Previous entry: Discovering and Filling Gaps in Funding: The Knight News Challenge, interview with Jessica Goldfin | Home Page | Next entry: Election Games and the 2008 Election in Games
ARGs Stimulating Change: Traces of Hope and Superstruct
Posted by Hsing Wei on 10-07-08Two games recently launched Traces of Hope (British Red Cross) and Superstruct (Institute for the Future) where on-screen characters reach out into player’s real worlds. In moving people from thinking about change to doing something about change, what can Alternative Reality Games unlock?
A message arrives in your inbox from Joseph. The 16 year old, separated from his family in the Ugandan Civil War, asks for your help. Can you find his mother? The clues to reunite them can be hunted across the internet. Linked in with the British Red Cross’ Civilians and Conflict Month, it’s been about a week since the opening for Traces of Hope. Aside from engaging players in the plight of those trapped in situations of conflict, the game play highlights the Red Cross’ tracing services. Partnerships with organizations like Penguin Books and Reuters AlertNet seek to blur the boundaries between real and game worlds – what authentic action is possible. (More coverage on the game here.)
Forging a similar bridge between virtual and real, yesterday was the launch of Superstruct, a “massively multiplayer forecasting game. Their tagline is “Play the Game, Invent the Future”. Five future super-threats (disease, collapse of the food system, energy struggles, civil rights, and population displacement) could determine the survival of the human species. The game invites players to become their future 2019 self and construct possible solutions to help change the world. There are still six weeks to go for the game play (and spillovers into real lives) to unfold. In the meantime, folks might want to check out McGonigal’s case study of other ARG, I Love Bees, for a hint to the collective intelligence and collaborative action that may emerge.