After my last post on ARGs I could not resist the hype of CSI:NY going into Second Life yesterday. I put on my Hobart College T-shirt and followed Detective Mac Taylor into New York and a "compelling transmedia experience" as Henry Jenkins calls it. I certainly had fun... and I didn't even get to the serious part...
While on the CSI virtual set I spoke with others using the new voice chat - it was very clear - as were the US accents - and it added an odd kind of authenticity to the whole experience.
Viewers of this end-of-series episode of CSI:NY now have a few months to enter virtual Ney York and investigate the crime scene to solve the murders - before the series resumes next year. I saw many people earnestly following the murder trail while I was in-world. Could this be homework?
What are the possibilities for ARGs in education?
Ewan McIntosh has a good post with more links.
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Sunday, 7 October 2007
ARG TINAG - on a Quest
Arg Tinag was born in 1333AD. It's now 1352 and he is visiting Hobart College fresh from training at a prestigious Academy...
ARG and TINAG are also acronyms for Alternate Reality Game and This Is Not A Game...
To construct this game I've created machinima in Neverwinter Nights to tell Arg's story - and leave clues for others to follow in his footsteps. The clues are distributed across machinima, a web site, Arg's MySpace (he has a 'portal' to 2007) and our physical campus.
Episode 1 (above) introduces players to Arg's Quest. In Episode 2 Arg gets vital information from Joe - our real-life security guard - and some penguins (which are a bit of a MySpace meme with our students this year). To progress in the game students have to talk to Joe and decipher a clue given by the penguins which leads them to Arg's MySpace portal. Only players who make friends with Arg get to see further clues.
Episode 3 brings the promise of gold - virtual and real - if players can solve the clues which involves them in finding the campus dog Louis - in real life...
What's next? I've no idea - the story now has a life of its own... :-)
Only a few students have discovered Arg Tinag to date... so I'll now sit back and see who else wants to play... A bit of an experiment in viral marketing as well... :-)
I've found this to be a fascinating mix of the virtual and real - and quite new for some students who had to be convinced that part of the quest involved them leaving their computers...
ARG and TINAG are also acronyms for Alternate Reality Game and This Is Not A Game...
To construct this game I've created machinima in Neverwinter Nights to tell Arg's story - and leave clues for others to follow in his footsteps. The clues are distributed across machinima, a web site, Arg's MySpace (he has a 'portal' to 2007) and our physical campus.
Episode 1 (above) introduces players to Arg's Quest. In Episode 2 Arg gets vital information from Joe - our real-life security guard - and some penguins (which are a bit of a MySpace meme with our students this year). To progress in the game students have to talk to Joe and decipher a clue given by the penguins which leads them to Arg's MySpace portal. Only players who make friends with Arg get to see further clues.
Episode 3 brings the promise of gold - virtual and real - if players can solve the clues which involves them in finding the campus dog Louis - in real life...
What's next? I've no idea - the story now has a life of its own... :-)
Only a few students have discovered Arg Tinag to date... so I'll now sit back and see who else wants to play... A bit of an experiment in viral marketing as well... :-)
I've found this to be a fascinating mix of the virtual and real - and quite new for some students who had to be convinced that part of the quest involved them leaving their computers...
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