EVA - Alternate Reality Game
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the West of England
Department Name: Faculty of Creative Arts
Abstract
Making use of a mix of virtual environments and the real environment in which we live, Alternate Reality Games are the latest incarnation of player-led internet narratives. They present a fictional reality with a narrative played out over a period of time, over a series of linked websites, posing as real businesses, organisations, blogs or other sources of information.
ARGs are developed for a variety of purposes, such as promoting summer blockbuster films - but UWE has researched the possibility of presenting a narrative game not tied in to a major film release. In a collaboration with Licorice Films and HP Labs, Tom Abba of UWE's Faculty of Creative Arts led a five month Knowledge Catalyst project to research the possibility of producing a high quality independent new game, free of commercial constraints.
Tom said: 'ARGs are an experimental new form, using multi-platform media, which encourage not only virtual networking but also real-world participation. Characters are as fleshed out as in a movie script, with motivations and actions necessary to maintain the reality of the story.
'To implement this project, we employed a recent UWE graduate fulltime and produced an immersive experience for the player participants, who numbered in the thousands. The game featured a live event held at the Watershed in Bristol, which gave the players a chance to take part in the plot and encounter characters in real life, to say nothing of our experience co-ordinating it in real time!'
The researchers intend that it will become a model for game development outside of the established route of studio sponsorship, and will demonstrate the potential of this form as a model for developing interactive narratives.
ARGs are developed for a variety of purposes, such as promoting summer blockbuster films - but UWE has researched the possibility of presenting a narrative game not tied in to a major film release. In a collaboration with Licorice Films and HP Labs, Tom Abba of UWE's Faculty of Creative Arts led a five month Knowledge Catalyst project to research the possibility of producing a high quality independent new game, free of commercial constraints.
Tom said: 'ARGs are an experimental new form, using multi-platform media, which encourage not only virtual networking but also real-world participation. Characters are as fleshed out as in a movie script, with motivations and actions necessary to maintain the reality of the story.
'To implement this project, we employed a recent UWE graduate fulltime and produced an immersive experience for the player participants, who numbered in the thousands. The game featured a live event held at the Watershed in Bristol, which gave the players a chance to take part in the plot and encounter characters in real life, to say nothing of our experience co-ordinating it in real time!'
The researchers intend that it will become a model for game development outside of the established route of studio sponsorship, and will demonstrate the potential of this form as a model for developing interactive narratives.
