THINKING OUTSIDE THE (x)BOX

(or "HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE BEES")

Guest Speakers: Jordan Weisman, Sean Stewart, and Jim Stewartson of 4orty2wo Entertainment

The IGDA's San Francisco Bay Area Chapter Meeting for April 2005 featured Jordan Weisman, Sean Stewart and Jim Stewartson of 4orty2wo Entertainment discussing and explaining the emergence of Alternate Reality Games (ARG) and the phenomenal success of their interactive Halo 2 prequel, I Love Bees. However, rather than delving into the particulars of I Love Bees, the discussion centered around the origins of ARGs and what they are based on.

Jordan Weisman kicked off the presentation with an explanation of ARGs and how the genre evolved into a very different, yet mainstream form of gaming. Alternate Reality Gaming is, according to CNET, "...an obsession-inspiring genre that blends real-life treasure hunting, interactive storytelling, video games and online community."

These games are an intensely complicated series of puzzles involving coded Web sites, real-world like newspaper advertisements, phone calls in the middle of the night from game characters, and more. This unique blend of real-world activities and dramatic storylines has proven irresistible to many.

These games (which are free) often have a specific goal of not only involving the player with the story and/or fictional characters, but of connecting players with one another. Many game puzzles can be solved only by the collaborative efforts of multiple players.

Jordan explained that the idea for ARGs came about through hours and hours of brainstorming at Microsoft, where they were established and predicated on 5 simple principles:

The concept of a "Hive Mind" meant that the games should engender a sense of team play and collaboration amongst players. In a way, the team should be viewed as a problem solving engine. The game would--of necessity--be fundamentally cooperative and collective, because of the nature of the Internet.

An ARGs story structure should be organic to the Web - they should consist of deconstructive narratives aimed at placing the audience in the role of an archaeologist piecing together clues in order to solve the puzzle. The narrative would be broken into fragments, which the players would be required to reassemble.

Jordan highlighted the "Electronic Sphere" idea in which he viewed the install base as "everyone" and the platform as "the world" so as not to set inherent limitations on the genre.

"Hiding in Plain Sight." As explained by Jordan and Sean, this ARG tenet helped the team create a game that was connected into traditional forms of marketing and became must-see advertising. The game would be cooler if it came at you through as many different conduits as possible.

The final and most important principle was the fact that the development and creation of the game was absolutely top-secret. In fact, only 3 individuals from Warner Bros. and 5 individuals at Microsoft were aware of the game.

Following Jordan's introduction to the foundation of ARGs, Sean Stewart recapped the work that was done around Halo 2 and the fact that 4orty2wo Entertainment wanted to make it a more physical game than past games. In that spirit, the team set out to create a "War of the Worlds" narrative that focused on sending players out onto the streets to solve the game. Sean discussed the fact that more than 500,000 people played the game and as the story progressed, the players became increasingly skilled and aggressive. In fact, the final challenge called for a player to receive a code in Seattle, while another player in Washington DC had to relay the code and provide additional information found on the Internet in less than twenty seconds! Believe it or not, it was accomplished in 13 seconds!

The Q&A session that followed was lively and consisted of a variety of questions ranging from technical production inquiries to the prospect of ARGs becoming even more mainstream in the immediate future. IGDA attendees then proceeded to a lively mixer at LJ's Martini Club and Grille for a meet and greet networking reception.

About the Speakers
Jordan Weisman, Chief Creative Executive of 4orty2wo Entertainment, invented ARGs after having been inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame for games such as MechWarrior, MageKnight, Crimson Skies, and Shadowrun. Before founding 4orty2wo in 2002, Jordan served as Creative Director of Microsoft's entertainment division, providing creative leadership for the company's PC and video game portfolio (including the development of the Xbox). Jordan is also the founder/co-founder of FASA Corp., Virtual World Entertainment (makers of BattleTech), FASA Interactive, and WizKids, LLC.

Sean Stewart served as Lead Writer for I Love Bees and Lead Writer/Co-designer for The Beast (an ARG originally developed to promote Spielberg's film A.I.). An award-winning novelist and pioneer in interactive and multimedia fiction, his recent literary work includes the novels Perfect Circle (a Nebula finalist this year), and Galveston, for which he won the World Fantasy Award.

Jim Stewartson, Chief Technology Officer for 4orty2wo Entertainment and Technical Lead for I Love Bees, developed the first commercial 3D game delivered over the Internet in 1996 (Star Trek: Borg for the Start Trek: First Contact website), as well as other groundbreaking Internet games for films such as The Fifth Element, Titanic, The Flood, Lost in Space, and Spawn.

Meeting space generously provided by: