ARGs in Education

These games are hilarious – viral marketeers take note!

This is the National Curriculum frame work for Art and Design at KS1 and KS2. To be used when thinking of topics for activities for TK

For future reference:

“Kids aspire to be older than they are at whatever age because, early in life, they recognize their position on the lower rungs of the social ladder. Hence retailers, like Borders, design spaces that encode both aspiration to older, more autonomous identities and distance from younger, undesirable selves. Any savvy package designer knows that a child’s product, if it is to have any chance on the market, must appear to appeal to the age group just older than the intended end-user. Something intended for a six-year-old boy will probably not do well if a six-year-old is pictured on it—better an eight-year-old.”

Source

Yeah that is so true – I was reading Just 17 when I was 11 and was reading 19 at 13.

…for not being clear/posting for so long. The reason has been trifold.

1) I got a new job. An amazing new job, at Tate. Yes Tate Tate. From September 24th I’m going to be the Editor of Tate Kids. You know what that means people…yes ARG time, bitches. As part of the interview, I had to put together a proposal of what I would do to the site (as I have to revamp it completely – see the job description) and of course, an ARG was an idea mooted. Think – galleries are great places to hide clues and be great fun for kids (6-12) to go tearing round them, pissing off stuffy types. I can’t go into to much detail on the ideas, because I don’t want other galleries ripping it off, but I think I could tie it into an event they do called Secret Tate. Loves it. Would probably make the game very short – just lasting an afternoon, and we would provide all the technology – possibly PDAs. God. I’ve said too much, haven’t I? I can see it being a distant relative of Hotrocket’s CIE. Sort of.

Anyway, the plan is to ‘Web 2.0′ the whole site, so keep checking it please. Actually don’t worry, as I will no doubt be posting all details here. So yes, I couldn’t go public with the news, EdComs forbade (is that a word?) me. Embargo lifted, mofos.

2) From the previous post, you can see I went to the Mind Candy offices. Whoop. How privelliged am I? Basically Michael Smith had been reading this very blog (!), and was thinking of ways I could possible get involved with their work. I was beyond flattered – to the point to of puking actually. I was the archetypal dickhead hammy fan, but it rocked. Spookily I had the Tate interview just an hour before I met them, so I felt properly in demand. Thanks for your time MC – I’ll be back.

3) This blog was created as part of a my MA, and I am now no longer obligated to maintain it. However – I love it too much to ditch, it rocks.

 So yeah, a new chapter all, and a real chance to get this ARG made.

There was an article in yesterday’s Metro. If I still have the copy, I’ll scan the article in. It was about pervasive games, by this, they really meant treasure hunts set in cities. Yep, like Masquerade. I guess they are definately related to ARGs, perhaps, their less technical mother. The are missing the online elememts, and also the community – however you have to remember that these were not possible in the pre-digital age.

Anyhow, I came across a company called London Quest, who make bespoke games for company away days and hen nights. How cool is that? I’m going to have to arrange that for my birthday, or make someone marry me so I can do this. Awesome. I’ll have a word with them, see if I can get a bit of work experience with them and hopefully some inspiration.

I also completed parts I and II of MSN’s Conspiracy in a few hours.

It’s a pretty standard Adventure/Point and Click game – my favourite genre. A friend of yours, a proffesor has been abducted so you go to his house, with your colleague (and lover, apparently) Anna, to solve a range of puzzles, using their search facility.

The game is alright, but Anna spoonfeeds helps you look in the right place, by actually telling you what you need to. I have to say, if I completed both parts in around 6 hours, its too easy. But the activities where good, and commerically, it did make good use of Live Search. However, I was tempted to Google. Habit, I guess.

Another thing – as the games get older, and players write about the games on line, you inadvertantely come across walkthroughs if you type in the clues you have. I did have to do a few rapid scroll downs. Arggghh, my eyes! I don’t want the answers.

So this made me think of all the adventure games I wanted to complete/start:

• Broken Sword (the last one)
• Grim Fandango
• The 7th Guest
• 11th Hour
• Maniac Mansion
• Monkey Island (all of them)
• Evidence: The Last Report (This game is a sore point in our family – isn’t it)
• In Memoriam - I’ve never seen this one before until today, its an ARG apparently. This is on the wish list for payday, and will hopefully do a study of it – seeing how the ‘CD-ROM’ model works. First impressions for use in an educational context – not sure, on a practical level. Who owns the CD? Do you need to order one for each student? Would it need to be installed on every computer in the school? Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

While Edublogs was down this weekend, I was able to get some adventure gaming done, for some activity inspiration.

My Dark Secret

This is an online murder mystery party. It’s really quite funny, especially when you really get into character. I’m playing a game called Waiting for version 8, which centers around the death of a computer moguls death. There are four players – The Femme Fatale ex wife Bewinda ‘Black Widow’ Bates (!) aka Me, The Rival (works for Orange), The Son, The Annoyed Employee. It is played across functionality similar to forums, and each player has a list of facts they have to establish about themselves, and a list of  facts they need to get other people to confess to. Once all the facts have been established, all players can vote to move to the next scene.  We’re currently 94% complete, so we need one last push, to end the game, and accuse a character. The fact you can rate your fellow players is quite good, I had two 3’s (ie ‘meh’) and one 5 (ie wicked). Was chuffed about that, I can tell you. I’ll keep you posted on how that pans out.

…where you had to turn to page x to perpetuate the narrative? I always used to cheat, and turned to pages I really shouldn’t have. I remember one book, a vampire-themed game, where they set a trap for ‘gamers’ like me, and when I turned to the page, it was like – ‘there is no way you could have been in the turrett by now, back to the start you go.’ How classic!  I loved those books so much. I wonder if you can incorporate that functionality into an ARG? I’ve had Cathy’s book on the brain, I guess.