In a previous article, I discussed Chaotic Fiction as a concept and as a context for a better understanding of Alternate Reality Gaming. This was intended more as an overview and did not address in detail the gaming dynamic, the process, or the chaotic play of Alternate Reality Gaming. How does it work? What engages an audience? Which elements are necessary to facilitate the growth of the audience, and which elements can be discarded? Why does there have to be a "curtain?"

Many discussions focus on only one of two aspects of the experience as being the primary drivers within the medium: (1) Dividing the audience into discrete groups and (2) defining types of "real-world" game interaction mechanisms. Because the process of Chaotic Play is so different from that of more traditional gaming and entertainment pursuits, I believe that the metaconversational space shared during the creation of a chaotic enterprise should be the focus of the perspective from which we describe the system.

Alternate Reality Gaming is about telling and producing a story while the audience interacts with it. In some cases, this means that audience members may converse with fictional characters. In other cases, it means that ideas produced by player brainstorming sessions might be incorporated into the plot. Direct interaction is not required to affect the narrative and this is why the metacommunication between the Audience and the Architects is so important. The real magic happens when the audience reaches a critical mass of participation, and the sort of organized chaos that ensues is anybody's business. The play really is the thing, as the experience is what matters most to the participants. In our context, the term "metacommunication" refers to an ambiguous conglomeration of discussion about the experience, as well as the conversation within the system framework that creates - and is - the experience.

Another important aspect to consider about ARG is that its rise as a genre has been due entirely to the community that has grown with it. This community, comprised of developers as well as audience members, has described, defined, and refined the collective knowledge base surrounding this still novel art form. Because the players far outnumber the puppetmasters in this collaborative population, their collective voice is louder. This is an interesting phenomenon in itself that I believe correlates directly with how the process of Chaotic Play works.

This discussion is also intended to be an overview of a "best-case" chaotic system that facilitates its own function as much as possible, in this case the function being the production of narrative within the definition of Alternate Reality Gaming. There is a delicate balance between the influence of the Players and the control of the Puppetmasters within the gamespace created, which must be maintained during an ARG. When the system is working well, this balancing act is extremely difficult due to constant flux of the system itself. This is why I consider Alternate Reality Gaming an art form because (in general) the Puppetmasters are the only group that can exercise any sort of control over the system as a whole, yet they lack absolute control. These artists require more than a bit of finesse to be successful, and the problem of keeping a productive balance between Audience and Architect should be considered and integrated into any campaign design.

One other concept I want to introduce is that both the Players and the Puppetmasters in Alternate Reality Gaming are actually Gaming, though in different ways. This can extend to other types of Chaotic Fiction, but is exemplified by ARGs. This may or may not satisfy those occasional queries I get about why I had to use the term "game" when first approaching the problem of creating a descriptive term that conveyed a new idea no one entirely understood. Note that for the purposes of this discussion, I will use terms interchangeably if they apply to both Chaotic Fiction and Alternate Reality Gaming.

I approach my description of this system of communication between the Architects and the Audience by concentrating on the primary purpose of the system, which is to create a work-experience of fiction. This is the system's purpose, not to be confused with the motivations of the Puppetmasters or the Players, but ideally it is at least complementary to their desires. I describe three "spheres" of influence on the system: The Potential (World) Sphere, the Audience/Player Sphere, and the Architect/ Puppetmaster Sphere. I also attach a concept to the core of the system itself, the Curtain.

First, I want to thank whoever was behind the "shout-out" to Unfiction in the "How to Play" section of the official site. Second, I want to point out something about the design of this contest that I think is really clever: the way they've added bonus tiers to the prize scheme. Basically, it is a puzzle contest game, where "leads" are releases each week for which you receive points for solving. Once you have enough points, you're entered automatically in the grand prize drawing.

Now here's the clever part: the designers have clearly recognized that they cannot forestall someone coming along in the last week, finding all of the puzzle solutions, then entering the drawing and winning. Sometimes this is referred to as "sniping" by those who were dedicated in following the entire contest from the beginning. But you can't really stop this because what about people who didn't even hear about the contest until the end? You can't really leave them out, can you?

Instead of trying to persuade (won't work) people not to do this, or to control the public posting of solutions (impossible), these designers instead have embraced the chaos. They actively encourage their players to collaborate and work together and the tiered bonus prize structure implicity encourages players to play along from the start - if you enter a puzzle solution within seven days of the puzzle's release, you're automatically entered in a bonus prize drawing.

Not only that but they've come up with a separate challenge that allows people to demonstrate their own creativity and provide their own content, in the form of two upcoming movie-making challenges, which bring with them the opportunity for their own bonus prizes.

As I said, this is very clever, and I applaud the designers' ability to focus on encouraging the good bits rather than trying to battle futilely against the less desirable elements.

Also, we are seriously going to use any excuse we can to keep reposting this picture. I might make it my avatar, even.

One wiki has already been created and seeded for those of you following the Golden Jigsaw puzzle.

I spotted this attempt at stencil art on my way home for lunch today, spray-painted on the surface of a pedestrian bridge that crosses over the railroad line. Year Zero fans may recognize it as the logo for the Open Source Resistance, an in-game call to action.

I believe this is the first time I have spotted in meatspace content connected with an ARG that appears to have been generated and placed by a player rather than the puppetmasters.

For what it's worth, the database server is holding up quite well but the web server is losing responsiveness. Please try to keep your page refreshes to a minimum if you can.