.
Dystopian Political Themed Album + Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor) = Multiplatform ARG
I mentioned this on the sign up page, but I wanted to go further into detail.
In 2007, Nine Inch Nails released a concept album called "Year Zero," with lyrics and music representing the possible dystopian political future of the United States of America. Myself being a HUGE NIN fan, I had been following a forum community dedicated to NIN (www.echoingthesound.org) before the album had been released and found that NIN fans all over the world were finding leaked music via flashdrives found in random locations at concerts, artistic symbolism in the leaked music itself, and then a plethora of disturbing websites, video, and audio that had been supposedly leaked from the future.
I was following when actual video of a NIN secret concert and "Resistance" movement meeting (with a real speaker and realistic setting) being shut down and shot at by SWAT teams was found. A phone number was revealed, and when called, it "added your number to a list of potential threats to the dignity of the United States" (or something along that line; it was disturbing enough that I clearly remember making the call, the time of day and where I was).
And then tiny details about a sniper shooting at a baseball game, a pandemic bacteria used in possible warfare, and chemicals put in the water to "call the public" around the same time that visions of a "presence" started to be recorded.
Amazing, right? In-person, phone, on-line, and then, incredibly, if you actually discussed the findings in that very forum, your screenname appeared on a (fake) list of known terrorists as the culmination of the experience.
The whole experience pulls thousands of fans into this thick, troublesome movement to the point that fans themselves starting creating "Resistance" art and logos, even after all the details of the whole ARG was released.
This is an amazing example of an ARG gone right, where participants were lured into the story and learned something in an entertaining and interactive manner. Everything was linked; it was almost quest-like. You felt personally involved, moved, and even at times, a little scared!
I think that a great ARG makes you forget that you are actually learning and uses as many venues of communication/consumption as possible to make the learners feel more involved.
Check out the entirety of the ARG here: http://www.42entertainment.com/yearzero/ I highly recommend a visit!
WOW!!! That must have been a really intense period of time. Thanks for the first hand accounts. I've gone over the website and 42entertainment is a very cool company. They have done some great work in the commercial arena. They have a very good group of employees and it seems like it would be a great place to work.
We really need a group like that in Education. :D
This is really cool... Seriously cool. http://inceptiontheapp.com/
Yes Jack.. the app definitely looks cool. I really loved the movie so, the app looks to be fun. I'll have to check it out over the summer. :D
Here's a really basic Prezi that Chris, Brandon Poulliot and I use to ease educators into augmented reality. It's called Geo Everything.
Yes, Kae and I have had a lot of fun designing a few ARGs for my classes. Again, I really think it is the movement and learning in a non-traditional educational environment (i.e. real world) that is key for my successful students. I'm amazed at how little resistance I have from students for ARGs than for games.
Everytime I use a commerical off the shelf game or an epistemic game, I have a handful of students that resent me 'trying to make them gamers". However, I've never had an issue with the the ARGS I've used. It seems that LARPing is more acceptable to my students than gaming. lol
I'm finding the Wikipedia entry for ARGs to be a very helpful primer on the topic. Thought I would share it in case there might be others who might find it helpful as well.
Wikipedia - Alternate reality game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game
~ Jerry
LOL.. I'm getting the sense of deja vu. :D This is the first site I pulled up when Kae and I started talking about developing ARGs for my classes.
I definitely recommend a quick read.
