Breathe With Me - a view into the alternate world of ARG

There are all sorts of games out there ranging from your traditional board game to ones that are highly advanced with technology such as the PlayStation 3, PC games, and many more. You would find all sorts of genre amidst the many games available out there. Among them would be the video game genre, MMORPG (short for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game).

But if you think I will be talking about games like World of Warcraft or Ragnarok Online, you thought wrong.

This is a genre unlike any other. One might call it a video-game set in the real world (and by that I meant the world that we live in, nothing on 3D environment, etc), while others might call it a complete alternate reality of this world.

Yes, my fellow readers, this is an Alternate-Reality Game (ARG, for short). As there are many ARGs out there, I will be focusing on an upcoming ARG called Breathe, a multimedia, multi-part film project (Terdiman, 2008).

(An Example of an ARG. Source: Violette'sDream.com)

An ARG is basically a game that features a story behind its game. Yes, it is similar like most video games you see, but really, an ARG does not need an actual platform to be played on. The players use the media that is available to them (text messaging, phone calls, etc) but what really pulls these players together is the Internet. According to Stewart (n.d.), creator of an ARG called 'The Beast', it is like a story that has been broken into pieces and it’s up to the players to piece the information back together, using whatever means they have to communicate from one another.

Most video games have ARGs as a way to promote their upcoming video games (Andersen, 2008).

Here is an example of an already complete ARG, Violette’s Dream (link), which was conducted through a blog.

As for the upcoming ARG, Breathe , it is said to be an ARG unlike any other. According to Terdiman (2008), Breathe is an ‘equal parts cinema, ARG, dance club, and social network’. Yomi Ayeni (Terdiman, 2008) said that Breathe will be a multistage, interactive murder mystery with a time line.

(The official webpage of 'Breathe'. Source: CNet News)

The players will interact with one another through their available media, but it will mostly be done online. Breathe starts its promotion like most ARGs, subtle and secretive with a mysterious air, through dance club-oriented Web sites (Terdiman, 2008). The story revolves around mysterious and unusual deaths and it is entirely up to the players to investigate the story behind these deaths by aiding the lead detective to solve this case.

But unlike most ARGs, Breathe also incorporates the real world where the players would be urged to go to the nightclubs themselves to investigate the case there and may end up mingling with various characters from the developing story (Terdiman, 2008).

Breathe will only begin its official launch by 2009. As of now, they are currently hoping to partner with nightclubs that can hold thousands of people in hopes to carry out different projects in different cities (Terdiman, 2008).

This is probably the first ARG of its kind to incorporate real-world investigations for the story. Sadly, these features are only available in the US as Malaysia is still considered very new to video games. It would be no surprise if no one in Malaysia has ever heard of such a genre. But should it happen to arrive here, I would be more than happy to be part of one.





Reference:

Stewart, S., n.d., What is an ARG?, Alternate Reality Games, viewed 13 November, 2008 http://www.seanstewart.org/interactive/args/

Terdiman, D., 2008, Inviting the audience to be part of the film, Gaming and Culture, CNet News, viewed 13 November, 2008
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10078732-52.html

Andersen, M., 2008, Velvet Assassin Sent Us Alternate Reality Gaming Gold, ARGNet, viewed 13 November, 2008
http://www.argn.com/archive/000725velvet_assassin_sent_us_alternate_reality_gaming_gold.php