Wolf Curtains

Thurs ARG or Alternate Reality Gaming has been around for some time but not much fanfare until recently. ARGs interact with the player directly and usually involves a range of entertainment media. The game is an interactive narrative that uses both virtual and real world interaction to play.

During the reading you are looking for clues with many other members of the group. The planner of the story, called the "Master of Puppets" will plant clues for players to find. For example, you could be on the computer looking for a website, then dropped a hint, like a phone number, which is irrelevant or individuals on the site.

Call the phone number could lead to a real person at the other end, which is an NPC (non player character), which can give them a story with a puzzle or another clue to follow, which could lead to Search newspaper ads or other websites to get answers to start another search index, and so on so forth. Players often help each other in an online forum, sharing their ideas for solving each puzzle or riddle.

The two other terms that should be known by the player is "the curtain" and "TINAG" (This is not a game). The curtain is just a metaphorical term referring to the separation of players Puppetmaster (a small OZ allusion to working behind the curtain while controlling scare Dorothy and her friends). TINAG is simply an attitude that many players wanting to join an attitude that the game is 'real' to say that gravity.

ARG becomes big business

The spirit of the game, although popular, has not found a direct way to raise revenue. There were a few launches pay to play games ARG, but they have not really taken with this traditional style of marketing.

However, through clever television promotion has taken on the ARG experience and intertwined with the advertisers. As clues can lead you to view different locations, the site pages, newspapers and other media, they can also lead to product placement and online traffic.

A good example is the recent "The Fallen Alternate Reality Game" designed by Matt Wolf. This game has coincided with the screening of ABC Family's "The Fallen" as a means of promoting the series of television films. The game includes all the players through sites that include clues to help players solve the game, while at the same time drop brand names and links to pages seller. These suppliers pay to add the investment income, while the players, who number in the thousands, they gave a lot of traffic.

The game Fallen was a historic achievement that won an Emmy for Matt Wolf and his team in 2007. In his speech Emmy, Matt Wolf described in the proposal with how ABC Family, after his "mad scientist" explanation storyboard design ARG, most studios would not want the idea, but instead stayed with it. This may mark a turning creative for television to come, after a successful Emmy with a group of production to achieve a great success.