Games for Change

I attended two public sessions of the Games for Change festival here in New York.I wasn't able to hear my personal favorites, Ian Bogost (whose game Airport Security won a jury prize) or Greg Costikyan (whose rants against the game industry are pure gold). I was looking for some feedback about the game World Without Oil and casting out some feelers for possible interest in the conference on ARGs.

Almost everyone I spoke to was familiar with World Without Oil. Granted it was a limited sample, but these are people who are passionate about the game industry and the possibilities for change it represents. Since the vast majority of people I see every day are not gamers, I was quite happy to find this group. ARGs as games for change was definitely on the minds of the attendees. I hope that next year they may do a panel on ARGs. I've emailed the organizers to suggest it.

Of interest, people involved with MoveOn would love to come up with a way to use an ARG in their world. Here they are with an fairly organized group of politically active people; people who want to make a difference in the world. But how do they use games within that group? Could an ARG be useful to them in reaching their goals? I know that an ARG can teach the players the benefits of community and tolerance of diversity of thinking. I'm not sure what kind of a game would interest them. I don't think a game that directly says "ok now email your congressional representative" would work so well. I think ARGs work best through subtlety, not through such direct means. But I think a great game could be designed for them to play.

Out for the season?

I keep complaining about the tendonitis I have in my left arm. As I am left-handed it is more than annoying to have to try to do as much as possible with my right arm. The problem: only with rest will my arm get better. All the physical therapy, ice, Advil and a brace can help it heal, but rest is what I need.

So knowing that, yesterday I spent all of my day on-line, typing and using the mouse with my left hand. I had a blast following the Eldritch Errors updates while waiting out the 90 degree weather. I felt fine then, today my elbow feels like it is exploding inside. Yes, I overdid it.

I need to face reality. It looks like I have to find some other hobbies, off-line and in the real world, to keep me off the keyboard. ARGs are so much fun, I start to read something, promising myself that I won't post anything, and the next thing you know I'm googling whatever new idea I have. Hours pass by. I can't do it anymore- at least for now. Staying away from the computer when I'm not working is the best thing I can do. What can I say, I lack discipline.

I'm training for the team in training marathon in San Francisco, I guess I will focus solely on that. At least that is ARG related because the beautiful and talented Maureen McHugh is my honored teammate. (By the way, I haven't started fundraising in earnest yet, but I will need to get about $4000 -so keep my charity in mind. ;) )

Even more distressing is the news that Perplex City is over. The dedication and passion of the creators of that game deserve a better reward than this abrupt end. The players deserve a better end too. But seldom in life do people get what they deserve. I'm very sad about this. I felt like crying when I read Scarlett's good-bye. Actually, tears came to my eyes. I didn't even like Scarlett all that much, but I will miss her. I'm hoping that we can arrange some sort of bon voyage party for the players and any PMs who want to attend. I know we can have something here in New York if Andrea can attend. I thought of having an online chat party too, but...see above... I hope someone else will arrange that.

I have another idea that I may be launching soon. I'm trying to start ARGwire, my twice a month report on ARGs for the advertising industry. I've been looking for good writers who understand ARGs and who can work on a very part-time basis. Maybe I can find a former Perplex City writer who would be available. I'm not going to do an all-volunteer thing only because I don't have the time or the patience to manage it. ARGwire will be ad-revenue based and can hopefully generate enough money to pay for itself with all profit going to fund, my true love, unfiction. Unfiction needs reliable funding starting with next year beyond Sean Stacey's income, Andy Darley's generous donation and the donations of everyone else. Unfiction also needs money to help get ARGFest going each year so we don't have to beg sponsors for everything.

More on this later. Time for an ice pack.

Cheers!

Eldritch Errors: META

I started to post this in unfiction but I realized it would be the beginning of a threadjack. I'm not impressed by threadjacking so I decided to post it here.

I've given up trying to spec and predict this game. I really enjoy it! What a combination of lots of different genres and different views of reality. But I have a hard time following the story. I decided it works better if I don't put so much effort into trying to understand what is happening and just let it unfold. I think players that understand Lovecraft, tech stuff and other aspects of the story have a much better chance of speculating about the story and understanding what the players need to do next.

Though at least half the fun with this game is trying new stuff without waiting for direct word from the PMs as to what we should do next. I like that a lot. I think in some ways the players, and I speak for myself here, have become trained sheep. We have certain methods to attack a problem and if they don't work we just wait for a message telling us what to do. I'm finding I prefer this Eldritch Errors approach. The confusion is part of the mystery of the game.

Eldritch Errors Ate My Brain

Do I need to say more?

game with a purpose

ARGs are Serious Fun!

A “Serious Game” is one that is more than just fun. It’s a game with a purpose - it may be to teach you something or to get you talking about things. ARGs do that.

Brooke's great idea about the ARG roundtable
- a virtual conversation about ARGs - has me thinking , so much that I decided to limit my comments to three very different games that are happening now: World Without Oil, Year Zero and Eldritch Errors: bseeingu. World Without Oil, deals as the title suggests, with coping with an oil catastrophe; Year Zero, a crazy dark dystopia of which the recent Trent Reznor album "Year Zero" is but a part; and, Eldritch Errors, a fictional story of dreams, hacking and HP Lovecraft (if you've ever heard of Chluthu, and like me before this game started the blogger spell check has not, you need to look at this game.)

WWO is on its face a "serious" game, the idea is to raise awareness and solutions to a defined problem -running out of oil. The players more or less pretend they are living without oil and posting about it on their blogs. Most of them have live journals, I don't. I can barely keep up with this blog, I didn't want to start another one. So, to play this game I'm relying on that universal constant of ARGs - the player community. Another player, cissmiace, who lives in London agreed to work as a partner with me. I email or private message posts to him on the unforums, he posts them.

Year Zero. The best way for me to discuss Year Zero as a serious game is to quote a post I made this weekend on the Echoing the Sound forum. There is a political movement trying to organize itself from that game, people moving toward political activism. Some people have posted saying that the players won't be taken seriously or that what they are trying to do isn't serious, because it is based on a game, based on a band, based specifically on a band called "Nine Inch Nails." I wrote:

2. It doesn't matter that inspiration comes from a game or a fictional world.

A whole subset of gaming involves "serious" games. The most famous example is a online video game that involves raising awareness of the genocide in Sudan called "Darfur is Dying." The label of game as a "serious" game isn't important, although I would call Year Zero a serious game with a serious purpose well beyond promoting a band, the point is that people use games and fictional worlds as vehicles for change.

Here's another example: Leonardo DiCaprio starred in a recent film called "Blood Diamond", which examined the role of "conflict diamonds" in Africa. If a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio became involved with protesting the sale of diamonds because of that movie, would that matter? Should that fan be embarrassed to say, "I like this movie star, so I went to this movie and now I care about something I didn't care about before?" Should that fan think "no one will take me seriously because I'm just a fan who went to a fictional movie?"

I don't think so.

Political ARGs

Last night I had a conversation about ARGs with some fellow players. One topic that came up was "what happens if there is a political ARG?" I'm still not sure what that question was getting too, and I hope to find out more about it tonight. I think the question is what happens if there is an ARG that polarizes the community of players.

I don't have a problem with that. To me the worse thing that can happen is that the power of groupthink overcomes the power of respecting diverse voices. The community has to know, even believe, that it will outlast and withstand any controversy, the bonds within the community are stronger than the forces that might seem to want to tear it apart.

Witness the latest example of players being bogged down in uniform thinking. The game Eldritch Errors is meant to be confusing and not to be played the "same old way", if in fact that exists. But we are going about it the same way we have played most games: looking for puzzles, viewing source, trying to find codes. And we are lost. The puppetmasters are not above getting impatient with us waiting around, trying the same old things, not keeping up. They make fun of us for being so lost.

What this shows me is that we are not as creative as we think. We need some new insights and ideas into how to play this game and other games that come along. We may have mastered how to play some games; we aren't excelling at this one.

ARGs are serious fun - part 1(beginning)

The first topic of the ARG blogtable is in part inspired by the World Without Oil game and in part just good insight by Brooke. I have a few different thoughts on this subject: One, that ARGs are serious fun because of the experience of the community and the individual players; two, that ARGS are serious fun because we expect the puppetmasters behind the games to be professional; and, three, that ARGs are serious fun because they can raise awareness.

I'm going to start with the third one first. The game Year Zero is a powerful example of not only raising awareness but also moving players to take action. Through the game, players are helped to find their voice, through art or some other means, and given a public forum to use that voice. I have no doubt that the artists and players in the game feel a new empowerment to use their talent to speak up for whatever cause they believe in. Giving people "permission" to speak up or publicly display their art, can break down any self-consciousness, embarrassment or fear that may have been holding them back.