Delivered at the Computers in Libraries Conference (April 28, 2015) Washington, DC. Session Description Games are everywhere, and kids are playing games at home, in school, in libraries and public places. But releasing the potential of games and gaming for learning means knowing about trends in game designs, cultures, and genres, in the context of both educational games and commercial games, to better understand how they meet the pedagogical, curriculum, and individual needs of learners. D'Elia talks about alternate reality games (ARGs), interactive social games that transcend media and tell stories using multiple platforms. Players dive down the rabbit hole to interact with fictional characters, solve problems with other players, and, ultimately, unravel the mystery. Immersive ARGs have been described as “chaotic fiction,” but what if there is a method to all of this madness? This (highly) speculative talk asks: What can ARGs teach us about the future of elearning?

1. What can Alternate Reality Games teach
us about the future of e-learning?
Game Based Learning
M.J. D’Elia
University of Guelph
CIL2015
Washington, DC

2. confession
I am not a gamer
(not even board games)

3. confession
I have read a few books on games and learning
(enough to be dangerous)

4. confession
I don’t like the word “gamification"
(more like: lame-ification)

5. warning
I am not arguing for games and learning
(or against games and learning)

6. warning
I will not mention best practices
(or anything immediately applicable to your job)

7. warning
The ideas contained herein are speculative
(think about them but hold them loosely)

8. story one
How did I get here?

9. the ordinary world
Lectures, assignments, assessment, content…
(start the assembly line)

10. call to adventure
e-Learning has to be better than this
(more engagement please)

11. refusal of the call
I’m a librarian
(I’ll read about it)

12. meet the mentors

13. crossing the threshold
Alright I’ll commit
(which conference will take me?)

14. narrative pattern
The Hero’s Journey
(yes, I just described myself as a hero)

15. story two
Alternate Reality Games, huh?

16. what is an arg?
Immersive game, networked narrative, chaotic fiction…
(so, no agreed upon definition)

17. 2001
iPod, Survivor, Destiny’s Child, Harry Potter,Wikipedia
(isn’t time travel fun?)

18. the beast
Viral marketing campaign for A.I.
(stay with me here…)

19. Jeanine Salla
“Sentient machine
therapist”
“Evan Chan was murdered”
“Jeanine is the key.”
Who murdered Evan Chan?
Who is Jeanine?

20. Found: Jeanine’s website
and more clues
Formed: Cloudmakers
discussion forum
Featured: emails, phone calls,
websites, from the characters

21. Over 7,400 registered
Cloudmakers
Estimated that 1 million
people played the game
Solved in three
months

22. wait a second!
What is this all about?
(and other questions)

23. Who created The Beast?
Why?
A new kind of
immersive experience
Built specifically for the
internet

24. Fragmented narrative that
players had to put together
Solving the mystery required
collective intelligence
Game designers
remained unknown
Information presented
in a variety of formats

25. “If we put a clue in a Turkish newspaper at dawn,
it would be under discussion in a high school
kid’s basement in Iowa by dinner time.”
~Sean Stewart
A writer for “The Beast”

26. why “the beast”?
An early content inventory listed 666 items
(see Revelation 13:18)

27. 4 terms
You need to know

28. rabbit hole
The initial clue or artifact that players stumble upon
(and then the game begins)

29. puppet master
The people who design and run the ARG
(they stay hidden)

30. the curtain
Players do not interact with the puppet masters directly
(they interact with the fictional characters)

31. This is not a game
Refusal to admit that there is a game at all
(see why ARGs are hard to define?)

32. wait a second!
This was a marketing campaign for a blockbuster movie
(Shouldn’t we be suspicious?)

33. Yes, we should
The Beast launched more ARG marketing campaigns
(e.g. ‘The Art of the Heist’ sponsored by Audi)

34. no, we shouldn’t
ARGs did not convert players to customers
(so marketing departments moved on)

35. FaTAL FLAW
opportunity
=

36. 8 observations
Compare & Contrast

37. non-linear
Content is fragmented and strewn about
(players stitch it together)
Linear
Content is paced and builds progressively
(selected and built by instructor)

38. stories
Narrative is essential for engagement
(context and clues are situated in characters)
facts
Disciplinary knowledge is essential
(theory is situated in the textbooks)

39. no boundaries
Lines between real life and ARG are blurred
(players self-organize and use diverse tools)
contained
Interaction happens within a defined system
(learners are organized and use provided tools)

40. collective effort
Players are assessed and tested as a group
(progress requires working together)
individual effort
Learners are assessed and tested individually
(working together is discouraged)

41. one big goal
Players have one major objective
(i.e. solve the mystery)
many little goals
Learners have many small assignments
(i.e. get enough points)

42. push
Information gets pushed to players at any time
(game interrupts real life)
pull
Learners are pulled into the system
(learners choose when to engage)

43. dynamic
Puppet masters adjust the game in real time
(based on players’ progress)
static
Instructors pre-determine the learning
(based on curriculum requirements)

44. real world
Fictional elements are incorporated into the real world
(progress is messy)
laboratory
Learning experiences are planned
(progress is controlled)

45. wait a second!
This is all well and good, but we need an example…
(Glad you asked)

47. “Where is Walden Shyre... and what happened to him
on the eve of the Nobel Prize Ceremony?”
~History of Biology
Spongelab

48. the hero’s journey

49. the learner’s journey

50. The ordinary world
Call to adventure
Refusal of the call
Meet with the mentor
Crossing the threshold
Tests, allies and enemies

51. Approach
The ordeal
The reward
The road back
The resurrection
Return with the elixir

52. thank you!
M.J. D’Elia
mdelia@uoguelph.ca
@mjdelia

53. References
Alternate reality game. (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 24, 2015 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game
Gosney,J.W. (2005). Beyond reality: A guide to alternate reality gaming. Boston: Thomson
Course Technology.
McGonigal,J. (2011). Reality is broken. New York: Penguin.
Penenberg,A. L. (2013). Play at work. New York: Portfolio.
Szulborski, D. (2005). This is not a game: A guide to Alternate Reality Games. New Fiction
Publishing.
Szulborski, D. (2005). Through the rabbit hole: A beginner’s guide to playing Alternate Reality
Games. New fiction Publishing.