Descriptions and Examples of ARGs

Basic Concept

Alternate Reality Games come at things from an orthogonal perspective: they subsume the real world as the "platform" for delivering the content - the game, the challenges, the narrative, the story within which the player explores and has fun. There is no barrier between simulation and reality: you have absolute fidelity "for free".

Greg: A Sample ARG

With kind permission of Andrés Martínez Quijano

This sample ARG was created as a short demonstration. The game was originally an experiment observing both experienced and new player reactions to the game. The walkthrough and analysis explore those results and how they should affect design choices.

Inside an ARG: Troy

With kind permission of TJ Jackson

First, try playing Troy. This apparent 404 page was originally posted as the game's official download URL...

Then, read the full “Troy” Walkthrough/Postmortem by the author, complete with step-by-step guide to the game's puzzles and the thinking behind them.

Is Second Life an ARG?

A key differentiation is that SL is very much a computer-generated simulation of a non-existent, fictional world (with generally relaxed laws of physics etc), and a typical ARG is very much a real-life experience with no simulation, which just happens to come together as a complete game, indistinguishable (within legal and ethical bounds) from your own everday life.

It is of course possible to make an ARG where part of the game takes place in Second Life - SL is something of a free, blank canvas when it comes to world-building.