ARG!

Fear not, the title isn't just an expression of frustration. Actually, it's a interesting way to relieve frustration and angst, and all you need to do is have some free time and an internet connection. ARG stands for Alternate Reality Game, a subject about which I've been intending to write for a couple months. I've waited until now, though, because I wanted to get something fresh to show y'all.

There's not really a better way to describe an Alternate Reality Game. If you take a dash of role playing, a pinch of mystery, a whole bunch of interactivity, a wholesome amount of acting, and pretty much every kind of multimedia you can get your hands on, mix 'em up and spread the concoction across the internet, you'll have yourself an ARG. Most games revolve around a core mystery -- someone's dead, someone's missing, something strange is happening, or something just plain doesn't make sense -- and the audience is left to discover the truth.

How? Multimedia -- once you find yourself tumbling like Alice down the proverbial Rabbithole (ARG terminology for an entry point into the game), you get to play detective. You look for clues in the text of Web sites, in posted videos, in phone messages (phone numbers, fax numbers and email addresses found on the sites are real; you actually get responses), and -- tricky bit here -- in the source code of the Web sites. These guys use every tidbit of tech they can to lead you to the truth, which, as of late, tends to be a new movie or game.

ARGs started back in the late 90s (as if that was a long time) when the San Francisco Chronicle supposedly ran a crude version of an ARG called Dreadnot in 1996. I say supposedly because, though it's mentioned in multiple sources as the first ARG, I haven't been able to find too much on the actual game. But it doesn't much matter as The Beast blew the doors off the genre in 2001 as a marketing ploy for the movie A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. Since then, ARGs have been used pretty heavily in marketing, including campaigns for the Halo series (I love bees) and, more recently, Cloverfield. These are both over, of course, but they've managed to wrangle a whole bunch of people who are willing to suspend their disbelief and play along.

The reason I decided to post this now: I think I've found a game currently running. I have no idea what the game is, but it seems pretty high budget, so I'd say it's probably a marketing gimmick. Which is cool; there's no shame in enjoying a decent mystery. So check out this Youtube site, watch some of the videos, question everything, suspect everyone, leave nothing unchecked, read anything you find, search out anything odd. I've already found a blog involving a retired missing persons detective.

Oh, yeah, and anytime you get a blank page, hit Crtl-A, or Cmd-A -- it selects everything on the page, so you can see any hidden text ... took me two weeks to figure that out ... happy hunting.
This is the sort of hidden text that Ctrl-A gets you.