Kim_Feb:Intro_ lo 1/15/08 9:37 PM Page 36 By Jeffrey Y. Kim, Jonathan P. Allen, and Elan Lee ALTERNATE REALITY GAMING Millions update the state of the game on the way to a common conclusion, in one case to help the Operator regain control of a spaceship and bring her crew back to the future. Alternate reality games represent a new genre of digital gaming designed to blur the distinction between a player’s experience in the digital world inside the game and the real world outside the game. Combining online informa- tion and real-world events, ARGs bring gamers together to collectively solve puzzles and advance a game’s storyline. Part of what characterizes an ARG is that the game universe is not explicitly limited to a particular piece of soft- ware or set of digital content. A typical ARG would not even acknowledge or promote the fact that it is a game, yet every Web site or discussion group may contain and reveal a potential clue. 36 February 2008/Vol. 51, No. 2 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Kim_Feb:Intro_ lo 1/15/08 9:37 PM Page 37 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM February 2008/Vol. 51, No. 2 37 Kim_Feb:Intro_ lo 1/15/08 9:38 PM Page 38 player online games. MMOG One of the first successful gamers collectively play in a ARGs was “The Beast,” a mur- shared digital world that pro- der-mystery problem-solving vides a persistent game uni- game launched in 2001 to pro- verse in which a large number mote the Steven Spielberg of gamers (often more than movie “Artificial Intelligence.” 20,000 at a time) play against Its first clues (known as the computer-generated charac- “rabbit hole”) were planted in ters or other MMOG players. the images in movie advertising Whether individually or as a posters. People who followed team, or “clan,” gamers aim the clues found Web sites sug- for a relatively well-defined set gesting that a character named of goals (such as killing ene- Evan Chan had been murdered mies, seizing a castle, or in the A.I. movie universe. In strengthening a gamer’s in- order to identify the murderer, game character). In the the gamers formed their own MMOG world, gamers gen- discussion group called “Cloud- erally play their chosen roles, makers” (www.cloudmakers. engage in combat, or create org/). The game attracted sig- collective real-time strategies nificant mainstream media and in war or commerce. public interest. At its peak in ARGs are not designed to July 2001, it had an estimated create a compelling experi- three million unique visitors, ence through 3D graphics or putting ARGs on the entertain- simulated battles. Rather, they ment map. provide shared scenarios through which gamers inter- Figure 1. Margaret’s act and collaborate to con- wo features of a successful Honey bottle. struct an eventual ending to ARG are a compelling story- the story. ARG gamers’ enjoy- line and collaborative game ment depends on the kind of shared experience they play. In it, a plotline is nar- have with one another. Without it, they will not stay rated and delivered through interested in collective puzzle solving and information multiple communication gathering. The gamers’ sustained, active, and volun- channels, including Web tary participation is the most important condition of pages, email messages, phone the ARG experience. Without it, the game stops calls, and print-based mail- evolving and ultimately ceases to exist. ings. Gamers use them to An ARG sustains player interest by generating new track the story’s progress. In content based on the constantly updated state of the two of the first ARGs to achieve a critical mass of game. If an existing puzzle is solved, the game’s story- more than a million participating gamers—“The line is designed to move forward to sustain gamer TBeast” and “ILoveBees” (2004)—compelling plot interest. If players find a clue and share it with the rest development made it possible for the designers to of the gaming community, the storyline must be attract, retain, and increase the number of players. updated in real time. A typical story update cycle takes The collaborative nature of game play is another a week, enough time for gamers to reflect on the story important ARG feature. Game players construct their before new action takes place or a new puzzle is own means of interacting through Web-based discus- released [1]. However, if gamers move more quickly sion boards, email messages, and real-world gather- than the designers (“Puppetmasters”) anticipate, the ings. Through this interaction, players communicate designers must react immediately to maintain the with one another, share their knowledge, offer inter- game’s appeal. Timing is key. A stale game loses both pretations of the storyline, and gather the information the smaller group of active players and the larger body necessary to progress toward the game’s conclusion. of participants watching the action unfold. ARGs are ARGs are quite different from another more both collaborative game and spectator sport. widely played digital game genre: massively multi- The time-dependent and interactive nature of 38 February 2008/Vol. 51, No. 2 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Kim_Feb:Intro_ lo 1/15/08 9:38 PM Page 39 ARGs makes them like the- Halo universe. The Opera- atrical productions, sponta- tor was searching for sur- neous and responsive to the viving crew members from audience. The challenging the crashed spacecraft aspects of creating an engag- while fleeing from an ing ARG include compelling enemy virus program (“the plotlines, regular content Covenant” in the Halo delivery, collective puzzles of universe). The story the appropriate difficulty advanced as the gamers level, player feedback moni- pieced together the reasons toring, and self-organizing the spacecraft had crash- player groups—all while landed, as well as who was maintaining strict secrecy responsible for the crash. and leaving no opportunity Working collectively, the to test before going live. gamers learned the ulti- mate goal of the Operator LAUNCHING AN ARG was to fix the spacecraft, (“ILOVEBEES”) gather crewmembers, The ARG “ILoveBees” deactivate a strange artifact (ILB) game was launched (“the Artifact”), and return in July 2004 to promote an to the time of Halo to fight upcoming release of the Figure 2. ILoveBees player. the invading Covenant army. Xbox game Halo2. From the beginning, ILB offered ARG DESIGN TEAM a stream of mysterious clues, initially through two Before taking on development of ILB, its design different channels: In one, FedEx packages were sent team already had a successful experience with the to approximately 20 people active in the digital gam- ARG “The Beast.” This helped the lead game archi- ing industry. Inside was a bottle of honey from Mar- tects assemble a design team of three storywriters, a garet’s Honey in San Francisco (see Figure 1). community lead, a number of audio-file producers, Suspended in the honey were nine letters spelling I- a technical support group, and several voice actors. L-O-V-E-B-E-E-S. The editor at an ARG player The total ILB design team included no more than Web site (argn.com) received the same package and 30 members, significantly fewer than a typical immediately posted his thoughts on the site. In the MMOG product-development team. The ILB other channel that same weekend, the ilovebees.com design team had three main responsibilities: address was displayed for a fraction of second as the Storyteller. The lead writer, science-fiction author Halo2 trailer was being shown at movie theaters. Sean Stewart, led the story writers. Before the game’s Visitors to www.ilovebees.com found a Web site that launch, the ILB team interacted with the Halo2 team appeared to have been infested by a strange artificial (Bungee and Microsoft’s Xbox Division) to keep the intelligence program most notable for Web images. game story consistent with the Halo2 universe. Community lead. While most sound and image pro- duction was outsourced, the design team maintained LB’s primary aim was to attract gamer tight control over the monitoring of players. Because and media interest in the Halo2 release. timing and the mystery of the story are key elements of The ILB design team created a Web site any ARG, the design team did not have the luxury of (www.ilovebees.com) that seemed to be beta testing or focus-group testing. Rather, it relied on infected by a mysterious computer round-the-clock monitoring of the community. The virus from the future (as in Halo2). For community lead (Jane McGonigal, then a doctoral stu- the next few weeks, ARG gamers and dent at the University of California, Berkeley) moni- Halo fans did not know what to do tored player activities and communication throughout with the game. Only after investigating the entire game. The community lead checked every clues left on the Web site did they fig- known source of information written about the game, ure out their main objective. They including discussion groups (such as bees.netninja.com would have to help an AI program (“the Operator”) and the “haunted apiary” at unfiction.com), as well as Ithat crash-landed on Earth find its way back to the mainstream media coverage and blogs. The commu- www.ilovebees.com/404 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM February 2008/Vol. 51, No. 2 39 Kim_Feb:Intro_ lo 1/15/08 9:38 PM Page 40 nity lead filed a daily report to the design team every morning the game was being played. With the report, the design team could make instant story updates and adjustment as needed.