alternate realities

The Art Museum as a Game Platform

Alternate Realities

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Smithsonian American Art Museum

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Luce Foundation Center

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What is an ARG?An ARG is “an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform to tell a story that may be affected by participants’ ideas or actions.” Wikipedia

An ARG is “an adventure you have in real life.” Jane McGonigal

An ARG is “an interactive, trans-media narrative that evolves in response to what its players do.” World Without Oil

An ARG is “a game that allows players (like you) to interact with a fictitious world using real world elements.” The Lost Ring

“ARGs are “engaging narrative entertainment delivered across multiple platforms – web, phone, video, audio, even the street where you live.” No Mimes Media

An ARG should “inspire and encourage people to step outside of their everyday lives and look at the world from a different perspective” Star Spider

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What is an ARG?An ARG is “an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform to tell a story that may be affected by participants’ ideas or actions.” Wikipedia

An ARG is “an adventure you have in real life.” Jane McGonigal

An ARG is “an interactive, trans-media narrative that evolves in response to what its players do.” World Without Oil

An ARG is “a game that allows players (like you) to interact with a fictitious world using real world elements.” The Lost Ring

“ARGs are “engaging narrative entertainment delivered across multiple platforms – web, phone, video, audio, even the street where you live.” No Mimes Media

An ARG should “inspire and encourage people to step outside of their everyday lives and look at the world from a different perspective” Star Spider

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Why?

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Core Narrative

Daisy Fortunis Daniel Libbe

McDoggerel (McD), Blanche, The Reverend, & WhatFor

21st Century…

19th Century…

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Telling the Story

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Telling the Story“You know, in thinking about it, this doesn't make any sense... Why would the Smithsonian send a stripper to a place like ARGFest to get this going? I mean, think about it, a borderline government agency sending a stripper to a convention in a hotel? That would be front page news on The Drudge Report!”--- Nighthawk

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Telling the Story

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The Artifacts1. Necklace of the Subaltern

Betrayer2. Predictor of Imminent

Doom3. Con Artists’ Replica4. Diorama of a Travesty5. Memory Vessel6. Escape Quilt

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On-line Collections

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Player-Created Narratives

Incomplete Set of Prediction Disks (Predictor of Imminent Doom) by Lydia Burris

"Last Call" (Memory Vessel) by Michelle and Eve Senderhauf

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Supporting the Fiction

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Supporting the Fiction - NMNH

National Museum of Natural History

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Supporting the Fiction - Cemetery

Congressional Cemetery

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The Final Event

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The Final Event

Using a sculpture to solve encrypted text

Contemplating Faces by Morris Louis

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The End

“They rest. They really do. All of them. McD has vanished, his fame secured by the artifacts that players of Ghosts Of A Chance made in his honor. Blanche escaped the traps of life; she is free to discover whatever there is to discover, and this time in peace and comfort. WhatFor is free for all time. The Reverend is beyond temptation; he languishes in a goodly repose.”

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