Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), Learning and Web 2.0
If you are not familiar with the concept of ARG, here is a great explanation given by Brooke at GiantMice.com. This other article by Wired reviews an excellent ARG implementation by 42 Entertainment for A Nine Inch Nail album campaign.
There is great potential for the use of such games for engaging learning experiences using Web 2.0 resources. The possibilities for clue planting and player interaction in the Web 2.0 era are innumerable through quick-to-edit websites (wikis, blogs, white label social networks, etc.), easy-access multimedia file sharing communities (Youtube, Flikr, etc.) and interactive objects resources like those seen in MUVEs and tweakable file types like object-embedding video functionality offered by services like Innovid and Videoclix.
Interaction and collective intelligence achieved through collaboration is what ARGs are all about. Everyone, multiple types of intelligences and skills working toward one goal.
The concept of an ARG has so much potential for learning and it recently became even easier (if the educators have storytelling and clue planting skills) to create those experiences by using free Web 2.0 resources.
More on ARGs:
http://www.artpractice.blogspot.com/2004/11/alternate-reality-game-wraps.html
www.argn.com (network around ARGs – good for some inspiring ideas for creating ARG)
http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/15-06/st_arg2 (interview with Jane McGonigal)
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/alternate_reality_games_viral_marketing.php (good article that scopes what ARGs should and shouldn’t have)
http://www.igda.org/arg/whitepaper.html (white paper by the ARG SIG)
http://www.helpmesolveamystery.com/ (ARG using Ning)
more articles about ARGS:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0326/p01s01-usgn.html
http://www.igda.org/wiki/Alternate_Reality_Games_SIG/Educators_and_ARGs
http://andywibbels.com/post/1563
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/04/how-alternate-realit.html
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/category/alternate_reality_games/
