Modern Narrative Games

So, I decided to play The Black Watchmen on Steam. The game glitched out after about an hour, and now Steam keeps telling me that I don't own the game. I will get the issue resolved and keep playing, because I would like to get more into the game, and I will revise this post, if I have anything further to add.

With that being said, I have some thoughts on ARGs in general, and can relate to the early experience of The Black Watchmen accordingly.

I think that the concept of ARGs is appealing to me, because they often involve finding things that are hidden in websites or locations in the real world. In fact, I think that this part of the appeal of ARGs, and what differentiates them from MMORPGs. The opening missions of the game involve going to a variety of websites to break codes involving hexadecimal, and walk the player through the ideas that clues will be hidden in plain sight, either in coded messages or hidden in images that are provided as part of the mission.

MMORPGs and other virtual worlds are persistent, in that the action of the world continues, even if you are not in the world. On the other hand, ARGs are not only persistent, but they are "insistent." They actually insert themselves into your world when you are not playing. Through emails, text messages, etc., the game moves you along. This increases the immersiveness of the game, since it becomes part of your real life.

Also, another aspect of the games that I find appealing, and that many others find appealing as well, is that there is almost always a code breaking/puzzle aspect to the game. There are rabbit holes to go down, if you know where to look.

Many of these games exist with tie-ins to popular TV shows, movies, or other games. The HBO series Westworld has a massive online presence, which is full of puzzles and Easter eggs, if you know where to look. The series Mr. Robot has a tie-in game that plays on a smart phone, and follows the style of the series. The game takes place primarily via text messaging within the app, and you are asked to choose from a series of dialogue choices in each message.

These games rely on a different set of skills than many typical games. Their is a hacker/conspiracy mentality to most of these games, and they tend to have a thriving online communities, where hints are shared freely, but spoilers are protected ferociously.

I will report back when I get the game up and running again.