A brief introduction / overview of transmedia usage in Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and Storytelling. Educationally-focused. Given as a presentation for the ARG Academy [https://p2pu.org/en/groups/arg-academy/] Monday May 14, 2012.

1. Quick Overview: Transmedia
Multi-
platform
usage in
ARGs &
Storytelling
Catherine H Flippen
@CatFlippen
about.me/CatFlippen

2. What is transmedia?
• Multi-platform, multi-format
• Engaging content, permeates daily life
• Incorporates current technologies WITH
traditional outlets (online vs. real world)
• Positions audience as “players”
– collaborators, not just consumers (Web 2.0)
– Players have “roles and goals”
• Dispersed elements of the story
• Borderless, multiple entry points

3. Transmedia looks like…
Digital / Virtual Authentic / Real Life
• Audio • Print material
– Radio − Podcast – Flyers − Newpapers
• Video – Posters − Narrative
– YouTube − Viral video • Cold drops
• Social Media – Items left in specific locations to
– Twitter − Blogs − Facebook be found by players
– Email − Even Craigslist! • NPCs & Actors
• Mobile – Can share with digital
– Texting − Voicemail − Apps – People who play
characters, participate directly
• Virtual worlds with players
• Location-based Services • Hidden objects
– Foursquare − Geotagging – I.E. Item baked into a cake or
• Websites note folded in a ballpoint pen
– Consumables (info, narrative) • Live events
– Contributables (forums, chats) – Gatherings, meet-ups,

4. What transmedia is NOT
• Use of technology for technology’s sake
• Random incorporation of things not
linked to story whatsoever
• Viral video
– Some transmedia can be viral video,
but not all viral video is transmedia

5. Why transmedia?
• Engagement
– relevant
– compelling
• Crowd aggregator
– fanbase / fandom
– new participants
• Collective intelligence
– knowledge circulation
– hunters and gatherers

6. Potential problems
• Complex organization of many materials
– Could result in mismatched information or
lack of cohesiveness
– Need either single-leadership or tight group
like-minded of creators
• Believable-ness
– Real vs. unreal / ethical concerns
• Wired article: http://bit.ly/dJE0dQ
• TINAG [ This Is Not A Game ]
– Which is worse: Being too real or
not real enough?

7. Examples: Lost & Heroes
• Featured:
– a novel “written” by a character (Lost)
and an online comic book (Heroes)
– websites for fictional entities in the
show (Heroes/Lost)
– series of mobisodes (Lost) and
webisodes (Heroes)
– interaction (hunter/gatherer) via online
community (Heroes/Lost)

8. Example: Why So Serious?
• Go here: http://www.whysoserious.com/
• ARG based on the Joker
• Drew 10+ million participants
• Via webpages, mobile, interactive
games, print, e-mail, events and video.
• Even included cakes with baked-in
phone that players picked up from
bakeries!

9. Example: Nokia’s “Conspiracy for Good”
• London-based, summer of 2010
• Players downloaded mobile game to join
a mission to work with the group
“Conspiracy for Good”
– Fictional company based on realistic ideas
• Mobile game led to websites, more info
• Also included in a span of a few months:
– Four live events with actors as game characters
– Participants used Nokia phones’ augmented
reality capabilities to help them play
• Over 4,000 players join

10. Resources
• Henry Jenkins: • Gary Hayes:
– USC Professor, – Exec Producer for
former MIT prof ABC Multiplatform TV
– Notable academic – AR and ARG info
in the field – Immersive, networked
– “Convergence worlds (including
Culture” MUVES)
– convergenceculture.org – personalizemedia.com
– henryjenkins.org

11. Resources
Paper.li on Transmedia Your Life is a
• by Samwell Creative Transmedia Experience
• http://bit.ly/bne8iW • http://slidesha.re/g1GTA3
Robert Pratton
• CEO at Transmedia Storytelling, Ltd.
• tstoryteller.com
• Slideshares:
– Getting Started: http://slidesha.re/gxmYCJ
– Platform Selection: http://slidesha.re/cVl8yg

12. The Black Helix
• Crowdsourced ARG
• Goal: First crowdsourced ARG
fiction novel to be published
www.theblackhelix.com/

13. 404 907 3753