Patrick Shepherd speaks about “No Budget, Low Tech, High Impact Alternate Reality Games” at the Serious Play Conference 2012
ABSTRACT:
How can you create an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) that generates enthusiasm and engagement on a very small budget, using technologies readily available to anyone? In this session, you will see an ARG called Operation Ethics Infiltration used at the 18th National Government Ethics Conference. The main purpose of the game was to encourage engaged conference behavior by rewarding conference attendees for participating in sessions, asking questions, immediately applying knowledge learned, and networking with fellow attendees.
In this case-study session you will get a transferrable model for an ARG that you can use in your organizations to create high-impact engagement and enthusiasm using readily available technologies on a tiny budget. You will walk through the game design process, game play considerations, technological options, marketing, how to manage audience limitations, and the lessons learned.
Good Morning! Introductions. Today we’ll cover: -Setting objectives -Figuring out incentives -Developing a narrative -Marketing -Parameters/Limitations -Construction/Game play -Playing vs. Administration -Lessons Learned -Questions?
Good Morning! Introductions. Today we’ll cover: -Setting objectives -Figuring out incentives -Developing a narrative -Marketing -Parameters/Limitations -Construction/Game play -Playing vs. Administration -Lessons Learned -Questions?
Explain Operation Ethics Infiltration We’ll create a game with you.
iSpy helped players: expand their professional networks; gather and apply knowledge they learned at the conference; identify ethics program model practices to take back to their agencies; practice facilitating discussions on various ethics topics; learn about alternative training methods such as ARGs; and have fun! Crowdsource for an audience and game objective.
iSpy incentives: points, clues, bragging rights. What makes an inventive worth having? You need to know your audience. Exs. Range from $$ to digital, trophies in a video game, and encompass whatever you can image that your audience will find valuable. Crowdsource incentives for chosen audience and objective.
Why do you care about how much Monopoly money you have when you play the game? Who cares how many pie pieces uncle Bill has? Why are these things important? How do you give value to a game piece or token? Narrative gives value to tokens. Narrative gives authority to puppetmaster. Think of the things you can compel people to do through a game that you couldn’t in real life. Giving value to things that are not inherently valuable is the magic of games. iSpy’s narrative created the value in the tokens/game pieces. Outside of the game, a sticker with a letter and four numbers has no value. Within the game, it’s a coveted object. (Midnight meeting story.) Crowdsource the narrative for the exercise.
Trailhead: What is the first thing players interact with when they begin the game? Introduce iSpy website and trailer. Explain the conference calls. Regular pushing of game related content. We even took over a plenary session and didn’t get arrested/fired! Crowdsource marketing plan/trailhead.
No budget, no fancy tools or modules, no programmers, no professional game devs. We had: work phones, cell phones, email capability, conference bridge, physical space, free online tools: Google, Dropbox, Evernote, etc. If it was free, we probably had it. Make list of what we have available for exercise game. What are the parameters of your audience? Lawyer Joke. Ha ha.
Explain how iSpy is played. Show video. This Is Not A Game (TINAG): It’s secret, but played in the open. Real people are interacting with other real people. The Puppet Master can change the narrative for characters. There is a beginning and end to the game. Crowdsource 2 simple rules based on earlier input.
Lessons Learned: 100 people create A LOT of communications. PM sent 500 texts in 24 hours and 450 emails. Expect varying levels of engagement and involvement. Some people took it too seriously to the detriment of their conference experience, particularly speakers (choice btw. must-do, and would-love-to-do). Great success!: The picture looks like a drug bust picture. That’s all of the gear the players collected, like business cards, questions answered, session materials collected, exhibits viewed, and more. 1600 Model Practices Examined. The exhibit event was a huge success because it was tied to the game. 100 people already in there because of the game drew over 400 more into the hall. Model conference participation by players benefited every attendee at the event. Use your players to effect position change.
Lessons Learned: 100 people create A LOT of communications. PM sent 500 texts in 24 hours and 450 emails. Expect varying levels of engagement and involvement. Some people took it too seriously to the detriment of their conference experience, particularly speakers (choice btw. must-do, and would-love-to-do). Great success!: The picture looks like a drug bust picture. That’s all of the gear the players collected, like business cards, questions answered, session materials collected, exhibits viewed, and more. 1600 Model Practices Examined. The exhibit event was a huge success because it was tied to the game. 100 people already in there because of the game drew over 400 more into the hall. Model conference participation by players benefited every attendee at the event. Use your players to effect position change.