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Picture The Impossible: Newspaper and RIT Collaborate on ARG to Mobilize Young Professionals

Posted by Hsing Wei on 09-17-09

Across the country, newspapers are worried about falling readership.  In an experiment on how to re-engage younger audiences and simultaneously support local issues, the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Lab for Social Computing and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle have teamed up.  Leveraging play as a motivator, the partnership created Picture The Impossible, a community-based, alternate reality game that began this week (and will run for seven weeks through October).  “We are looking to see if these tools of engagement will work as a channel to meet our fundamental First Amendment obligations for audiences we currently don’t reach frequently,” says Traci Bauer, managing editor content and digital platforms at the Democrat and Chronicle.  “If this works as a way to engage an audience, then it becomes more than a game, it becomes a new set of tools that we can use for daily journalism, and, most important, for First Amendment work.  In the community-based games, we’re showing that there’s an achievement based on people showing up at the same place and solving a problem together, [that] the community is going to be willing to come together if they see an achievement at the other end.  This time the achievement is a lot of points, but the next time it might be to do something as a community to improve the dropout rate.”


Picture The Impossible is a mix of weekly interactive challenges that appear in the newspaper’s print and online platforms.  Each week’s challenge will focus on a different theme related to the history and culture of Rochester – including imaging, social equality, food, music, arts and crafts and “Rochester firsts.”  Its narrative storyline developed around key innovations in Rochester’s history and involves a fictional “secret society” known as The Gears, which has included most major Rochester historical figures (George Eastman, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass).  Players join one of three factions competing to control the community.  Each faction will be associated with one of three local not-for-profits, Foodlink, Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong and Wilson Commencement Park.  Points are earned by individual accomplishment and by collaborating with teammates to help that faction’s charity receive a larger donation at the end of each week.  More than 1,000 Rochesterians had registered for the game by the official launch this past Saturday. 


The game’s developers hope to test whether the project can successfully cross platforms — print, online, mobile, and community.  “Using extensive research and, more importantly, listening to young professionals, we’re delivering what they’ve asked for most: Opportunities to network and to make a positive difference in our community,” according to Jim Fogler, VP Marketing for the Democrat and Chronicle. Drawing heavily on technology provided by Microsoft’s Bing, participants will use online, interactive and personal skills to search the community for answers to the weekly puzzlers.  “We love it! It’s great to have a chance to show what Bing Maps can do in the context of a game, especially one that gets the local community and its newspaper in the mix,” says Betsy Aoki, program manager for Bing at Microsoft Corp. 


Read an interview about the project’s development, including initial research at the Games for Change conference and advice from alternate reality game pioneers like Elan Lee here.  You can also register to play remotely.

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