PUG: "Pervasive Urban Gaming"

From Sean de la Sean (Goblinko Manifold) we hear a report on the rise of Pervasive Urban Gaming. We see the Hide & Seek Festival in the UK, and the Come Out & Play event in Amsterdam. Apparently there's a salt & peppery blawg post from Momus about this movement (to be read here).

I also recently heard from Sherry, a former collaborator who moved on to Shanghai to produce events with Bad Cat Productions. They're staging all kinds of Global Pillow Fights, Mass Picnics, and Pajama Jams. Sherry credits her time with Oaklandish as a major inspiration for their movement. Then there's MobMov, some berkeley cats who gained international attention for recreating the Liberation Drive-In (seven years after we showed people how).

We take these signals to indicate that intercontinentally we're all picking up on the same signals, all drinking from the same stream. We are connected, and our ideas do not occur in isolation. Our seperate threads weave together, forming a larger fabric that cannot wholy be seen by any of the individuals involved.

SFZero

"If there is such a thing as open source games, sf0 is a beautiful version of it."- Greg Niemeyer

From the site: "SFZero is a Collaborative Production Game. Players build characters by completing tasks for their groups and increasing their Score. The goals of play include meeting new people, exploring the city, and participating in non-consumer leisure activities.
......

SFZero: An interface for San Francisco. That is to say, a new representation for the data that's already there. Your mind is full of /inaccurate/ representations that are affecting the way you use the San Francisco dataflow: steering you away from interaction and collaboration and towards unproductive reflexive data loops (forNext). SFZero designers are working double-shifts to engineer this next-generation interface that will bring you together with your cohabitants to experience the freedom that is /hard-coded/ into San Francisco's protocol."

http://sf0.org/

"Alternative Reality Gaming"

"So, yes, I think we are going to be seeing more alternative reality games. The movement is gaining momentum, though there is still not a fully developed business model for thinking about how to build on this trend yet, and so it is likely to remain in the hands of marketers on the one hand and amateurs on the other."
- Henry Jenkins, Director of Comparative Media Studies Program and Full Professor of Literature at MIT

To learn about the basic tenets of ARG's, start here:
- Wikipedia article on Alternative Reality Games
- The Alternative Reality Gaming Network

OK, when you read the description of Immersive Media Narratives, you might observe that it sounds remarkably similar to an "Alternative Reality Game". And you would be correct. However, there are a few distinctions I'd like to make. As a genre these ARG's are defined by their adult, macabre, nerded out sensibility. Without exception they are all hard-boiled & dark mysteries, reminiscent of the comic book & video game world that are their breeding grounds. By nature, they are a "cult" activity, accessible mainly to the initiated gamer (adult male). Here's where I believe these games fall short as engaging entertainment.

- Producers are not seeing the "next level" of ARG as a broad entertainment platform with a massive intergenerational audience.
- There are no colorful, playful, joyful, completely integrated examples of this medium.
- So far the major games have been limited to "marketing tools".
- There is a tremendous gap to be filled here.

The "Games of Nonchalance" as an Immersive Media Narrative is different in that:
- it is designed as an ongoing activity for parents and children together in real space.
- There is a different level of immersion, with real stylized sets, rooms, and character actors.
- The aesthetics of the game are on a different creative & conceptual level. It is driven by an arts & entertainment model.
- There is a rough business model.