Alternate Reality Games

Last Tuesday evening, the folks from 4orty2wo Entertainment (who made the "I Love Bees" Halo prequel-virus) spoke at the local IGDA meeting. It sounds like it was a great meeting - wish I'd been there to hear it myself. According to this excellent writeup, the game creators used five key principles to design their game (AKA highly effective stealth marketing program):

1. "Hive Mind" -- the game is designed to engender team play and collaboration. In this model, the team (or "swarm") is a problem solving engine, and solving the problem requires group cooperation.

2. Web-native story structure -- the story consists of deconstructive narratives aimed at placing the audience in the role of an archaeologist piecing together clues. The narrative is broken into fragments, and by re-assembling the fragments the players solve the puzzle.

3. the "Electronic Sphere" -- a place where the installed base is "everyone" and the platform is "the world"

4. "Hiding in Plain Sight." -- the game is connected into traditional forms of marketing and becomes must-see advertising. The game is cooler if it comes at you through many different conduits.

5. Top-secret game creation -- only 3 individuals from Warner Bros. and 5 individuals at Microsoft were aware of the game before it launched.

Comments

[Tamika Pennie]

i want to play a great game

[Tamika Pennie]

i love this game