Designing reusable alternate reality games

  • Authors:

  • Derek Hansen;Elizabeth Bonsignore;Marc Ruppel;Amanda Visconti;Kari Kraus

  • Affiliations:

  • Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA;University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA;National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C., USA;University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA;University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2013

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Abstract

Successful Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), such as The Lost Experience, I Love Bees and Urgent EVOKE have solicited thousands of active participants and, often, millions of spectators from around the world. ARGs require significant resources not only in terms of initial design, but also in implementation, since live, dynamic interplay between players and designers is an inherent aspect of their interactive storylines. This paper outlines a novel design framework for creating reusable ARGs that will help extend the lifespan of ARGs and allow them to permeate new domains such as education. The framework includes three key reusable design objectives (replayability, adaptability, extensibility), each of which can be enacted at different levels of depth. We also identify barriers to reusable ARGs and design strategies for overcoming those barriers, drawing upon ARG designer interviews and existing ARGs.