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This is Not a Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming
Imagine a world of mystery and excitement, adventure and fantasy, waiting for you to explore. A world that reacts to your every move, with characters that talk to you, send you messages, and even give you items to help you in your quest. A world so immersive that you can no longer tell where reality ends and fiction begins. Welcome to the world of Alternate Reality Gaming. This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming by Dave Szulborski is the perfect introduction to this exciting new world.
395 pages, Nook
First published March 27, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 12, 2015
Begins with the theory of alternative reality games, gives some detailed history (up until 2004 when the book as written), and then becomes a how to guide for creating your own ARG. The theory was interesting and gives the reader a a good solid foundation to go off and study any theoretical aspects of the genre. The section does read a little like a dissertation or a graduate thesis (I wondered through the entire book if that's where it started). The how to guide section is a little out dated, but the out of date stuff is easy to pick out (registering a domain, email providers, etc..). Even with some of the out of date stuff, most of the information felt very relevant.
What made this book worthwhile was that it was written mostly from deep first hand experience. The author has created several successful ARGs and has been involved in the ARG community for a long time. I'm really curious if there is an updated version of this book. I want to know what happened in the ARG world between 2004 and 2015 with the kind of personal experience this book provides.
What made this book worthwhile was that it was written mostly from deep first hand experience. The author has created several successful ARGs and has been involved in the ARG community for a long time. I'm really curious if there is an updated version of this book. I want to know what happened in the ARG world between 2004 and 2015 with the kind of personal experience this book provides.
July 7, 2022
Scorrevole e comprensibile, in poche centinaia di pagine riassume le principali cifre da conoscere degli ARG.
Consigliato.
Consigliato.
June 25, 2012
I'm so intrigued by the idea of an alternate reality game and its possible implications for the betterment of society. Szulborski first considers whether ARGs can be categorized as games by examining well accepted definitions of games. He then goes through the history of ARGs, highlighting the game "The Beast" and "I Love Bees". To help a novice game designer through the process of putting together a successful ARG, he describes his experience and shares his mistakes and triumphs. At the end, there is an appendix that includes a list of resources and even essays from others about certain aspects of the game design. This book is a well thought out, researched, and executed guide on ARGs.
January 2, 2022
I liked the theory at the front half of the book. Toward the end, there's more of a "how-to." The "how-to" is not personally useful for me because I don't (immediately) intend to create an alternate reality game. That part is unavoidably outdated, as the book was published in 2005, but some principles may still be useful.
Some takeaways:
Break down the overall game concept into an idea you're communicating (a "story") and a delivery method (a "discourse"). The method could be, say, words in a novel, or game pieces in a board game. This breakdown comes from Tzvetan Todorov and Gérard Genette.
A story or game with interaction is one in which you move the gamepiece, click the link, etc. Immersion is something more: it means the story or game is integrated into the rest of your life. There may be no defined rules, no set schedule for playing, no game pieces to flag what is pretend. It's somehow part of the real world. It's real correspondence (postal, email, telephone). It's a wide community of players, not all of whom you know personally. Ideally, there is also a quality of agency, which means that your gamepiece moves aren't meaningless to you. It's not merely a roll of the dice, and it makes a difference to you whether red or green wins. Your choice and the resulting outcome, even if they aren't deeply significant, at least make some sense.
Some takeaways:
Break down the overall game concept into an idea you're communicating (a "story") and a delivery method (a "discourse"). The method could be, say, words in a novel, or game pieces in a board game. This breakdown comes from Tzvetan Todorov and Gérard Genette.
A story or game with interaction is one in which you move the gamepiece, click the link, etc. Immersion is something more: it means the story or game is integrated into the rest of your life. There may be no defined rules, no set schedule for playing, no game pieces to flag what is pretend. It's somehow part of the real world. It's real correspondence (postal, email, telephone). It's a wide community of players, not all of whom you know personally. Ideally, there is also a quality of agency, which means that your gamepiece moves aren't meaningless to you. It's not merely a roll of the dice, and it makes a difference to you whether red or green wins. Your choice and the resulting outcome, even if they aren't deeply significant, at least make some sense.
September 14, 2019
I suppose a history of one's personal involvement in ARGs is a reasonable model for investigating this modern phenomenon. Probably most interesting for historical or philosophical reasons today, considering how much the genre has blown up in the year since it was written. Full review at link: https://tylerwolanin.com/blog/2019/3/...
April 26, 2023
This book is a time capsule, a peek into the culture, methods, history, and tooling of early-days ARGs.
As a book, it's not particularly well written and often repeats itself. Yet, it still contains some invaluable nuggets from a pivotal figure in the ARG genre.
As a book, it's not particularly well written and often repeats itself. Yet, it still contains some invaluable nuggets from a pivotal figure in the ARG genre.
August 13, 2014
I'd never heard of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) until a friend suggested I read this book. As someone interested in the intersection between gaming and narrative, I think the ARG world is full of promise. Dave Szulborski has written a fine introduction to this embryonic genre; his tripartite offering is a conceptual manifesto, brief history, and instruction manual wrapped into one book.
The idea that ARGs are "not games," which Szulborski refers to as the "TINAG philosophy," denotes the special balance between fantasy and reality that makes ARGs unique. Played out in labyrinthine connections between websites, telephone numbers, addresses, physical locations, and other mediums, ARGs create an illusion of reality to draw players into the story. ARGs also have flexible storylines that can be influenced by player behavior to varying extents, similar to divergent plot structures in video games that respond to player choice. It's a genre with seemingly limitless potential, but also a lot of room for technical snafus, which seem to have plagued many early ARGs to the point of rendering them far less immersive than intended.
Szulborski provides an in-depth explanation and analysis of the most notable ARGs that took place prior to his book's publication. He seems to work well with what he's got, which isn't much. ARGs were (and probably still are) in their infancy in 2005, so there isn't a very wide range of examples for Szulborski to critique. He also spends a lot of time talking about his own games, which is understandable but also a bit tiresome. Szulborski makes an effort to point out the flaws and missteps in his games, but can't avoid coming off as self-promoting. It's not deplorable in light of his important role in the ARG community, but obviates any pretense to critical objectivity.
This Is Not A Game is especially strong in its explanations of the technical challenges and necessities for pulling off a successful ARG. Szulborski has acted as Puppetmaster for a few different games and demonstrates a good understanding of his craft. The book's theoretical framework, however, is less solid. Szulborski's musings on the murky question of how we should define a "game" are complex but ultimately disappointing. Given the concept's protean nature, it seems adequate to say that a "game" is pretty much anything a group of willing participants decide to call a game. More precise definitions invariably break down when held up to the vast range of activities designated as "games" around the world and throughout history. I suspect any search for a hard and fast definition will become even more futile as the barrier between storytelling and gaming becomes more permeable. Practically, it doesn't matter whether ARGs are "games" or not––just that people enjoy them and want to participate in their creation/unfolding.
Szulborski seems to assume that ARGs will continue to grow in scale, frequency, and player interest. I agree that such trends are likely, especially as innovative models for new ARGs become tried and true. It's also possible that ARGs could just be a fad, or (more likely) a type of game whose appeal will remain limited to a small niche of die-hard gamers who enjoy tracking down abstruse details and cracking codes.
With the lion's share of ARG history almost certainly ahead of us, this book's uses will be limited. However, there's no question that Szulborski and his fellow Puppetmasters are pioneers of a sort, and anyone whose life has been touched––even just theoretically––by the ARG world owes them a certain gratitude. Though not particularly well written or intellectually compelling, This Is Not a Game effectively puts a new kid on the virtual block.
This review was originally published on my blog, words&dirt.
The idea that ARGs are "not games," which Szulborski refers to as the "TINAG philosophy," denotes the special balance between fantasy and reality that makes ARGs unique. Played out in labyrinthine connections between websites, telephone numbers, addresses, physical locations, and other mediums, ARGs create an illusion of reality to draw players into the story. ARGs also have flexible storylines that can be influenced by player behavior to varying extents, similar to divergent plot structures in video games that respond to player choice. It's a genre with seemingly limitless potential, but also a lot of room for technical snafus, which seem to have plagued many early ARGs to the point of rendering them far less immersive than intended.
Szulborski provides an in-depth explanation and analysis of the most notable ARGs that took place prior to his book's publication. He seems to work well with what he's got, which isn't much. ARGs were (and probably still are) in their infancy in 2005, so there isn't a very wide range of examples for Szulborski to critique. He also spends a lot of time talking about his own games, which is understandable but also a bit tiresome. Szulborski makes an effort to point out the flaws and missteps in his games, but can't avoid coming off as self-promoting. It's not deplorable in light of his important role in the ARG community, but obviates any pretense to critical objectivity.
This Is Not A Game is especially strong in its explanations of the technical challenges and necessities for pulling off a successful ARG. Szulborski has acted as Puppetmaster for a few different games and demonstrates a good understanding of his craft. The book's theoretical framework, however, is less solid. Szulborski's musings on the murky question of how we should define a "game" are complex but ultimately disappointing. Given the concept's protean nature, it seems adequate to say that a "game" is pretty much anything a group of willing participants decide to call a game. More precise definitions invariably break down when held up to the vast range of activities designated as "games" around the world and throughout history. I suspect any search for a hard and fast definition will become even more futile as the barrier between storytelling and gaming becomes more permeable. Practically, it doesn't matter whether ARGs are "games" or not––just that people enjoy them and want to participate in their creation/unfolding.
Szulborski seems to assume that ARGs will continue to grow in scale, frequency, and player interest. I agree that such trends are likely, especially as innovative models for new ARGs become tried and true. It's also possible that ARGs could just be a fad, or (more likely) a type of game whose appeal will remain limited to a small niche of die-hard gamers who enjoy tracking down abstruse details and cracking codes.
With the lion's share of ARG history almost certainly ahead of us, this book's uses will be limited. However, there's no question that Szulborski and his fellow Puppetmasters are pioneers of a sort, and anyone whose life has been touched––even just theoretically––by the ARG world owes them a certain gratitude. Though not particularly well written or intellectually compelling, This Is Not a Game effectively puts a new kid on the virtual block.
This review was originally published on my blog, words&dirt.
January 4, 2015
First half of the book is a lot of attempted academic analysis of what a game is and how ARGs fit in. The second half covers the history of notable ARGs which is much more fascinating. Also covers common concepts for ARGs, and a rough overview of how to build an ARG.
January 31, 2011
Dated; lots to disagree with. Still required and unique.
August 28, 2012
good guide into alternate reality games. It gives a brief history of the genre. A little bit to much info about his own games and not enough info about how to get players.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews