It’s that time of year again… the time when we shake our collective heads and try to have some magical moment where we suddenly all understand what transmedia means. Scratch that. We all understand what transmedia means just fine. This is the time of year when we try to agree on what it means… and, in so doing, prove that the word has meaning and that we understand it more than they do.

They may be marketers or filmmakers, indies or not indies, franchisers or not franchisers, world builders or storytellers…. Maybe we’re talking to the students, to the future… trying to make our mark while we still can. I don’t know.

But once a year, we have The Talk.

Now, it would be easy to argue that this is an exercise in futility. Heck, we’ve heard that argument for years now. We had it when we called this stuff “crossmedia” and we had it when we defined Alternate Reality Games. And generations before us, the creators of their days likely had the same discussions. With every round of discussion there’s always the few shouting: “Less talk! More do!” and “Didn’t we already discuss this?! Move on! Move on!” “Who cares?” As if these talks are a pointless exercise in wankery.

They aren’t. They can even be good. These discussions, as frustrating as they may be, allow us time to reflect on where we (individually and collectively) see things. Under the vast umbrella of transmedia, these discussions can help us find direction for our work by seeing how we fit in with the greater community where our work fits in with the collections of work out there. We can find issues with where things are going and how others may be approaching those things.

No. These discussions are most certainly not futile even if we are making like Sisyphus and rolling the same boulder up the same hill over and over and over and over again.

“Transmedia is a lie.”

That was my tweet last year. I adopted and advocated the word early on. For 5 years, I was a passionate defender of the term. Yet, suddenly, I felt so strongly about it that I returned to twitter after a long absence just to make it and promptly left again. The funny thing is, I couldn’t tell you why I felt that way. Clearly, I was frustrated with the idea of transmedia and, I’m sure, much of that came from the annual post SXSW buzzwordfest. But a lie? That’s awfully harsh.

I don’t think that’s true today, but I do think that transmedia has done what it came to do, as my grandmother would say.

Transmedia served a great purpose – it gave guidance to thoughts, defined work, and inspired projects. More importantly, it brought those thinkers, doers, & creators to the same table. It helped us find each other online and at conferences. It led to meetups and collectives and who knows how many fantastic collaborations.

Through all these discussions and gatherings, we inspired and were inspired. We could talk platforms or philosophies. We could debate and argue over the tiniest details and the biggest ideas. We came together. We formed friendships. We built a community.

We did not build that community around a word. We built it around our works, our thoughts, our ideas. It was built around our desire to share and to learn… our desire to push ourselves forward. Sure, a word brought us together as we googled and followed those using it, but it was never about the word. Any other phrase could have had the same effect.

Any phrase that said: I’m doing things that don’t fit into a neat little box. It’s not exactly a television show or movie or video game. It’s not a book or a comic. It’s not any of those things but it might be some of those things.

It might be highly interactive and social or maybe it’s not. It may be a standalone story or vast storyworld made up of a dozen individual stories. It may be told live or produced well in advance. It may be any number of things. But the one thing it is, for sure, is something that doesn’t fit in a box.

In many ways, we’re angsty teenagers so adamant that we are different and, yet, so desperate to fit in… somewhere.

Fitting in is important. Not just for the sense of community, but because making work that fits into a box means that it can be supported. The supporting organizations, the ones with money and acclaim to give, have to be able to put your project in a box in order to support it. If we want to move away from marketing & promotions, we need to fit in a box. Is “Transmedia” that box?

Things get tricky here because we need to start thinking big. There are a gazillion different supporting organizations out there and getting them all on the same page (or at least a similar one) is a difficult task. There has been a lot of outreach to these groups with the word “Transmedia”. For better or worse, it’s what we were using. Some are beginning to adopt it while others are rejecting it flat out.

In the US, for example, the Producers Guild created a Transmedia credit. A whole new box! Just for us! This was a huge step forward in recognizing projects that never fit into the established boxes. Still, there was strife. The initial limits on work were so strict that much of what had been held up as seminal work did not seem to apply. Over the last three years, they’ve been working to address those concerns, but clearly, creating a whole new box is not an easy task. It is not always the answer.

Last month, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, aka the folks behind the Emmys, updated and greatly expanded the awards for Interactive Media. This is a pretty big deal and they did some great work – and a lot of great work will be able to be recognized because of it. The notable bit, as far as this post is concerned: the word transmedia never appears. Not once.  The criteria definitely allows for work that we would all consider to be transmedia, but they never defined it as such.

The Interactive Emmys lack of the word does not negate the use of the word by the PGA. It just means that the two organizations are labeling the boxes with a different word. Some organizations will find it easier to adapt existing boxes. Other organizations will find it easier to create a new box – maybe they’ll use “Transmedia” or maybe they’ll call it “Interactive” or “Multi Platform” or, please oh please “Crazy Shit”. I would so love to apply for a “Crazy Shit” grant! I’d settle for “Crazy Stuff” or, heck, just plain ol’ “Crazy”.

Transmedia has done what it came to do.

It brought us together. It let us find one another. It let us form a community. Through that community, we broadened our horizons and narrowed our focus. We found a few commonalities amongst our many differences. And we’ve amassed a great deal of work that can be used as examples to show a need for funding and support. What it’s called and what box it fits in is irrelevant.

What does “transmedia” even mean now that someone can experience the same television show on a half a dozen different devices… all at the same time, if they so desire! Whether you’re putting together a tv show, video game, movie or book, you are repeatedly told to consider expanding your work to other platforms. This is true whether you are creating a killer storyworld or a cookbook.

True story: A friend who spends all of her time in the kitchen and very little of it online is putting together a family cookbook. In addition to all the standard creating, testing, and writing of recipes, her agent has put together a comprehensive media plan including a complementary website (with a food blog, natch) & YouTube channel. The book alone, much to my friend’s disgust, is not enough. People need to get to know her family; they need to learn and understand the food & techniques.

Everything, it seems, is moving between platforms these days.

Transmedia doesn’t define any piece of work. All it does is beg more questions. It’s a redundant phrase for creators and always has been. We still need to answer what we mean by it – what platforms? what sort of story? interaction? performance? social? solo?

If it’s redundant, why are we using it? Can we not just skip right to the good stuff? “X is a great little project… Fun story world, highly relatable characters. Told mostly through video, but a good dose of social media and I’ve been talking to someone about a comic. Currently it’s set to last about a year with new material once a month, but I’m thinking of ramping it up.” I am so much more interested in you than if you had said “X is a transmedia blahditty blah.” Blah!

Yes. Transmedia has done what it came to do. That doesn’t mean it’s time to throw it out, which is how Grandma always used the phrase. “Brooke,” she’d say looking at my well-worn shoes, “those shoes have done what that came do!” Now, those shoes were well-worn because they had a purpose and a fit. They may be ready for the trash, but I might not be ready to let go.

And so it is with transmedia. With all of the transmedia meetups and supporting orgs who have adopted the use, it is certainly not going anywhere soon. Yet, its use is limited. Depending on the crowd, it’s either a buzzword or not at all understood. Amongst fellow creators, it’s utterly meaningless and, yet, it brings us together. Much like my well-worn shoes, there’s a time and a place. The word has a purpose and a fit, but may not make the best of impressions.

Or why I sometimes hate being a fat girl gamer online.

Girls are repeatedly demeaned in games. So much so that websites such as Fat, Ugly, or Slutty exist. As a gamer, I’ve heard the jabs for years and there is something terribly wrong by the fact that we have grown to accept and ignore the behavior. It’s especially upsetting when I think of all the teen girl gamers who are at a sensitive age when it comes to confidence and body image. Both are things that games should be able to help with, but not when the are bombarded with these attacks.

I was particularly shocked by such an attack last night in the facebook game CivWorld. As it has a partial lack of anonymity and  is a strategy game (which should have less aggression), particularly,  one that relies on cooperation, I was under the illusion that I’d see less of this. And, perhaps there is less, but it still happens. It is usually a quick one-liner and often in private chat. Last night, however, was a 20-30 minute long attack that took place in the global chat. Below is the meat of it – there was more, earlier, but it was interspersed with actual game talk so it felt more like typical trash talk. Perhaps the most disturbing bit, as far as how much we accept this as OK behavior,  is the girl chiming in suddenly in the middle of the attacks to ask us to wait so she can grab some popcorn.

ChrisH: erik yhu fukkin that fat girl huh
ChrisH: or shuld i say heh
AnthonyG: hells yea he is lol
AnthonyG: hes feeding her cheetos
EricP: at least i don’t have my nose up a stank azz
AnthonyG: her stank ass lmao
BrookeT: again. nice. mature.
EricP: thats strong
AnthonyG: no one said i was mature
AnthonyG: I bet the stench IS strong eric
BrookeT: talking about my weight when you can’t make a sensible argument
BrookeT: have fun France
AnthonyG: listen pudge you were running around in circles lying so bad you couldn’t keep track
AnthonyG: and the ONLY one eating that shit up was eric
ChrisH: fat girl go eat a kupkake
BrookeT: fuck off
AnthonyG: no way dont use fuck anywhere near me in a sentance lol maybe 4 eric though
AnthonyG: u know fear of being crushed and all
ChrisH: yhu prolly fat elf n WOW
AnthonyG: hahaha
AnthonyG: surprised her civ isnt a farming civ with tons of food production
AnthonyG: nah she eats fame points like their slim jims
ChrisH: she sweats n her sleep
AnthonyG: LMAAAAAAOOOOOOO
SerenityW: wait, pause pls, i got to grab another popcorn
AnthonyG: hahahaha
ChrisH: lol @serenity
EricP: damn chris aint u got a raid tonight… o u r a lame guildie who is under geared and carried
ChrisH: i told yhu they played WOW 2gether
AnthonyG: pork rinds and cheetos with mountain dew
BrookeT: i do not play WOW
ChrisH: yhu shuld play wii fit
AnthonyG: when they see you in the supermarket people SAY wow
BrookeT: hahaha chick weighs 180 lbs* funny stuff! point and laugh!
AnthonyG: they say the camera adds ten pounds… judging by your pciture looks like you ate about 5 cameras
ChrisH: stop lyin i weigh 180 lbs yhu look like yhu ate a babii
ChrisH: brooke got titties on top of titties n they sweight insulin
AnthonyG: nah shes not fat shes just 4 feet too short
ChrisH: she prolly eat when she shittin
AnthonyG: when she goes to a restaurant she doesn’t get a menu… she gets an estimate
ChrisH: will swallow for ham sandwhiches
AnthonyG: shes so fat on hallowee she says “Trick or Meatloaf”
SerenityW: that is too much even if she is bad :(
AnthonyG: ok ok lol
ChrisH: she roseanne badd
ChrisH: damn son yhu aint need to go that hard on her she prolly listeinin to her adele cd now

* my weight in the picture (my facebook profile pic), give or take a few pounds.

I feel strongly that something needs to be done about this sort of behavior. But what? What can we do?

As players, there’s the option to ignore & report. I did that – I muted the coversation, (mostly) ignored it, and reported it. But that only goes so far – heck, it’s been 12 hours and I haven’t heard a peep from a mod or admin about my report. (I also submitted a trouble ticket to 2k games and did hear back from them. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an issue they could deal with directly but I was told it would be sent to the correct team).

What can we do as designers? Clearly creating names (internal or not) for powers such as Feminist Whore is not the right approach, but how do you encourage a safer, more civil environment? Do you even consider this in the design? There’s a lot of talk about grabbing the girl market (and there’s a very large share already had – more women over 20 play games than guys under 17), but why is it such a surprise that games are viewed as a guy thing when this is how we let girls (and women) get treated.

I don’t have the answers, does anyone? But I would love to have a discussion about this. What’s your experience? What are you doing to combat this? What worries and concerns you? Have you just accepted it? Shout off in the comments… (boys welcome, too!)

Never Forget.

That’s the refrain of the day.

Will any of us forget what happened that day? I can remember the tiniest of details and, I’m sure, you can too. We aren’t going to forget, so what is it that we’re supposed to remember? How we came together, as a country, immediately after the attacks. How, no matter religion or politics, we cared about one another. How the first thing we asked someone is how they were and we honestly wanted to know the answer. How we listened to what our friends and family and, even, strangers thought and needed. How we would have moved heaven and earth to help someone we didn’t know in another city if it would do something, anything, to make their lives just a bit easier. How, for the days after the attack, we were a powerful nation not because of our weapons, but because of our compassion and our ability to work together.

Is that what we’re supposed to remember? Because that is something we have all forgotten. We forget every day. And every day, we become more divided and more filled with hatred and fear.

Our politicians have gone so far as to create vows to not compromise… to not work together. They would rather tear the country apart, in hopes of winning an election, then work together to make us stronger.

Our neighbors say dirty, hateful things about one another because they disagree with someone’s politics or are scared of their color, religion, or wealth (or lack of it). Rich vs. Poor, Black vs. White, Christian vs. Muslim, Democrat vs Republican. And, when we can, we go even further… my Christianity is better than your Christianity or I’m more Republican than you. Instead of coming together, we set up battle lines.

Everything is an attack… an attack on wealth, an attack on services, an attack corporations, an attack on the middle class, an attack on health care. When someone disagrees with you, they aren’t just disagreeing with you, they are attacking America and American values.

I never felt more safe or secure as I did the days after 9/11. Sure, there were terrorists out there, but together we could do anything. We might not stop them, but it didn’t matter – we would be there for each other. We would stand united. Nothing could tear us apart. Nothing could destroy us.

Today we live in fear. We all do. What’s worse is that we fear each other.

Never Forget?

It seems like we have all forgotten. And that makes me sad. And angry.

Never Forget!

I almost wish I didn’t remember.

Note: This is the first in several posts dealing with the issues of ARGs as an artful medium. The series was inspired by the reactions to  The Darkest Puzzle, an ARG examining 9/11 using early ARG history as a narrative starting point, and it will be used it as a frequent example. This post looks at the original Darkest Puzzle post made to Cloudmakers, an ARG community, just after 9/11 and what it has come to represent. While it’s not absolutely necessary to understand the history in order to look at the deeper issues, I do think that it is informative, especially considering the backgrounds of the more vocal critics.

In the spring and summer of 2001, 7000 people worked together as “Cloudmakers” to unravel the mysteries of “The AI Web Game” (now known as “The Beast”). It was a remarkable experience for those of us that were a part of it and many felt a sense of power at what a community of people can do. In fact, I owe my career to that very idea. In June, a message was posted to the Cloudmakers list mourning the upcoming end of the game and pointing out that we were a smart and talented bunch and that we could probably create something on our own. A group was formed and the first game I worked on, Lockjaw, was the result.

The Beast ended in July 2001, but the experience was so special and so magical that many stuck around. Conversation ranged from reminiscing about The Beast to similar games & geekery, such as Majestic. And then 9/11 happened.

Like many online communities, Cloudmakers galvanized in new way. The posts about games gave way to concerned calls to make sure the New Yorkers were alright and questions about what others had heard and all of the general disbelief and overwhelming shock that we all felt. And then someone posted The Darkest Puzzle:

I think a bit of SPEC and puzzlepiecing would be good to do. But we MUST show some dignity, respect, decorum, and compassion. No wild SPECcing that might cause more hysteria than we all feel.

We have the means, resource, and experience to put a picture togetherfrom a vast wealth of knowledge and personal intuition. We may not have all the clues, and we may not find the absolute answer, but the Cloudmaker may develope a better idea of what’s happening.

The Darkest Puzzle, Cloudmakers Yahoo! Group, September 11, 2001

Two or three others also wondered if, as a group, Cloudmakers may be able to find some answers. Most others, however, recognized that was beyond our scope and the group moderators reminded us all that we had come together over a game with puzzles and clues designed to be solved and played, and not something as nebulous as 9/11 with forensic evidence and the like that we would never see. For the most part, that put an end to it.

It resurfaces on occasion when academics and others decide to make it bigger than it was as an attempt to show that gamers want to solve real world problems through collective intelligence and what not. But as I felt then (and still do), with perhaps one exception, those posts were driven less by the idea that Cloudmakers could or should “solve 9/11″ and more from a personal need to do something… anything.

This was not unique to Cloudmakers or to gamers. Another online community (non-gaming) I was involved in at the time had several members who lost family in the attacks. This provided that group with some very specific goals such as shuttling a young family from the middle of the country back “home” to the east coast because there were no flights and they could not drive. And it wasn’t just people online, I remember groups in my Orlando neighborhood struggling to find the best ways that they could help. In fact, most of the people that I talk to about 9/11 remember, after the shock, the profound sense of community and nationalism that they felt just after the attacks. We, as a nation, were a family. We were hurting. And we all wanted to help.

Which is why, whenever The Darkest Puzzle posts are mentioned as this exceptional example of something, it’s a bit cringe-worthy for those of us who were there. It’s not the fact that the posts were made. That’s understandable. It’s the way the story has been embellished over time to imply that Cloudmakers, or a significant subset, believed they could use their skills to “solve” 9/11. It moves the story from a general desire to come together as a community in a helpful manner, as most of the nation was doing (and as Cloudmakers had been so proud of doing in the months prior), towards one where we cast ourselves as potential heroes with delusions of grandeur and a paranoid mistrust in the government’s ability to handle the situation.

In the case of The Beast, the lines became so blurry that when terrorists took down the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, a forum dedicated to solving the game’s puzzles began to buzz withplans to “solve” 9/11 as well. According to McGonigal’s paper, one typical post argued that “this sort of thing is sorta our MO. Picking things apart and figuring them out.” Eventually, the founders of the group felt obliged to intervene, pointing out the difference between “clues hidden that were gauged for us” and the clues left in the wake of the attacks.

At least the would-be terror sleuths knew that 9/11 really wasn’t a game: Because ARGs are frequently launched unannounced, with tempting trails left waiting for players to stumble into their mysteries, fans spend a lot of time combing the Internet for contests that might not exist, sometimes insisting they’ve uncovered a game even as their hapless discoveries insist they haven’t. It’s a fine line between clue, coincidence, and synchronicity—something the rest of us learned in the aftermath of the same attacks, as a rap album cover, a folded $20 bill, and some font wingdings seemed to offer unanticipated echoes of the atrocities. The difference—one difference—is that the Beast player deliberately seeks a state of paranoia, of searching for hidden patterns left by a shadowy cabal, while the rest of us had that state of mind thrust upon us.

Games People Play, Reason.com, August 29, 2005.

To be cast as these delusional beings in academic papers, popular press, and on websites such as Reason is an insult that has left some Cloudmakers defensive over the entire situation. Just reading through those paragraphs, which are fairly typical of most discussing this, you can see the judgements and innacuracies. The “buzz” was a handful of posts out of several hundred that were made in the days after the attack. The “eventual” interveneing by the founders first happened within 10 minutes by a single mod (a united post from the group of mods was made the next day). We deliberately seek a state of paranoia? Really? At least they decided we could tell 9/11 wasn’t a game and, perhaps, were better equipped than a lot of Americans who weren’t so sure – what with looking at old wingdings and the like.

Considering how it’s so often handled, it’s no surprise that whenever the situation comes up it’s met with grumbling, jokes, and eye-rolling by Cloudmakers. This is not a source of pride. It’s a source of embarrassment that, through all the remarkable things we did, we may be remembered for something that we were absolutely not… 9/11 conspiracy theorists out to “solve” the mystery.  So, this past month, as an ARG launched using those Darkest Puzzle posts as the basis of a story, it’s understandable that the harshest reactions come from those who were involved with Cloudmakers and, in particular, those who were the most involved.

The Darkest Puzzle Series

1. The Darkest Puzzle: A History
2. The Darkest Puzzle: The ARG (coming soon!)
3. ARGs as a medium for Artful Expression (coming soon!)

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a few notable discussions about the transmedia definition and the consensus seems to be that we are oh so close to something. There have been several motivations and goals for the discussion, not the least of which is to stop having this darned discussion. We’re all rather tired of it, but it is important. It helps us to communicate and to clarify. It is also important because of issues revolving around funding and accreditation – media is ever evolving and where transmedia fits into that world is important.

Reclaiming Transmedia Storyteller

This is the epic facebook post. I say epic because after over 300 comments, it can’t be considered anything but epic. Seriously… 300 comments on Facebook. That’s just insane.

If you haven’t seen the original post and aren’t on Facebook, you can read it here. To paraphrase: Brian proposed a distiction between transmedia methods & transmedia storytelling where the deference lies in creative control. If you have creative control over the project, you are able to tell a transmedia story. Without that control, you are only utilizing transmedia methods because all that you are able to do is extend or adapt the story.

This was, of course, rather controversial and, to a degree, relies on intent. Even if you have creative control over the story if, years later, you decide to extend it, is it “transmedia storytelling”? Others question what that means for transmedia stories that stand on their own that are a part of a larger universe (for example, many marketing ARGs).

It’s difficult to summarize 300+  comments, but here are some of the themes:

• Does intent matter?
• Creative control is tricky – how can we know?
• There’s something about transmedia from inception – but what’s the line?
• integration vs extension
• single story vs many stories (also, what is a ‘single story’ or, even, ‘story’)
• Does story matter?
• What are “transmedia methods”?
• Who is the storyteller? (credits on a transmedia design team)

The Transmedia Definition Chat

A handful of people gathered in IRC to chat about the definition issue. I was somewhat disappointed in that it was mostly made up of folks with an ARG background. I think we see transmedia differently from many both because we come from a “net-native” world and we’re so very comfortable with deeply integrated experiences. That said, it was a pretty good chat and with some folks who haven’t really dipped their toes into the public debates.

It started off by looking at projects that were “hands down no-controversy” transmedia… which, personally, I found a bit difficult as I’m not sure such a thing exists between all the various definitions and ideas I’ve heard over the last few months. The common examples, however, were Year Zero & Heroes. I’d agree with both, though I’m not sure the folks that look at Year Zero as an Album & an ARG would agree (and, as a single integrated story, it certainly doesn’t fit any definition based that requires 3 stories & extensions… but we weren’t there to discuss other definitions, but to look at it as a whole). From there, a number of themes were discussed:
ARGs, whether or not it’s a part of a larger transmedia universe, are transmedia

• integration: to what degree does the story move between platforms & what is that impact
• fragmentation: pieces of the story are broken up & spread about
• ergodic: the need to put some effort into reading (or exploring) the story
• platform, channel, & format: how do these fit (if at all) in an iPad world
• story: does it matter? is it required?
• transmedia: noun or adjective?
• tricky edge cases: video games, series, cthalloween

The conclusion of this was a start at a definition: “A network of closely related pieces of content”

Going Forward…

It was clear, towards the end of both the Facebook thread & irc chat, that we’re close to a definition. However, the nature of both of those made it difficult to manage the various discussions that were coming together – funding, business models, why we need a definition, roles & credits, etc. A single threaded conversation was just not going to manage it and, so, I set up a forum at We Create: Transmedia to continue the discussions. Please join in!

I’ll be checking in the forum now & then, but I’m somewhat crippled on an iPad & ancient PC while my Mac is off for a few days at the service salon getting all prettied up with a new logic board & case. Please don’t let my apparent absence stop you! And, if you have any suggestions as far as improvements to the forum (a bbpress install), let me know :)