#arg narrative

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ARG Conceptual Development/Plot Description

The idea of artificial intelligence has always fascinated me. The thought that a disembodied and man-made thing is capable of cognition, and the ethical and philosophical grey-area this creates. Inevitably this also forces us to look at our own existence as sentient beings.

Traditionally, however, AIs have been looked upon as dangerous and unstable things, ala 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, The Matrix etc... While this clearly defines the lines of good and evil, with us humans with all our gooey vulnerabilities against the cold hard logic of computers and machines, it is a cliched story told over and over again. technology is always our tool until it outgrows us and then attempts to eliminate us.

What I  would like to explore is Artificial Intelligence as a fractured, flawed thing, much more human than what we've come to expect.

Beholder ARG

The Deliverance From Evil Shall Be Found Within Itself.

The year 2021 and the world is dystopian image of its current state. In an effort to control and monitor its citizens, a secret government agency has been developing an Artificial Intelligence, known as The Beholder (an incurser-grade AI) to monitor, administer and regulate all channels of communication. This Ai is designed to be calculated, cold and cunning in it's mission to ensure the continuation of order. However, during a live testing of The Beholder's online capabilities, a power outage occurs which results in part of the AI fragmenting itself and becoming corrupted. This fragmented section breaks is able to break away from the main operating processes of The Beholder, and is lost in the sprawl of the internet.

This fragment ends up landing on a Brisbane-based web server, where it begins to attempt to restore it's corrupted segments. However this fragmented AI is far different from it's twin, its corrupted logic core resulting in the overwriting of its basic operation functions. During the AIs self-restoration, it throws out random files containing fragments of it's memory files, programming codecs and logs. Eventually these attract the intention of a group of individuals, wanting to find out more about the mysterious AI and its origin. A resistance group soon discovers the true nature of the AI, and along with the group of Players, attempts to hack the corrupted AI in an effort to gain information and prevent it from reestablishing contact with The Beholder. The stakes are raised as the government learns of the situation and attempts to recover the fragmented AI, as well as launch The Beholder. It's a race against time as the resistance and Players must find the secret to stoping The Beholder before it is unleashed to its full extent. 

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3 Things ARGs Should/Shouldn't Do.

3 Things an ARG Should Do.

Be Narrative Driven The most important element of an ARG is it's plot/storyline. This needs to be engaging, and go beyond the actions/events that the ARG Involves. 

Involve Player's Problem Solving Skills  An ARG needs to involve puzzles/clues/documents that either need to be solved or put together to move the storyline forward. They should also, where possible, allow the storyline to be altered by the player's actions in solving these puzzles to increase the sense of interactivity and 'realism' in the ARG.

Engage Player's Across Multiple Mediums  To further the sense of realism and to blur the lines between reality and fiction, a success ARG needs to use multiple mediums in its delivery of content to it's players. Some examples of possible mediums are:  

- Websites - Blogs/Twitter feeds/Online News Stories  - Viral Videos - Phone Conversations - Billboards/Posters - Real Life Interactions with Actors 

3 Things an ARG Should Avoid

Linear Plot or Lack of Interactivity As ARGs happen in the real world as well as virtual worlds, the players should have a deciding factor in how the story pans out. An ARG should be dynamic. 

No Sense of Urgency There needs to be a sense of urgency to spur the players on through the ARG, or else the ARG will feel sluggish, and quickly the player will lose interest. 

Appropriate Level of Difficulty This is perhaps the hardest factor to judge. Make a game too hard or challenging and players will lose interest after repetitively failing at a task. However, if it is too easy there is no sense of reward in accomplishing the tasks the ARG requires.