Alternate Reality Game (ARG)…an interactive story-based game, delivered through multiple “real world” modes (i.e., text, phone, Internet, print, and others) within which players must participate interactively and work collectively to solve “real world” problems the story presents.

In our most recent High-Impact Learning Organization research, to be published shortly, we asked organizations to rate themselves from poor to excellent on their e-learning capabilities. Not surprisingly, the entry point for e-learning – the creation of simple, self-paced e-learning – isn’t viewed as something too difficult to do.

On the other hand, expertise in things like serious games is viewed by most organizations as very difficult to do. Over 81 percent of organizations rated themselves as either “poor” or “below average” and just 6 percent rated themselves as “excellent.” 81 percent. Wow. Why, do you think?

I imagine when I dig a little deeper I’ll hear things like “we don’t have the capacity,” “what’s a serious game?”, “we don’t have anyone on staff with specialized gaming skills,” “they’re too hard to create” and “the cost is too high.” I probably won’t hear someone say “they scare the bejesus out of me.”

I don’t know about you but just a few years ago if you said “serious games” to me I’d think about simulations in a 3D virtual world. Maybe even head gear. That would be cool. Head gear. Scary but cool.

Games. Fun for kids. Scary at work. What happened?

Let’s reminisce about games…

Remember playing games as children where you undermined the rules at the start of the game or even during the game (hey, you’re cheating!). It was fun – you could make the game entirely different just by changing a few of the rules.

Today, as technology has become ubiquitous in our lives, games have become more complex (even Lego games) . For instance, “Geek Dad” Daniel Donahoo recently wrote about an alternate reality game (ARG) his 7 and 9 year old boys played to learn how languages are structured .

The game started with a letter in the mail (a Chinese character with a URL) that would lead the boys to a “rabbit hole ” that then immersed them in a game  (FYI…the entrance point for an ARG is called a “rabbit hole.” It is usually an online site. “Down the rabbit hole” is a metaphor for adventure to the unknown, from its use in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You knew that but I thought I’d tell you anyway.)

Donahoo noted that through Skype sessions with “virtual agents” and missions, the kids felt they were part of the story; it felt real. That is the essence of an ARG.

Of course ARGs are not just for kids. Today we see them used extensively in marketing campaigns (Catch the Mini and Why So Serious ), events (the Olympics ) and now we see it in workplace learning.

ARG stands for alternate reality game (not to be confused with augmented reality). ARGs have been around for ten years. Back then (and today still) they were used to promote movies, video games and music. Dr. Jane McGonigal, a world-renowned ARG guru, defined ARGs in 2008 as

“an interactive drama played out online and in real-world spaces, taking place over several weeks or months, in which dozens, hundreds, thousands of players come together online, form collaborative social networks, and work together to solve a mystery or problem that would be absolutely impossible to solve alone .”

That is a great definition, especially for the type of ARGs Dr. McGonigal designs –games that focus on improving the quality of life and the greater good – but it may be a bit onerous for a group of 20 sales executives at an organization.

A simpler definition  for workplace learning might be something like…

“…an interactive story-based game, delivered through multiple “real world” modes (i.e., text, phone, Internet, print, and others) within which players must participate interactively and work collectively to solve “real world” problems the story presents.”

Based on my reading, talking to organizations and the research work of others, I see the following as elements of an ARG.

These games aren’t scary. While they can involve  3D virtual worlds, they can also be as simple as combining a page on your intranet and Skype (or any other communication tool for that matter) and a document.

Now designing ARGs can be challenging and requires special skills but it DOES NOT mean you need extensive technology skills. Web page + Phone +Piece of Paper + Sound Game Design + Whatever = Serious Game. It’s do-able.

This post is a tad long so we’ll call it part 1. In part 2, I’ll give you some examples of ARGs for workplace learning and share with you my thoughts on why they might be a great fit for L&D.

References

Bersin & Associates, The High-Impact Learning Organization 2012 (in press and you’re gonna love it!)

Büscher, M., Ellis, R., Ferrario, M., Kortuem, G., Whittle, J., Schorch, M. & Zimmerman, A. (2011). Collective Intelligence and CSCW in Crisis Situations. Retrieved December 21, 2011 from http://www.ecscw2011.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/ws5.pdf

Kim, J., Lee, E., Thomas, T. & Dombrowski, C. (2009) Storytelling in new media: The case of alternate reality games, 2001-2009. First Monday, Volume 14, Number 6, June 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2011 from http://frodo.lib.uic.edu/ojsjournals/index.php/fm/article/view/2484/2199

Szulborski, D. (2005) This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming (2^nd Digital Edition) (2005) Lulu.com. Retrieved December 21, 2011 from http://books.google.com/books?id=M7VwtUa2TYAC&lpg=PP10&ots=QfFCDisjY2&dq=alternate%20reality%20games&lr&pg=PP10#v=onepage&q=alternate%20reality%20games&f=false .

EDUCAUSE: 7 Things You Should Know About Alternate Reality Games (2009) http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7045.pdf

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