I’ve had a few people ask me about transmedia vs. ARG. What’s what? Is there a difference? Here’s how I see it and how I use these terms when I’m writing and/or talking about this stuff. ARGs & Transmedia are not interchangeable but they are related.

Transmedia…

Transmedia is a big umbrella. Who knows what all fits under there. Though, if I have any influence on the matter, the transmedia umbrella is comprised of projects that have a variety of pieces distributed on multiple platforms and where there is some important interaction happening between those pieces in order to tell the entire story.

Yes, this means that your twitter fiction does not count. Not unless that fiction spreads elsewhere and uses other formats such as blog entries, phone calls, or video clips. If it doesn’t use those things or any other something, it’s just really cool piece of twitter fiction. Maybe it’s “social storytelling.” I don’t know. But I do know it’s not transmedia. There’s no “trans” happening. It’s not crossing anything.

Alternate Reality Games (ARGs)…

ARGs are an established form of transmedia. They’ve been around now for 10 years or so. They have lots of little pieces that are spread all over and you don’t get the story until or unless you piece it all together. So they are definitely transmedia. But are they the only kinds of transmedia out there? I don’t think so. ARGs have two key characteristics that probably separate them from other types of transmedia projects.

1. They’re time-sensitive. I don’t mean that in a sense of urgency, I mean that the pieces are distributed in an order that is predetermined by the designers. Contrast this to, say, The Matrix – my classic transmedia example. In The Matrix, you could consume (watch or play) the pieces out of order and still make sense of it. With an ARG, that is not usually the case. This does not mean that it’s a “linear experience” – it just means that the designers have taken more control over when the audience or players get the various pieces.
2. They’re collaborative. Or, at least, they make an appearance of being collaborative. What I mean by this is that as the designers throw out the story pieces, it is up to the audience or players to piece the story together. While the audience or players are doing that, they often add their own take or understanding to the story. The designers, because of the live and time-sensitive nature of ARGs, then have the choice of whether to build on what the audience has done. Going back to The Matrix… it’s not collaborative in this way, in part because it’s lacking the time-sensitivity.

So, I consider ARGs to be a live collaborative transmedia experience.  But LCTEs are not nearly as much fun to say as ARG. Especially if you say it like a pirate.

AARRRGGhh.