Alternative Reality Game (ARG)

BASICS INTRO
Having a longer-term strategy and execution plan on how to continuously scale and grow the initiative is key.
- After creating an avatar, users are invited into a virtual world where they can have fun and explore
- There will be rewards and a leaderboard too
- There will eventually be product giveaways and downloadable, digital gifts.
- Gamification initiatives should be designed and launched 
incrementally and iteratively.
- There will be continuous improvements - like new rewards, skills, levels and powerups.

https://elearningindustry.com/arg-development-10-tips-to-create-an-effective-arg-story
‘Alternate Reality Games: Gamification for Performance’
**1. Start With A Plot, Setting, And Subject**
- Start with the beginning (introduce the goal), 
- middle (overcome challenges), 
- and end (realize an altered/improved state). 
- Later you can build simple and complex interactions (game mechanics) 
- as well as twists around the basic story elements.
- And remember that an Alternate Reality Game is a live event (digital and/or physical), 
- the direction of which might change based on how players interact with the story and the game.
- leave room in the story for adaptation and plan for adjustments that the puppet master may need to make throughout the game.
- Your story plot, setting, and subject can be fictional or realistic and connected or disconnected to your performance improvement goal.

**Puppet-master vs game master
Puppet-masters manage the ARG.  Most often they are a member of the design team, but it is not always the case.
- During the ARG experience, the puppet-master often makes dynamic changes to the game's progress based on player interactions
- They secretly work behind the scenes while the game-masters are interacting with the players.

STORY PERSPECTIVES
** Plot, setting, subject, gameplay
Consider the variety of plot, setting, subject, and gameplay options for an ARG story with the combination of
- Realistic|Connected, Realistic|Disconnected, Fictional|Connected, or Fictional|Disconnected points-of-view.

**Fictional	The story and/or the player’s role is fictional. 
Fiction can aide immersion and increase the fun factor. Fiction can also support game balance.

**Connected	A connected perspective is one in which the challenges, actions, and decisions are explicitly 
(stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt.) connected to the performance goals for the player

****Disconnected	A disconnected perspective is one in which the challenges, actions, and decisions are implicitly 
(suggested though not directly expressed) connected to the performance goals for the player**