1. Start With A Plot, Setting, And Subject
The plot can be very basic, to begin with. Start with the beginning (introduce the goal), middle (overcome challenges), and end (realize an altered/improved state). Later you can build simple and complex interactions (game mechanics) as well as twists around the basic story elements.
And remember that an Alternate Reality Game is a live event (digital and/or physical), the direction of which might change based on how players interact with the story and the game. So, leave room in the story for adaptation and plan for adjustments that the puppet master may need to make throughout the game. Your story plot, setting, and subject can be fictional or realistic and connected or disconnected to your performance improvement goal.
puppet-master: Puppet-masters manage the ARG. Most often they are a member of the design team, but it is not always the case. During the ARG experience, the puppet-master often makes dynamic changes to the game's progress based on player interactions. They secretly work behind the scenes while the game-masters are interacting with the players.
If you’re creating an ARG to improve the efficiency of meetings in your financial services organization, you may not want to create a story that is based around improving the efficiency of meetings in a financial services organization. You may want to consider a fictional, disconnected story focused on creating more efficient meetings for the League of Justice (go figure, Superman is never on time for meetings).
Or you might consider a realistic, disconnected story focused on creating more efficient meetings for the local parent-teacher organization.
Consider the variety of plot, setting, subject, and gameplay options for an ARG story with the combination of Realistic|Connected, Realistic|Disconnected, Fictional|Connected, or Fictional|Disconnected points-of-view. Pick one from column A and one from column B in table below to begin crafting your story:
Column A Column B
Realistic The story and/or the player’s role is realistic. Realism helps to connect the game to work / life, puts the player in a role they will play in the real-world and creates a recognizable context for learning Connected A connected perspective is one in which the challenges, actions, and decisions are explicitly connected to the performance goals for the player
Fictional The story and/or the player’s role is fictional. Fiction can aide immersion and increase the fun factor. Fiction can also support game balance. Disconnected A disconnected perspective is one in which the challenges, actions, and decisions are implicitly connected to the performance goals for the player
Story Perspectives
There is a number of story creator sites and apps that can help you generate ideas for your story if there aren’t any apparent storylines for you to follow.[1] Brainstormer is one story creator that we’ve used. While the tool normally doesn’t spit out the story plot, setting, and subject for your story it does help to get the creative story crafting juices flowing. Some examples of Brainstormer generated plot, setting, and subject combinations are:
Letting Go | Attic | B-Movie
Fish Out of Water | Chef | Eskimo
Odd Couple | Inventor’s Lab | Stuffy British
Remorse | Ninja | Steampunk
2. Create Characters
Read my article How To Create Effective ARG Characters For Game-Based Training to explore ARG character creation.
3. Consider The Physical Space
ARGs take place in the real world, and the best ARGs take advantage of the physical space in which the game is being played. In addition to digital activities like tweeting, web-based games, and digital codes, players may have to visit specific physical locations for gameplay, communication, or collaboration. The physical space can also play a role in the story. In the Find the Future ARG, the New York Public Library space was the story. In the Robots are Eating the Building ARG, the story of the potential “destruction” of the space where the conference participants were attending sessions, eating lunch, and networking introduced tension, motivation, and humor to the story. Consider how the space in which participants are playing can be used to support and enhance the story and gameplay.
