ARGs in Education

The ad was in cinema’s apparently 

We found Cathy’s book

Interesting article on product placement in the book

Interview with Sean Stewart

I was supposed to wait for my week off, but I couldn’t help it, I’ve started Cathy’s book, and by start, I mean I’ve finshed the narrative, without partaking in any of the ARG as yet, but ready to go. Whoo. I don’t want to spoil the story, for anyone that plans to read it but it ROCKS. I was a bit WTF, but it was just so good. It’s a book for teen girls, but I guess that’s what I still am, at heart *cue violins*.

Initial points of note:
1. There is, now obvious, thinking about it, an English version of the game (which save us in the UK calling US phone numbers). To kick off, you had to email cathy@cathysbook.co.uk. Although I have the US version, I sent and email and I see I have an email already. Coolness. That’s something to thinking about – if you were doing and E-ARG, UK wide, you would need the numbers to be cheap so Eire and others could get involved with limited expense to the users. Local rate or freephone numbers it is then. Or Skype. Whoo. I nearly forgot about Skype.

2. There is definately some CoverGirl cosemetics product placement going on, and there is a business card from a company called BeingGirl.com, the ‘nice, caring face’ of P&G, who make and sell Tampax and Always Ultra Plus with Wings and a swimming float or whatever the latest super-asborbant add-on is. EdComs used to work with them, coincidentally.

3. There are forums.

4. 42 Enertainment are the writers. Note to self: Email Sean Stewart for dissertation.

**UPDATE**

Re 1: It’s not an English version per se – you just use the Double Talk Wireless site to listen to the voicemail, which is what the other users should do to save some cash.

Aleks Krotoski rocks. She used to present the show Bits about games, which although on late, was good stuff. Luckily got to see her at the Dana Centre last month when I went to thier web 2.0 event. Anyhows – she writes a games blog for the guardian and has a number of posts on ARGs. Coolness. I see she’s mentioned a company called Blast Theory, who make ARGs and are also based in Brighton. Awesome. Will check them out and keep you updated.

Yay! I got a reply from Ken Bautista from Hotrocket. I’m hoping to study their E-ARG, CIE. Trouble is, it’s in Canada, and I’m poor. Might need to get some funding.

Anyway, here’s what he says:

My apologies for the delay in getting back to you on this. Thanks for
your interest in our project – we’re excited about it as well!

I can’t say much more than what’s already on the site, but we are on
track to launch in October 2007. It’ll be open to kids across North
America, but we’re starting it out fairly grassroots initially and
expect the audience to build over the first 8-10 months (as they’re
given missions/tasks by the Agency). My degree is in elementary
education and instructional technology… but never did go into the
classroom. I started the company to address the need for more
compelling interactive content for kids that was both highly
entertaining and educational. With the C.I.E. we’re attempting to
create an experience that actively implicates kids to foster critical
thinking, problem solving, etc. and set the experience against a
backdrop of natural and human history. Adding to the mix is the
notion of mixed media storytelling, using web, mobile, and real
locations, to immerse kids in the experience. My fingers are crossed
that it’ll be successful!

So, as soon I as we have more information that we can distribute, I
will be sure to forward those on to you. We’ll also be putting up
more on our site as we get closer to our launch date. Until then!

Ken

Whoop! Some inside knowledge coming my way.

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.

Crikey, I was having a browse of the ‘unforums’ at Unfiction where I came across a list of ARG hints and tips. I’m amazed at the geniusity – checking the source code of sites and looking at inconsistencies in the html!? Amazing lengths, right? While I couldn’t use this level of complexity in an educational ARG, it’s a good place to start – think how these techniques could be reduced for a younger/less seasoned audience and test them out.

This thing here is amazing. 

…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.