(no subject)

[entelein]

It might be because ARGfest is lurking right around the corner, but I've been woolgathering like crazy about ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) the last couple of weeks. Another fledgling ARG by the name of Gypsysoft imploded rather quickly, even though players were taking a keen and positive interest in the initial undertow, letting themselves get swept into the e-mails and details. A post-mortem thread from the 15-year-old who created the project stirred up some pretty interesting META discussion. One of the things he alluded to was the sheer amount of work needed to get one of these puppies off the ground:

Puppetmastering is not for the weak of heart. Hell, it isn’t even for the medium strong heart. It’s for the steroid-run my-daddy-is-a-treadmill kind of heart. This is why we leave it to nice folks like Dave Szulborski, whose names are synonymous with “cardiovascular” and “Richard Simmons” to lead such a venture.

Brian Clark, one of the Puppetmasters for the recently-concluded Audi ARG, Art of the H3ist, had this to say in reply:

I often wonder if that's part of the problem of the genre. I'm fascinated by the idea that PMing an ARG shouldn't have to be like writing "War & Peace" in real-time ... unless you want it to be. We need a "short story" format.

For me, it's never been about having an epic amount of busywork to throw at the players, or creating some sort of massive campaign to truly hammer home the 'immersiveness' of it. What I do believe is that the ARG should be as 'true' and high stakes for the puppetmaster as the puppetmaster wishes it to be for the player, in order to strengthen that story's backbone and carry it through to its conclusion.

I wrote:

I think it's less about re-creating War and Peace and more about being truly committed to a product that is cohesive and consistent and immersive, in terms of the amount of work and energy needed to sustain an ARG.

Metacortechs lasted less than two months, but that universe was all I thought about, every spare second that I was not off doing essential life stuff. It was an earworm in my head, it was in every breath I exhaled, and it was paint and dirt permanently wedged under my fingernails.

So, when puppetmasters talk about all the work that goes into creating and maintaining an ARG, it's not because of the actual scope of the project, or campaign length, that they are likely saying this. It's because it's an actual emotional and mental commitment that takes far more energy than one could really guesstimate ahead of time.

In the case of Gypsysoft, it might've been really good for this PM to have a team to depend on, you know? I feel for the implosions, I really do. There have been singular moments I can remember from both Lockjaw and Metacortechs where I came fairly close to my own implosion. Puppetmastering an ARG has probably been the most rewarding, stressful, and exhilirating creative thing I've ever done in my life. It takes the very best of you and transforms it into this ... thing that has a life of its own, and it's that synaptic gap between PM and player, where the connections fire and ... yeah. It's awesome.

But it will very likely take much more from you in terms of time and energy than you thought possible.

Having said that, the Alias-themed Omnifam ARG is impressing me so far with the cohesiveness, self-confidence, and writing quality. It helps that I got to participate in an in-person mission last weekend, but the amount of detail they managed to include in that brief interaction leads me to believe that this team has got some good stuff in store for the players who stick around. I am a little wary of the cavalcade of apparently-stegged images laying about the For Hylie site, but here's hoping that all becomes a bit clearer in the days to come. In the meantime, there's plenty of Rambaldi obsession to delight in, which'll make Alias fans pretty happy, I suspect.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I am finding myself wanting to take a serious break from the ARG universe lately. I don't know if it's because it's gotten too crowded and top-heavy, or too "meta", or what, but I just don't find it as fun as it used to be back in the "old days". Maybe I'm just an anarchist at heart, but watching people aggressively organize ARGdom into this rampagingly commercial thing makes me a little sad, even though I always knew it was an inevitability once the genre got a little traction and a lot of attention from the outside world.

That's not to detract from the excellent work a lot of people are doing, both in front of and behind the scenes, as players and PMs and mods of the various communities. I am really proud of our little ARG community and the way it's branched out to become a real force in the gaming and creative world. But I just don't feel as connected to it as I did before, anymore.

Maybe it's a passing thing. I will still play, and I will still PM, but a little bit of the magic is gone, for me. At least for now.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

I need to take breaks, too. After Metacortechs ended, I was so frustrated and overwhelmed that I just sort of disappeared for about six months. I came back just in time to be asked to be a moderator for ilovebees. The burnout phase after that was cushioned by the ability to log onto XBoxLive and blow people up in Halo 2.

Plus, I can always go audition for a show, or work on taking better photos, or do some freelance writing and voiceover stuff.

I can understand your sentiment, especially when I see people give in really quickly (and wholeheartedly) to the urge to be snarky and nasty, with a sense of entitlement that leaves me feeling baffled and more than a little sad. I suppose it's just the dynamic of online communities in general, but my own personal investment is such that it affects me more than it normally would.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, you know, I can always wander off and immerse (hah!) myself in other things too, or focus on my job and personal life, etc., but the snarkiness is only part of it. I know you have often been at a loss as to how to respond to the seeming viciousness with which jaded players attack new startup games, and I'm right there with you. I think there is sort of a latency period after major games in which the vacuum is filled by a bunch of bored, highly intelligent people desperately casting about for mental stimulation and finding only frustration, and lashing out in response. I know I was like that for a while and looking back on myself during that period, I now regret some of the things I said.

But for me it's more than just the snark and the need to take breaks. It's things like watching ARGfests evolve from what was once a casual gathering of buddies over a beer and a pizza, into this formally organized, panel format oriented, discussion group that looks, feels and smells more like a business convention than a fun gaming gathering. It's things like seeing the proliferation of people concerned more with protecting their own intellectual property than telling a good story. In other words, what I see happening in my chosen hobby is making it look more and more like what I see every day in my job, and that takes a lot of the escapism out of it, for me.

Like I said: I don't begrudge anyone their desire, or need, to do this. Vpisteve once said on the Unforums that "careers are starting to be at stake here", and I wholeheartedly agree. It's just that I never expected ARGing to be MY career, and I don't really want to feel like I'm becoming an "ARG professional" just by virtue of being around to ride the genre's coattails.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

I feel the tension there, too.

I would love to make ARGs more than just a hobby in terms of compensation, but I also don't want to lose the ability to see it as a dance, rather than an assembly line. I see all these blogs discussing meta issues, and I see people writing papers and analyzing all of us in this really scientific and academic way, and I think, "my god, where did the days go when I could sit on my ass and playe Euchre for three hours, impersonating a guy, listening to the Labyrinth movie soundtrack on repeat????"

Frankly, I am intimidated by the commercialization, as much as it is exciting and full of opportunity. I am not sure how to take what I do best and translate it to these changing ideals, and still make it work.

[(Anonymous)]

You know, Brian had some interesting thoughts on this whole phenomenon that he posted in the Gypsysoft post-mortem thread that you referenced in your post, too:

I totally get that, Rose. I think my perspective is a little different because I suspect this is a temporary thing. If there were only 10-12 films made a year and everyone who was into film rushed to those 12 and a significant percentage of them were so crap horrible you were afraid people would go, "Films suck, I'm never going to another film" ... there would be definitely a problem.

The problem changes once you get to 1400 commercial and indie/commercial releases a year -- now the problem is not having enough time to consume all of it, and needing recommendations to guide you to what's worth consuming. As that happens, the "formula for the art form" becomes more and more systemitized ... and you start finding that the outsider communities (students, indies, underground, alternate) are the source of the most divergent quality and most surprising new ideas.

So part of this dynamic will always be there, and part of it is the youth of the genre.

The whole idea of the "formula of the art form" that Brian talks about has been part and parcel of the indie film community for years now. On the one hand, you have the Miramaxs of the world, which are all about getting innovative ideas out to the widest audience possible, but which find themselves, in the process of doing so, becoming progressively more bureaucratic and streamlined and less risk-oriented as the economic realities of becoming a "professional indie" shop sink in and they realize that mass appeal often equates to mass production techniques. On the other hand, you have scrappy little guerilla-media groups like Haxan, which aren't quite big enough or formalized enough to be a Miramax yet (but that doesn't mean they don't ASPIRE to be, one day).

One need only watch a "prestige movie" on a "faux-indie imprint" (which is not an indie studio at all, as much as it is a minor-league farm-team spinoff or subsidiary of a major film studio) to see that it is just as much a product of production-by-committee as any other big corporate release. Art films have their own formulas now, because trial and error shows people what works, in terms of what people will pay to go see. However, as Brian recognizes, that also means that a lot of the riskiness is lost as the genre becomes more "organized" and more rigorously deconstructed.

I fear, and expect, that ARGs are destined to go the same route over time. That, contrary to our best efforts (or, in some people's cases, precisely BECAUSE of those efforts), the ARG form will become crystallized and "systemitized", on its inexorable march to becoming Big Business. And, while this is unavoidable, (and, you're right, "exciting and full of opportunity"), there's a part of me that can't help but think it's also kinda depressing.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

There was some criticism by a collective of Metacortechs, calling us on some supposed 'Beast model' formula that we were following. As far as the general shape of the game, sure. We had multiple websites, internet-emphasized communication, etc. Beyond that, though, I was sort of at a loss. Formula?

Thing is, films, indie or no, are not ARGs. ARGs have this unique quality to them that depends on the player to bring it to life. Remember all that talk about "this ride's on rails!!!1" during ilovebees? weephun changed that, because he was an individual with a goal and an attention to detail. He didn't mean to change the game, surely, but neither did the guy who actually dropped the payphone receiver to go get his guitar. They were acting out of a sense of duty, immersed as they were in the game. A movie is largely a passive thing, and the reviews and market is determined post-mortem. I am trying, and failing, to see the correlation as clearly as all that, and so I still feel hope for the magic.

[(Anonymous)]

I dunno if it's so much formula in terms of the storytelling as it is in terms of the way the community operates. After all, returning to the hoary film analogy once more, every movie may be made according to a vague but definable structure (three acts, exposition, climax, denouement, etc.), but all of them tell different STORIES, so as long as there are new stories to tell there are always going to be new films to make. That's the "X-factor" in filmmaking, just like the unexpected, random, but internally logical actions of players like Weephun are the "X-factor" in terms of ARG'ing. And I agree with you, I think that sort of thing will always exist to make games exciting.

But there's a sort of Law of Large Numbers that takes effect whenever you have a community that grows exponentially. By way of example, let's say the active player base of ARGs (and by "active", I mean the people who actually go out of their way to solve puzzles and summarize storylines and do wikis and whatever, the non-lurkers) is maybe a couple hundred people. Chances are all these people know each other, and know OF each other, on a personal basis, so the process of ARGing is as much one of fun social networking than of generating and consuming an Entertainment Product.

But once you blow that potential audience up to 10, 15, 100 times its original size, it becomes increasingly impossible for people to interact and network with each other about stuff ancillary to the core elements of the game anymore. It's the difference between living in a small village and living in a large metropolitan area; you splinter off into subgroups, maybe find a core circle of like-minded individuals who you feel a sense of camaraderie with, but when it comes to interacting with the GAME itself you feel more and more like a passive consumer, a cog in the machine, because the actions of a single individual or even a small motivated group of individuals simply do not mean as much in the overall game universe as the collective movements of the Whole.

When you say "ARGs have this unique quality to them that depends on the player to bring it to life," I sort of agree, but then again that's what they used to say about MMORPGs in the early days too. And NOW look at them. As the population of players grows, it creates (by necessity) a functioning and FORMALIZED society. Within the constraints of that society, the individual actor feels progressively more and more powerless to do anything other than analyze the patterns of movement of the masses. And so it goes, until ARGing becomes an activity which is gradually more consumed on a passive basis than it is actively reacted to.

Hmm, maybe I am just being gloomy. But I really do think this is an inescapable by-product of art transforming itself into commerce.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

You are way gloomy! I reject your gloominess! I refuse to subscribe to the notion of the mechanization of ARGs! :)

Thing is, anyone can run a script in an MMORPG nowadays. I see it in Kingdom of Loathing, and I see it in more basic examples like Diablo II.

Not everyone's going to know lute tablature.

And that, I think, is where the magic is, and will continue to be. That even in an immense community, there is still the opportunity and need for individual contribution, randomizing our chances so utterly that we will likely never fall into the automation you fear.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, well, I do get accused of gloominess on a regular basis. :)

I hope you're right, but if you are, the end-result of all this (boomeranging nicely back to the beginning of what inspired this discussion) is perpetually more intensive demands and challenges to the PMs, sucking up more and more of their time and continually demanding even more attention to the game universe they've created, in order to continue to generate individual challenges of the sort you describe, for their players. And at some point, as an individual PM or even a small group of PMs, you hit a wall. There are only 24 hours in a day, and you can't devote every minute of every one of those hours to pleasing and challenging the individual actors in your audience. At some point you HAVE to pick puzzles, and storylines, and courses of action which are guaranteed to appeal to the largest set of those players more-or-less-equally, which means the Weephuns and the lute tablature transcribers of the world get less and less personalized attention.

Of course the only other practical solution is to continually increase the size of the PM team to keep up with the demands of all the players, but this creates its own problems in terms of communication and coordination of efforts. Remember how one of the problems Jordan and Elan ran into, in the earliest days of the Beast, was the fact that they had subcontracted out some of the website dev to independent designers who weren't always completely "on message", in terms of the larger storyline, and as a result they inserted their own little puzzles and subplots into the story which only served to confuse the audience? This is what I mean when I decry "production-by-committee"; at some point, your committee becomes so large and so focused on detail that it loses the plot.

I hope I'm not coming across as Chicken Little here, screaming that the sky is falling. I really DO still believe in ARGing as a phenomenon!! I just, you know, want to provide an Alternative Perspective.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

I hear your fears, and think they come from observation and experience.

I think addressing the scope of the game, and the scope of the player base is where good game design comes into it. Additionally, the target player base will also give some limitation as to how many potential players the PM team will have to handle.

Aigh, so many good branchy discussions off of this, relevant examples, etc. I guess the thrust of what I would say is that the PM team can and often does have control over this aspect.

There were several Japanese forums following Metacortechs, for example. I can't read a word of Japanese, and I do believe no one else on the Karetao team knew enough to have even a passing understanding of how those players were receiving our game. And yet, we didn't implode, or explode from the additional attention. We just kept on doing the game, to the best of our abilities, and everything turned out alright.

Heh. :) Now I am even more woolgathery than before.

I don't think games can get that big, anyhow, without 1 of 2 things happening: a) players who feel 'ignored' will simply stop playing, because they are not getting the individual experience they feel they deserve, or b) the players not getting individual attention will stay on for a good story, and for the Big Ideas which make them feel included anyhow. They will become Lurkers, and quite possibly enjoy themselves just as much in that role as they would have as some sort of flimsily-labeled 'superstar'. :)

I was in Group B for the Beast: I never got to solve a single puzzle, I never discovered a new webpage or site, I never got to call Mike Royal. I managed to get swag, but not by any virtue of skill. And yet I stayed on in the game, because the writing was so damned good, because the websites were so creepy and beautiful, and because by voting towards the end of the game, I still felt a part of the experience, that I had contributed some influence just by being there. (Personally, I think that's part of the magic that every ARG should seriously consider including as part of their game design - this idea that each player matters, even if they are not a 'celebrity' of the ARG, like hmrpita in ilovebees, or Jason (and his profanity-laden datacard search) from Art of the H3ist)

In ilovebees, I became an individual contributor by getting one of the first live calls, and then submitting 2 photos that were accepted and displayed on the websites, so I was grateful to get that experience. Despite my initial frustrations with bees, I would've likely stayed on had I not been involved to that degree, by virtue that I was considered a ping on the server where Melissa resided, and therefore I was keeping the game alive just by visiting that site.

[clayfoot.livejournal.com]

With all the demands on the puppetmaster during the ARG, I've wondered whether some of the burden could be shifted to computers. For example, some of the IM conversations I've seen look like they could be handled by an artificial intelligence routine that revealed only as much as intended, without unintended slips, spelling mistakes, or time limits. Moreover, a computer could handle multiple conversations simultaneously with ease. Likewise, another routine could handle email queries, responding appropriately to messages with the right content. As we saw in I Love Bees, a computer is immimently capable of handling basic phone call contacts. With the level of automation in the parcel delivery system, a computer could even arrange to deliver physical objects under predetermined conditions. All of these routines could be interfaced to a database that gradually gathered information about the players, such as name, email, phone number, geographic location, when the player is "online", gender, interests, and on and on. For example, this might allow a telephone routine to reference the weather in a player's location, that was gathered by an IM conversation. The automation and AI could genuinely make the game more real to the players. All of this automation frees the puppermaster and actors to perform even more interesting or interactive scenarios, which further enhances the game. Is this the shape of things to come, or are puppetmasters already doing all this and more?

[ex-cortana.livejournal.com]

I really don't think that chatbots are the future of the genre. Human interaction really can't be mimicked in this regard, not if you want anything other than canned responses to precise input. If you're in a password situation (give password to chatbot, get canned response and then block the user) then maybe, but other than that, it's pretty tricky.

[ex-cortana.livejournal.com]

Chatbots can't handle it yet. Ever tried talking with Eliza? Ick, man, Ick.

[ex-cortana.livejournal.com]

Only if the characters get to think theyre a robot.

As for chatbots passing the Turing Test...not so much. I talked with Cameo Wood about this a few month ago when she did an experiment along these lines that got picked up by Slashdot and the like, and it was fairly clear which was the bot and which was not.

These are not conversation substitutes.

Unless you're a moron.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

and free the PM's for more challenging tasks.

Again, that's not really the issue. In order to immerse your players, I contend that you, as puppetmaster, must immerse yourself. This will mean a different thing for each member of the team, natch, but taking shortcuts is not a quick fix to something that's a bit more ambiguous than mere time management issues, or project management/micromanagement.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

If the chatbot were part of the plot line, sure. But you also don't want to insult the intelligence of your players by trying to pass off a robot as a human, if that's really what the story requires.

I'm all about the story, man.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

I don't think the things you are describing are at the heart of the issue. I have made typos and errors in the stuff I have produced. Mistakes were made, server issues were exploited, identities of puppetmasters were revealed, but through it all we had a story that relied on the human touch. Natural, heart-felt response to a situation or event cannot be given a shortcut with software.

I used many programs and tools based on current technology to create an ARG, but what is missing for a lot of PM teams is the ability to see the big ideas, the over-reaching arc of their own story, the humanity that they are trying to get their players immersed in.

It's not that that these puppetmasters are not capable. I am more than sure they are, if they really have the desire. But there is a sense of commitment that extends beyond mere hard work. In order to expect your player to immerse, you have to immerse, and it's often quite shocking and disorienting how deeply one has to go to achieve that in a meaningful way.

It is pretty much always more than you could ever expect. Truly.

[ex-cortana.livejournal.com]

I really don't think you can make an effective game with fewer than four people acting as PMs.

You need a Project Manager, a Writer, a Puzzler and a Coder.

These people practically need to sleep in the same house to really make for an effective game. Everything needs to be planned for, and that's the part that potential PMs often don't consider. You need a universe that has been subjected to critical inquiry, you need a plot that both fits the universe AND is made of believable, cohesive characters, and you need the Puzzles to keep the readers from devouring the whole thing in an afternoon.

Think of it this way. The PMs are the escaping "good guys", driving down the highway at 70mph, being chased by an army of crazed weasels in super-charged clowncars. The writer and Project lead are driving the car and navigating. The coder is making sure the engine and the brakes are good and that the gas tank isn't leaking. The puzzles guy is the one chucking oil slick, smoke screen and tire-killers out the back window so that the drivers don't overtake our heroes.

The problem is that most teams aren't sure of what they're doing. They don't know how to drop the green flag in such a way that will cause the weasels to chase them. They don't know how to outrun the weasels when things get tight. They don't know when to spray oil slick or when to drop tire killers.

Little thought is put into their experiences, causing the weasels to catch them straight away and devour their fledging vehicle.

Folks, this ain't good. We need better PM teams. The army of crazed weasels in clown cars can't win this often. It's bad for the race.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Lockjaw and Metacortechs were made with people that were not even in the same states or even countries. A lot of it is simply organic chemistry, and even if we are disparate personalities, we had a common determination (stubbornness?) to see it through to the end, no matter how difficult it got.

And, you would probably be a little taken aback at how many things we left open-ended in our game designs -- not everything can be planned for, nor should it be. I mean, to take from your analogy, those crazed weasels are wily, and there needs to be wiggle room to deal accordingly with whatever they might try to do. Flexibility is something that I absolutely love the Karetao team for. We stare things down with the heat of a million suns, but we jump and leap and ninja our way through crises the best we can, too.

4orty2wo didn't plan for what would happen when we answered 777 calls, either.

Also, I have been all the roles you delineate, depending on the hour, and on the need. I joined Lockjaw as a writer, and possibly a graphic artist. I spent weeks being able to contribute exactly zilch, until Andy Aiken asked me to animate the eye graphic he used for Net:Sight Solutions. Fluidity and flexibility. You never know when you'll be needed to break out of your assigned role. I have been writer, project manager, designer, photographer, producer, voice talent, talent director, puzzle-maker, tech support ... you name it. We all were, to some extent or another. There's a lot of give-and-take, especially when you're grassroots. The job has to be done.

[ex-cortana.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I understand that the job has to get done, and that wiggle room is necessary, but some contingencies will go a long way to making that transition good. Sometimes the coder has to help the puzzle guy make a new kind of tire killer, when the weasels have adapted to the last one. The analogy still holds though. It's like a crew of a small ship.

The Navy maintains a submarine called NR-1, which is one of the research vessels they crew. The crew is drawn from the nuclear fleet (those officers and crew who are nuclear-qualified, which is less than 40% of the sub fleet) and every person must be qualified on every system, so essentially you get a crew of all-stars. This is what we need more of. More good writers who can also do graphic design or puzzle design. More project leads who can do character development and a bit of server side code.

The problem is, these people are Oh So Very Rare.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

I don't think they're as rare as you believe. Honestly, I think the trouble is that these games require an exchange of energy that most people simply are not prepared for.

I know that sounds hippy dippy and New Agey, but there you have it.

The talent is out there (because people are wanting to play these new games! that's why they're getting so mad when they implode!), but the throughline becomes burnt or snapped by the whiplash of the reality of these things. These Renaissance Crew Members are out there, in droves. I swears it. But the stick-to-it-iveness, in my mind, is the deal-breaker.

[ex-cortana.livejournal.com]

I would say that there are a lot of people that could be pressed into PM-service, but that they're afraid they would become what they loathe: bad PMs

I fit this category.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with everything Krystyn's saying here, especially as far as wearing many hats on any given day. I joined Lockjaw as a medical information resource and ended up as a writer, designer, coder, puzzler, leader, follower...

And it worked. And still does, within Karetao's loosely "structured" way of operating. I've become very, very at ease trusting all of the others and I think they return that trust. I'm sure our style isn't to every PM group's liking and wouldn't work for them. I have to wonder how many teams implode over power issues, which we don't have. We have strong opinions, strong personalities and even strong fights sometimes but at the end of the day it works.

I can also attest that the world we create has to be as real to us as we want it to be to the players. The Lockjaw universe was so vivid and real to me that there were times I actually choked up over some of the characters (remember Nadine's last letter to Vern? Um, yeah). Metacortechs was less real to me, but my characters were as much so as in Lockjaw. I just wasn't as comfortable in the Matrix-y universe.

Wolf

[phaedra-amunet.livejournal.com]

Super-Charged Clown Cars is so the name of my next band.

[coffeejedi.livejournal.com]

::smacks forehead::
holy crap ARGfest! that's the same weekend as Autumn's family reunion :( and NYC is SO CLOSE too (ok, about 3 hours)

oh, well... good luck with your panel discussion

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Dang. :)

And, thank you! We don't have a long stretch of time, but I think it will be way fun.

[brfitzgerald.livejournal.com]

Wait, does that mean you're coming to en-why-see?

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes it does.

[lame-chicken.livejournal.com]

Yay! Oh wait, I already knew that.

[brfitzgerald.livejournal.com]

Oooh. If I'm in town, we should get a drink or something.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

I am getting in LATE Thursday night, and then leaving Monday afternoon. I anticipate being really, really busy, but maybe we can just ping each other on our cell phones, and see if there's downtime?

I'd LOVE to see you again.

[brfitzgerald.livejournal.com]

Okey dokey. Drop me an e-mail or MOOmail me with your e-mail and we'll coordinate cell phone numbers.

[ubersaurus.livejournal.com]

Woah, Brian Clark?

I used to know a guy named that. Coincidental.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

Quick note, as I'm going to have to give up the computer soon, so all the ramifications may not be nailed down.

I don't think that adding complexity is the solution to the ARG problem. Building bigger teams allows for added complexity, but that does NOT guarantee a better product.

A better solution is to ensure that the ARG is tailored to the passions and talents of the PMs. That way the extra workload that inevitably arises from the unexpected during the performance-art that is an ARG is not going to be an implosive event in and of itself. If the PMs have a deep understanding and eagerness for the subject of and methods of delivery for the ARG, then the necessary improvisation will come (more) easily than if it's a work-to-spec script.

Match the ARG to the PM, and not with a hypothetical audience, and it's far less likely to implode. (Or build a concept for the ARG and turn it over to PMs who have a passion for that material, if you must target a demographic.)

Of course, I'm also approaching this without reading the thread in question... so this may not fit for this particular case.

-- Steve may be conceited, but heck... green text on black with minimal PM-player interaction worked fine for his one foray into the field.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

I'm not talking about adding complexity. I am talking about consistency, cohesiveness, and discipline. :)

We agree, in other words.