Tomorrow Sage

After several years of trying, I’ve finally made it to ARGFest¹ which officially starts tomorrow morning here at the W Hotel in midtown Atlanta. To say I’m psyched would actually be a fairly accurate statement.

For the 30-second background, I tried to attend ARGFest two years ago, but had to drop out due to a small health-related conflict.² Then last year when ARGFest was held in Portland, I unfortunately needed (for work) to attend a different conference in Portland two weeks after ARGFest. Alas traveling to Portland twice in one month was not a possibility. Then this year, one of our key employees at Creatonomy is getting married on July 17 (and yes, that’s this Saturday, right in the middle of ARGFest 2010). The good news is that I’m here in Atlanta for the “professional” portion of the conference on Thursday and Friday, but the bad news is I’m catching a red-eye back home early Saturday to attend the wedding (and thus will miss the Game Festival on the weekend).

As someone who has played around trying to create things³ on the edges of Alternate Reality Gaming and transmedia, I’m looking forward to hearing and learning from the professionals — the practitioners who’ve been crafting these amazing immersive experiences since the very beginning.

Even though TomorrowSage.com is currently on hiatus,⁴ I’ll try to post and share some of what I learn over the next two days. Stay tuned!

1. ARGFest is the annual conference for Alternate Reality Game creators and players. [↩]
2. I ended up having major surgery scheduled — and done — the week before that year’s conference. [↩]
3. As well as just plain played [↩]
4. While I explore what direction it might take in its post-blog existence [↩]

Last evening (April 2, 2010), the ARG¹ for the upcoming film Tron Legacy conducted an in-game “Encom press conference” in San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza. This particular ARG has been going for about a year² and — watching from the sidelines — I continue to be impressed with the game designers’ creativity and efforts to expand traditional ARG limits.³

Yesterday’s Encom press conference event involved actors from the film playing out complex scenes in character, while allowing the fans in attendance to literally become part of the story — several hundred of the fans playing the ARG were “coached” to conduct a protest at the press conference. Live events typically have been among the most effective ways for ARGs to fully immerse players in a game, and in this case Bruce Boxleitner’s in-character involvement further heightened the “reality” of the Encom press conference.⁴ And the press conference event and other elements of the Tron Legacy ARG continue to provide more layers to the upcoming film’s story.⁵

Kudos to the folks behind this particular experience. It will be fun to see what the next six months of the Tron Legacy ARG have in store for players and fans.

1. Alternate Reality Game [↩]
2. Tron Legacy doesn’t open until December 2010, meaning this ARG is designed to promote the film and build excitement for 18 months or more before the film’s actual release. [↩]
3. Based on all available evidence, the Tron Legacy ARG is from 42 Entertainment. [↩]
4. It’s unfortunate — based on what little we know of the film’s plot — that Jeff Bridges’ character from Tron Legacy can’t make an appearance before the film’s release, given Bridges recent Oscar win for Best Actor. [↩]
5. While it’s unlikely that this Encom press conference will in any way end up as part of the actual film, it would be nice to see the event video, as well other elements of this ARG, included as extras on the Tron Legacy DVD when it eventually is released. [↩]

During a recent discussion of upcoming client projects, Creatonomy’s president¹ asked me about my recent increased use of the term “transmedia.” Specifically, she wanted to know what the difference is between transmedia communication and traditional integrated marketing as employed by Creatonomy and countless other agencies and marketing departments.

That seemingly simple question started an ongoing discussion, generously peppered with deep thinking. We haven’t yet reached any definitive conclusions, but already have uncovered some interesting relationships. (more…)

1. Creatonomy is the marketing agency where I’ve worked for the last four years. President and owner Priya Barnes founded the company in 2000. [↩]

This weekend, I was able to spend some personal time crafting a small but satisfying digital story.¹ This project was a one-time endeavor that doesn’t readily fit any of the usual definitions. It’s not really an ARG,² although it does contain some ARG elements. Technically it qualifies as a transmedia story since it connects with the audience via a website, social media and the telephone, but its scope is more akin to a haiku than a full story. And it contains elements of parody, although those elements are limited to a portion of one web page.

In my mind, what I created is an act of guerilla transmedia storytelling. Sort of a single freestanding act of street theater, but performed in a transmedia realm.

Like many people, I’ve played around the creative edges of nontraditional communication since I was a kid. (more…)

1. If you’re interested in taking a look, here’s an entry point. [↩]
2. Alternate Reality Game [↩]