An alternate
reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked story that employs the real
world as a platform and uses transmedia storytelling to bring a story that may
be changed by participants' ideas or actions.
The form is
described by powerful player participation with a story that takes place in
real-time and builds up according to participants' replies. Later, it is shaped
by characters that are keenly controlled by the game's designers, in place of
being controlled by artificial intelligence as in a computer or console video
game. Players interrelate frankly with characters in the game, crack plot-based
challenges and puzzles, and collaborate as a community to examine the story and
manage real-life and online activities. ARGs usually use multimedia, such as
telephones, email and mail but rely on the Internet as the central binding
medium.
ARGs are rising
in fame, with new games emerging frequently and a growing amount of
experimentation with new models and subgenres. They tend to be free to play,
with costs absorbed either through supporting products or through promotional
relationships with accessible products. However, pay-to-play models are not unique.
