Our first gathering will be next Tuesday evening (August 24) at a location to be determined (Tap? Octane?)

To stay informed, join the Atlanta transmedia google group and follow us on twitter.

Transmedia Specific

While it would be interesting to see all 29 sessions dealing directly with transmedia on the final schedule, I managed to narrow it down to just a few

• Documenting Your Transmedia Project (how to & why) Brooke Thompson
• Transmedia Artists Guild: New Media Needs New Representation Jay Bushman
• ARGS Don’t Work: The Future of Transmedia Stories Maureen McHugh
• Audience Engagement in the Transmedia Age Steve Peters
• Hoax or Transmedia? The Ethics of Pervasive Fiction Andrea Phillips
• Transmedia Production: Making the New Frontier Behnam Karbassi
• Transmedia Storytelling: Constructing Compelling Characters and Narrative Threads Barbara Vance
• Transmedia: transmonetisation James Kay

Potentially interesting & useful for transmedia artists

• Beyond the Checkin: Transforming Geolocation into Geoexpression Dean Terry
• Gaming the City or Peak Digital Psychogeography Toby Barnes
• Geppetto’s Army: Creating International Incidents with Twitter Bots Greg Marra
• Happenings and Shenanigans: Pranksterism in Our Culture Nelson Carpentier
• iPhone and Place-based Filmmaking: Geocoding to Augmented Reality Leslie Rule
• Social games in-cinema, the future of movie marketing David Polinchock
• Writing Workshop with @BettyDraper: Saying It Short Helen Klein Ross

Others I found that interested me for some reason or another…

• Offline America, Why We Have A Digital Divide. Jessamyn West
• Pies, Ties and Behavioural Economics Dan Hon
• Still Stylish: New Media Style, Punctuation and Grammar Sally Jacobsen
• Toss the Projector: Redefining the Presenter/Audience Dynamic Tim Meaney
• A User’s Guide to Architectural Histories and Fictions Enrique Ramirez

Transmedia projects are, by their very nature, complex productions. You have a story that is big enough to be broken up and distrubited onto multiple platforms and, in many cases, told over a period of time. Because of this, solid documentation throughout the the design process is instrumental to a project’s success. Sadly, it is also one of the areas that we talk about the least.

Freelancers, like myself, who go from agency to agency and team to team see the ramifications of this more than most. When we ask for something to help us get up to speed, it’s not unusual to be sent a half a dozen files – a couple Word docs and Powerpoint decks, a pdf or three, a spreadsheet, etc. Almost always, bits and pieces of the same information are repeated through all of these documents but not one of them contains the big picture. Of course, this lets us know right away that the team has a communication and organization issues that we can easily help them through (so it’s not all bad news for us ;))

Now, to be clear, fragmentation of information is not only inevitable but necessary. Clients and vendors do not need to know all of the details and the guy doing the filming does not need to know what the guy coding the websites is up to. But when you are providing the exact same information in multiple files but with random other bits and pieces, the team is quickly going to struggle under the weight of too many documents and they are not going to know where to find the information that they need to find (or even know if the information that they have is up to date). So, instead, they’ll come asking and meetings & conference calls will be held just to get everyone up to date.

The way around this is through solid documentation of the big picture. Unfortunately, the big picture isn’t just one picture. It’s actually made up of three biggish pictures: story, design (or experience), and production. It also covers a wide swath of media types and platform – and each of those have their own sorts of best practices as far as organization and documentation. Over the years, I have been exposed to and experimented with a variety of methods and, to be sure, there is not a single method that covers every possible variation that transmedia projects may take. But there are methods that work for the vast majority and are flexible enough that they can be modified to deal with others. And that is what I want to go over in my session.

I envision that it will be as much of a workshop as it is a talk. I plan to provide some standard templates and walk through the design and production stages of a project to show why and how they can be used and modified. And whether or not you like the documents or approach, I’m certain you’ll walk away with ideas on how to better organize your documentation, no matter what stage of development you may be in.

The idea for the panel stemmed from a conversation that I had with a client last spring. I was brought in to find potential issues with a project just a few weeks before launch and to go over their strategy for handling the project once it was live. The project was well designed and ready to go, but the documentation was shaky at best. I immediately sent them a design document that I had used in the past and modified slightly for their needs. It was a huge hit. Several people on the team expressed that they wish they had it sooner and suggested I write about documentation somewhere (my blog was still dormant at the time). A few months later, and just before panel proposals were due, I ran into a similar problem. I decided then that once my schedule cleared a bit and I could do the topic justice, I’d start a series on documentation and make various templates available. I’ve been working on them slowly ever since. Whether my panel is chosen or not (I hope that it is! Please vote!), that series will go live. I’ve already begun creating templates and getting feedback on them from folks. So far, so good! Expect the series to start sometime this fall.

And, of course, you can expect my thoughts & recommendations on other panels as soon as I’ve had time to go through the enormous list. But feel free to go ahead and vote for mine before then ;)

AIM: mirlandano
twitter: @imbri
phone: 321-277-7613

* Yes, they may claim that it is fixed. But it is not. They’re always a few hours (if not days) early with such promises. The comments tend to be a bit more informative of the status than the actual post.

There are two basic approaches: structured & loose. Structured updates have a fairly rigid schedule when things update en masse while loose updates tend to appear to be much more haphazard with updates occurring when and where ever. Everything else is a variation or hybrid of those two.

The Basics

Structured Updates

Structured updates occur on a regular basis. For example, a game may update at noon on Tuesdays & Fridays. While it doesn’t have to be two days a week, two days seems to be the most frequently utilized approach. When players catch on to this (in my experience, they do most of the time, but not always), it creates a wonderful event like atmosphere as people dig through the universe looking for changes. Because the ARG updates in scheduled and large bursts, this approach tends to create a strong cycle of player anticipation, exploration, discovery, discussion, speculation. When players figure out the schedule (most, but not all, of the time), they’ll eagerly await “Update Day” and some may begin scheduling their time around it (why go to the dentist on Tuesday when that’s update day and you could just as easily go on Wednesday). This can create an event like atmosphere and tends to allow for a larger engaged audience.

Of course, it does have it’s downside. Because the experience has a regular schedule, it limits group discovery & exploration to those who are available at that time. If you have a regular Tuesday meeting or class when the ARG updates, you will only be able to participate in the discussion, speculation, and anticipation phases – which are more asynchronous and tend to occur throughout the ARG’s “downtime.”

On the developer end, this scheduled approach is quite handy – especially for teams with a strong producer and/or lead designer. It is easy to plan exactly what needs to be done and when, test it all, and schedule it to go live at the appropriate time. Of course, the moment you are late with an update (or, sadly, need to skip one or more), the player community may lose faith in the game and begin speculating on why it is broken and/or begin calling it “dead” or, worse, “imploded”. So this approach is far from ideal for teams which may not be able to stick to a schedule (such as grassroots ARGs which tend to be created by hobbyists in their spare time or small teams which may suffer drastically if someone falls ill or is taken away from the project for whatever reason). This approach also leads to a constant feeling of being in crunch time with the team always preparing for the next big update which may place the developers focus more completely on the story, puzzles, and sites than on the players and interactions.

Loose Updates

ARGs with loose updates often tend to appear more “real” or “natural” as they can occur more or less in real time. They tend to update as the story requires and may update several times a day or just a couple times a week.

Because the game can update when & where ever, this approach can make the discovery aspect of ARGs available to, potentially, all of the players. However, it can also be exhausting for the players who feel the need to constantly monitor for changes, interactions, and updates – and frustrating when they don’t seem to be able to find any. To mitigate this, designers need to clue players into where the next updates may occur and when that might be which may reduce some of the surprise factor. And, because there are those that are always monitoring, these games tend to develop smaller core groups of deeply involved players – if the groups become small enough, the game may struggle as much of the discussion & speculation occurs on smaller forums or in back channels. Game run forums (in game or out) are often used to minimize this effect and to help encourage players to work through the discussion and speculation aspects which may be ignored if they are, consistently, in the exploration & discovery modes.

On the developer end, the loose approach allows the team to update on their schedule and whenever they are ready and available. However, this can cause problems when teams begin to develop (and live) on the game schedule. It is easy for teams to become exhausted when they are constantly working on daily “just in time” routine. And, because these ARGs tend to be more flexible towards player interaction, it’s not uncommon for team members to become obsessed with what is happening in the player community. While reacting to the players is an important aspect of ARG play & design, there is a point where the ARG can suffer from it if the team is not careful to keep their various milestones in check.

Variations & Hybrids

Major Updates & Minor Interactions

This approach follows the structured update days, but allows for player interactions to occur throughout the week. For example, the ARG may update on Wednesday & Saturday, but there may be a character who hangs out on in-game forums and another who is twittering. These character interactions do not tend to occur during the exploration and discovery phases (no need to distract players or, worse, wind up spoiling that super cool plot twist for those that haven’t yet found it), but they rest of the time they are available for hints & clues or to just hang out, making the universe seem more real & alive.

This allows for some of the interactions some players crave while also allowing for the frenzy of update days. Of course, this doesn’t quite solve the problem of folks not able to be around during updates.

Loosely Scheduled Updates with Regular Events

This approach adds regular activities to a Loose update schedule. For example, the ARG may update when and where ever, but there is a conspiracy theorist who sends out a cryptic message every Thursday at 11 am. This cryptic message contains a massive amount of information and, of course, since it’s cryptic it comes with all sorts of fun ciphers & puzzles. This allows players to come together every Thursday for a massive update rush, but then they can follow along as they choose throughout the week.

While this approach seems like an ideal, the event(s) have to be big & exciting enough to appease the crowd but if they’re too big and exciting, they can overshadow the other update – both with the players & with the team. Players may not pay them that much attention and the development team may struggle to keep up because they’re working on the next big event.

Staggered Updates

The staggered approach may work if you have specific sites and fairly strong, yet minor, story lines. It is structured but in a way that may make it feel as though there are more updates occurring, more or less, in real time. Essentially, certain websites or storylines update on specific days. Tuesday & Thursday may be reserved for the cute brunette in trouble (who blogs from her university library in between classes), Friday may be reserved for the evil corporation (who puts out a weekly press release when they hope certain people won’t notice it), Monday may be reserved for the certain people (who did happen to notice the press release), etc. Our lives, whether we like to admit it or not, are scheduled, and this approach takes advantage of that.

It also allows players who may only be available one or two afternoons a week, to become more engaged and involved with (and experts on) specific characters and story lines while allowing players who enjoy the constant changes and more natural appearance of loose updates to feel as if that is occurring. In fact, many players don’t quite pick up on this sort of update schedule until someone mentions it to them. However, because the game is always on and always updating, there isn’t any real “downtime” to encourage the player communities to engage in discussion, speculation, and anticipation which can be a problem if the evil corporation story line needed players to figure something out before the next Friday’s update.

These are all various approaches that I’ve used (with mixed success on all accounts). What approaches am I missing? What pros & cons did I not hit on? Let me know in the comments.

Oh, and thanks to those who were chattering about update days on twitter & getting me thinking about this – now I’m thinking about how update schedules affect game accessibility, how their playing cycles vary, and how they play with “reality”. You can probably expect posts on those… sometime. I wanted to get a good idea of update “types” first.

Yet, despite my own personal horror, the phone plays a prominent part in the ARG world. Despite the fact that so few games actually use phones, the phone is such a classic example of how a game or story can reach beyond the screen and touch someone “in the real world.” And, of course, get a few designers together talking about the future and you’re sure to hear about how amazing it will be when voice recognition software is actually good enough to make phone calls seem more real and less recorded (the alternative, you see, is to use live actors and that is just not scalable). Then, it seems, will ARGs truly be great at reaching out into the real world and providing some amazing character & story interaction.

Really?

Clive Thompson has written about the Death of the Phone Call in this month’s Wired and makes some really interesting points. First of all, phone calls are on a decline – both in frequency and in length. He has some theories for why this is: we’re already in constant contact with one another through other mediums that are both synchronous & asynchronous which allows us to not interrupt our lives in order to have a conversation unless it’s convenient for all involved. And, like him, I find that almost all of my calls (even my calls with my mom) are scheduled and, if they’re not, I get an IM saying “are you free? can I call?”

He goes on to predict that the phone, as a communication medium, will eventually be reserved for longer, more in-depth conversations which, I must say, is how I use it today. Well, for that and for conference calls. Everything else is handled over twitter, im, text message, and email.

If the phone is a medium that is best used for long in-depth conversations, will amazingly accurate voice-recognition & branching narrative trees ever make for an engaging interactive experience? More engaging or realistic than, say, how we are already communicating via text messages, email, twitter, etc? And what happens when video enters the picture?

An Experiment In Transmedia: Fox Show To Be Viewed On iPad Before TV

The first episode will be inserted via DVD in New York and Los Angeles subscriber copies of the October issue of Vanity Fair, as well as in newsstand copies in the New York area – reaching about 400,000 readers. It will also run on Vanity Fair’s iPad application – it’s not yet estimated how many viewers it will reach on the iPad, given the application’s relatively recent launch. Fox will also support the show’s premiere with traditional media, via print ads in the October Vanity Fair.

So, the big experiment in transmedia is that the same episode that will be viewed on TV is being recorded to a DVD and inserted into a magazine and, for people who have an iPad and the magazine’s iPad app, they can also view it on their iPad.

We’ve got TV! We’ve got DVD! We’ve got Magazines! We’ve got iPad! It’s gotta be transmedia, right?

Bzzt! Wrong.

All we have is a video of an episode of a tv show. We have a video of the episode on DVD (inserted into magazines), and the same video downloadable onto an iPad and, of course, viewable on tv. But, there has been no actual movement or interaction between platforms and the story isn’t being told on multiple platforms. You, the viewer, aren’t getting different things in different places. What you are getting is the exact same thing just delivered to you through a whole bunch of different media outlets. It’s like a book – whether you borrow it from the library, buy it at a local retailer, or order it online, you are still getting the same book.

And, to hit the point home, just read the article…

Overall, Fox’s intention was for the previews to deliver an exclusive experience, and to create the perception that this is a ’special’ show – something that needs to be watched in order to be enjoyed and understood.

It is just a show. Of course, this is a special show. You will need to watch it in order to enjoy and understand it. Unlike all those tv shows you don’t have to watch to enjoy or understand.

But! There is hope! The show is a prime time soap set against the backdrop of big Texas oil. It’s a completely unique concept that may or may not spawn card games, board games, beer, and huge parties where young impressionable minds all over the land learned the art of betting… on, of all things, who killed some oil baron. (why, yes, my mother was obsessed, the card game was actually pretty fun, the board game was just monopoly, I was too young to drink the beer, and the party was still a blast. and, no, there is no evidence that my friends and I dressed up as some famous cheerleading squad and did a dance routine to the theme song during the aforementioned party and, without evidence, this did not ever happen.)

Now, if the show does become quite the thing and all sorts of crazy merchandise begins appearing, we might have transmedia (of the franchise sort, which in my world is still debatable as transmedia and is, more, a, um, franchise… crazy, I know). But we are not talking about hypotheticals. Nor are we talking about some 1980s television show. We are talking about Lone Star and whether or not showing the first episode via dvd in magazines and downloadable via iPad apps is transmedia. And, the answer is…

NOT TRANSMEDIA

Socks, Inc is the latest brainstorm from Awkward Hug – the insanely fun & creative guys that made everyone fall in love with robots (or at least a robot) last summer.  Awkward Hug earned people’s respect with Must Love Robots but, more than that, they showed us all how to not take ourselves quite so seriously and to enjoy ourselves. Socks, Inc has a lot to live up to and, judging from the outpouring of love from folks all over the ARG world (thinkers, players, and doers), it’s one of the most anticipated alternate reality games ever.

Heck, I can’t remember the last time that I was so eager for a game. It’s got a great team behind it, a really fun concept, and a lot of ways for players (remember them? so many ARGs seem to forget about them these days) to get involved. If you have a few bucks to spare, please throw it their way. If you don’t, that’s ok…. as long as you promise to keep an eye on it because it will be a game worth watching and, more, playing. If you want to get a headstart on the playing, you can probably do so by giving them some of your info at Must Love Socks.

(oh and congrats Jim, Tanner, & co… project of the day! that’s awesome! yay!)

So, what are they? What do they mean?

Franchise Transmedia

Franchise transmedia occurs when a story world is spread out into various media formats. It goes by names like “world building” and, essentially, means that different stories can be told within the story world (or universe) and might show up in comics and books and video games. There may also be stuff online and merchandise and “user generated content” and so on. All of these different pieces work to make the story world a richer more exciting place.

This is also what is talked about frequently today. Why? Partially because it’s something that networks & studios have been doing for years. They’re used to it and it’s a huge source of money for them.

Examples: Star Wars, Heroes, Doctor Who

Marketing Transmedia

Marketing transmedia builds a story around a brand or a specific property. Unlike franchise transmedia, this isn’t about world building as much as it is creating story told over a variety of media platforms to support or promote an existing story or, perhaps, to build a story around a brand.

Alternate reality games have been used in this manner for ages – from promoting movies (AI, The Dark Knight), tv shows (Regenesis, Fallen) or video games (Halo, Gun, Resistance) to promotional experiences around a product (Sony Aquos TV) or brand (Audi).

Television shows, in particular, have been exploring a variety of ways to create a transmedia experience around the show. From character blogs & twitter accounts to graphic novels and webisodes that reach deeper into the universe by exploring new stories or embellishing the back stories of minor (and, occasionally, major) characters.

Examples: The Beast, I Love Bees, Lost, Nurse Jackie

Native Transmedia

For many of us working in the field, but certainly not all, this is the holy grail. Native transmedia projects are transmedia projects that are created and built across platforms from the start. In native transmedia there is no separate property or existing universe that the transmedia is supporting and it’s less about creating or enhancing a story world than it is about telling a story.

Unlike the others, native transmedia tends to come from a single vision (even if that single vision is created by an entire team). In franchises and marketing transmedia, there are different teams of people in charge of the story and world building at different times. For example, the marketing department responsible for promoting a film or television show may decide to have a transmedia experience run for a few months before the release. They then hire a team to create the transmedia and they often come in with their own pitch and their own story and design. They may have access to the universe or story bible, but they are the ones writing and telling the story.

The challenge with native transmedia, however, is financing it. This is one reason why there are so much marketing transmedia. Marketing departments have budgets and are often willing to explore new ways to promote existing properties, products, and brands. Because of that, they have become the biggest patrons of the transmedia arts.

Examples: Cathy’s Book, Majestic, Eldritch Errors, Valemont, World Without Oil

So, there you have it… an explanation of three different types of transmedia. Do you see it another way? Find my descriptions lacking or flat out incorrect? Speak out in the comments.

Note: The examples that I’ve give are a combination of popular & frequently discussed projects and/or projects that I’m likely to blog about. I know that there are gazillions of other examples. If you send examples my way, I may attempt to create some sort of list or addendum.

Women are more likely to use social media more often than men – 57% of people who update several times a day are women. This is, likely, not due to the stay at home mom factor as only 6% of frequent social networkers are “homemakers” compared to 8% of the general population.

Social networkers spend more time online and watch less tv than the general population. In fact, they spend almost twice as much time online (3:52/day compared to 1:56/day) and about a half an hour less in front of the tv (2:50/day compared to 3:25).

Social networkers are significantly more likely to use a DVR or Tivo. Especially a DVR. 47% of frequent social networkers have a DVR while only 36% of the total population does. Social networkers are also more likely to:

• Watch TV on DVD
• Watch TV online
• Purchase TV shows online
• Order TV shows on-demand

Social Networkers are also more likely to listen to online radio & podcasts and to buy music online.

None of this is a huge surprise to me. People who embrace social networking are more likely to embrace other online activities. It speaks to a comfort level and/or a reliance upon online activities. But, from a transmedia perspective, it is interesting. As people become more accustomed to various online media activities, they are more likely to use them. And, despite my earlier words of warning against relying upon twitter, if you are creating a transmedia property, especially one that uses online video or other technologies, utilizing social networks will help to target an audience more likely to engage with other aspects of your experience.

You can download all of their slides with a variety of stats and 30 different charts by registering for their mailing list.

The SXSW panel picker went live today.

Categories on the Interactive side include: Alternative Reality Gaming
Categories on the Film side do NOT include: Transmedia/Cross-Media or Alternate/Alternative Reality Gaming

I’m not all that surprised by the Alternative/Alternate mix-up. That happens all the time. It just grates on me, a bit. I was, however, shocked by the lack of inclusion of transmedia. It’s a big buzz word these days and was very much becoming one at SXSW in March. I’d say that was a number of people’s first introduction to the term and, the longer the conference went on, the more I heard the term being used. Combine that with the Transmedia Hollywood conference, the Producers Guild credit, the myriad of panels on and even titled transmedia at a variety of conferences since then and, well, I’m just shocked.

If any conference should grasp the heart and soul of transmedia, it should be SXSW. For years they’ve blended together new media technologies with old. Side by side… an interactive conference and a film festival/conference. Not only could those with gold passes freely move back & forth, but they offered a handful of sessions that appealed to and were open to both.

I’m not sure what I make of this. Is it a reality check? Do we have more work to do than we thought? Was I just getting ahead of myself? Have I just surrounded myself with too many similarly minded people?

Anyway. If you’ve got a panel or presentation idea for SXSW… you’ve got until July 9 to submit it. And, I’m curious, if you are planning to submit something, what category are you submitting it under?

They were thrilled by my inquiry – in fact, I got a phone call within minutes of sending my RFP. I went and visited and fell in love. It’s a gorgeous hotel with some great spaces and an ideal location for us. Really, it was perfect and I would have signed on the spot.  And they seemed very eager for me to sign. Of course, things never go that smoothly and over the course of providing information on exact space needs and room requirements something fell apart.

I couldn’t tell you what. Other than it was an incredibly frustrating and disappointing few weeks of no follow-thru. I’d send requested information and get nothing in return. I’d call and be put on hold. I’d be told she would have to call me back and she never would. I left a final message explaining that I was ready to sign elsewhere and that was that. I’ll admit that I was crushed but, of course, thrilled to get this sort of behavior before the event instead of during.

And now, I suppose due to all of my various googling on them and other hotels in the area, I am hit with their ads throughout the day and in the most random of places. Gaming blogs, social media blogs, social networking sites, news sites, local sites. It doesn’t matter… there they are. I get it – targeted ads. But now, instead of hitting a potential customer, they are fueling my anger. It is making it very difficult for me to just let go and move on.

I want to move on! I really do! While it wasn’t my first choice, I’m absolutely thrilled that we’re having ARGFest at the W Atlanta-Midtown. It doesn’t fit my personal hotel style quite as much – but it’s a fun atmosphere and that certainly fits with ARGFest. It’s close to the park. There’s a ton of great stuff near by. The sales staff has been on top of it and incredibly nice (and patient! and quick!). Things are good and I’m excited and so it should have been no problem for me to leave the problems in the past.

But no. I have to see that stupid ad for that stupid hotel a half a dozen times a day. Every day. Over and over again. A constant reminder of the Great Hotel Tease of Two Oh Ten. A constant reminder that they can spend a ton of money in advertising but can’t quite manage the slightest bit of customer service. A constant reminder that they are all show and no blow. A constant reminder that I never want to do business with them.

And that, my friends, is why targeted advertising can bite you in the ass. I would have forgotten. I would have moved on. But they won’t let me.

The Cake Event, a description.

One day in December 2007, a new page asking people to Step Right Up appeared on the Why So Serious website with instructions to go to a location and pick up a “very special treat” left for Robin Banks. That package turned out to be a cake, with a phone number written on the top in icing. You were instructed to call the phone number and, in doing so, the cake would ring because, you see, there was a phone buried within. When you dug it out of the cake, not only did you get a phone that the Joker could call you on whenever he wanted, but you also got an evidence bag with various items including a note asking you to use the phone to call a number. Calling it activated the phone, which updated the website to show that the cake had been received, knocking “your” bear off the wall and taking the lights on the carnival game one step closer to the top. Anticipation built throughout the day as the cakes were claimed…. what would happen when all the lights were lit? Finally it happened and, if you hit the hammer, a new page appeared linking folks to a poster and a listing of five IMAX locations showing the premier of the six-minute prologue for the Dark Knight. If you lived at one of those locations, you could register for tickets.

All in all, it was very cool and fantastically creative. And it was a success – heck, on a single forum, there were over 4200 posts about this event alone, not to mention other forums, dozens of blog posts, press coverage, and so on. But, as always, when looking at something after it’s all played out, it’s easy to do a bit of armchair quarterbacking and, perhaps because I became so personally involved in the event, I felt more compelled to write about it than I usually do. This is what I wrote…

My Experience… my mom? an ARGer?

I considered going to the bakery in Atlanta, but it was about a 45 minute drive and I really wanted someone else to have the experience of calling the cake – such events are defining moment in an ARG and I’ve had plenty of my own already. That didn’t stop me from wanting to get my hands on a “joker phone”, though. So, the moment that I saw a bakery listed near my hometown, I picked up the phone and called my mom. She barely grasps what it is that I do and has never felt compelled to play an alternate reality game, but the thought of her going to a bakery and picking up a cake that would ring when she called the number sent me into a fit of laughter.

Mom was surprised by the midday call and even more so when I implored her to go to a bakery downtown Cleveland. I relayed the task – she was to walk in and say that she was picking up a cake for Robin Banks. There would be a phone number on the cake, I explained, and she would have to call it for me. Through nervous laughter, perhaps because she knows my evil side, she asked me what was going to happen. I told her that it was nothing scary, that she’d love it and I wasn’t about to ruin the surprise. After that, her voice rose in excitement and I knew that she’d be heading down there. She even attempted to do a reverse lookup (I had given her the address, but not the phone number) in order to call the bakery and let them know she was on the way and maybe find out more about the cake – a research leap for her. Even if it was against the rules or maybe because it was (go mom! you rule breaker you!), that made me proud – she’d be a great ARG player.

I watched as the bear representing the Cleveland bakery came off the page and knew it had been too soon for her to get there. I called her anyway and excitedly asked if she got the cake. She hadn’t, she was just on her way. I told her that she didn’t have to go as someone else had already retrieved it. Somewhat disappointed and curious as to what would have happened, she asked for more information. As I explained that the cake would have a phone number that she was to call and that when she did the cake, itself, would ring because the phone she was calling was inside of it, she laughed in a way that made her sound much younger than she really is, “That would have been so cool!”

I had known the power that this event would have on players, but hearing her excitement made it very real for me. Before I knew it, I found myself drawn into the experience as a player. I clung to the computer throughout the day and hit refresh on the superherohype forums, where most of the online participants were gathered, more times than I would care to admit. As the day progressed, so did my feeling of disappointment. While there were some things that made me genuinely excited, I noticed a number of things that I would have done differently and, ultimately, finished the day wondering just why I wasn’t more excited by the entire thing.

After the event was over, I found myself going back through the day and thinking about the event not only from a production standpoint but also from a design one. What follows are the points that caused me the most trouble. Some of these things were rather difficult to put into words not only because I deeply admire 42 Entertainment’s work, but I have two good friends and collaborators working on the project. Fortunately, I know them well enough to know that they’ll understand the nature of this criticism. It is meant to be constructive… a learning process for me and, perhaps, others working in the field.

Preparing the Bakeries:

Several reports from players implied that the bakeries were not informed of the nature of the event. One player called a bakery and was placed on speaker phone so that the staff could listen in as the caller explained to them what was going on. A few reported confusion over whether people were allowed to leave the bakeries with the cakes. Others reported that the staff at the bakeries appeared frustrated by the activity. I don’t know if the attitude is typical or not, but if they were not prepared for the onslaught of attention it is no wonder that some were short with callers and cold with walk-in customers. However, by simply explaining to them what they might be in for, the event could have gone much smoother for them and, instead of making them feel used or frustrated, they could have been made to feel as though they were a part of something special.

To provide a bit of contrast – just a few weeks prior to the cake event, a live event for Eldritch Errors utilized want ads in a small local newspaper. While the ads were fairly tame and wouldn’t have received much notice in a larger city, they were an off the wall request – a want ad version of asking a baker to insert a working cell phone into a cake. The person who reviewed the ads initially declined them explaining that they were so strange they would have to be approved by the editor, meaning they wouldn’t appear until the next week. We explained what it was for and that it was a part of a game similar to a murder mystery event. Instantly, the tone changed. Instead of being worried about having to handle the confusing phone calls that the paper would receive, they were excited to be a part of this fun event. The details that we provided them were minimal but honest and put the paper at ease while preparing them for any strange behavior or worried phone calls that they may receive. Instead of feeling as if they were tricked or used, they were now a part of the team.

I can’t help but wonder how different the bakery experience would have been if bakeries were properly prepared and how much more exciting it would have been for all involved. Instead of asking callers what this was about, thus taking them out of the story of the event, they may have been more likely to respond by saying “oh, yes Mr./Ms. Banks, we have a very special cake waiting for you.” Instead of expressing frustration by the increased traffic, they would have been prepared for it and may have been better able to staff the bakery to handle the increased calls and walk-in traffic.

To be fair, I do not know how much or what information the bakeries were given. This could have been an issue of the manager or owner not informing the employees. However, as the complaints and inquiries came from several different bakeries, it is clear that at least some of them, if not most or all, were not as informed about the event as well as they should have been and the experience suffered as a result.

The take home lesson: Prepare your third parties – especially if they are going to be a point of interaction.

Providing a Consolation Cookie:

This was a first come first served event and, so, many players arrived at the bakeries after the cakes had been picked up. Some of these players drove great distances, giving up their lunch hour and braving winter weather. Imagine their disappointment, then, when they arrive and the cake has already been picked up. No amount of online coordination can completely avoid such things from happening – people play at different communities and some will ignore notifications that others are going.

A simple and easy gesture would have been to ask the bakeries to create a dozen or so consolation cookies as a special thank you treat for all of those that made the journey. Many bakeries that make cakes have an assortment of different shaped cookies that can be frosted. Imagine if you’d gone and the cake was already taken, but you got a t-shirt shaped cookie that said, “I went to the bakery, but all I got was this lousy t-shirt (cookie)!” your disappointment at missing the cake would have been eased. Better still, by using a more thematic cookie design the narrative could have been enhanced while allowing those that arrived later feel as if they contributed even though they did not get the primary piece.

Not only would the consolation cookie be useful for the player experience, but also for the experience that the bakeries had. The request to create all these cookies would not only have prepared the bakeries for the walk-in traffic (if they’re asking us to create all these cookies, we could be busy tomorrow!), it might have reduced some of the phone calls as those that knew that a cookie was waiting for them, even if they were late, might not have attempted to call the bakeries to “reserve” the cake or find out if it had already been picked up. Plus, it would have provided the bakeries with a bit of free marketing, which they would certainly have appreciated. If I got a great cookie from a bakery tied to such a positive event, I’d be more likely to return to them the next time I’d need a cake or cookies.

Cost wise, this would have been easily justified and provided a valuable return on the investment in the form of goodwill, content, and promotion. A dozen decorated cookies at the bakery used in Atlanta, for example, costs $9.00. Assuming that they had a dozen cookies created for each of the 22 cities that would have run them in the neighborhood of $200-$300. A small price to pay for the additional content in the form of photos, reports, and word of mouth promotional opportunities… you know people would have told their roommates and coworkers about the free cookie that they received for playing this crazy “Dark Knight viral thing” – especially if they were caught taking and uploading a picture of a cookie.

The take home lesson: When you expect a number of people to compete for a first come first served prize, ease disappointment by providing an alternative

Adding Redundancy into the System:

Once players picked up a cake, they were provided with a series of instructions. First of all, the cake had a number printed on it with instructions to call it now. This made the cake ring letting them know to cut into the cake to find a phone. When they cut into the cake, they discovered an evidence bag that contained the phone, a phone charger, a joker card, and a note. The note told them to use that phone to call another number and by doing this they heard a recording that told them that the Joker now knew how to get in touch. Presumably, it was by calling that number that the website knew that cake had been picked up. Thus, in order for the website to be updated and inform others that the cake had already been picked up, players had to make two phone calls one of which could not be made until the cake had been cut open.

Every time that you add a step to a process, you increase the complexity and introduce a failure point. This is one of the reasons why redundancy is so important. In this case, a failure could lead to players believe that they should take action and go to a bakery to pick up a cake or the failure could create an extended delay in the conclusion of the event, both of which happened. In one city, a cake was retrieved almost immediately but left in tact for a few hours so that a roommate could participate in the fun.  In another city, someone had his wife pick up the cake but it took several hours before she got the cake to him due to a combination of work, distance, and weather. In both cases, people unaware that the cakes had been picked up continued to travel to the bakeries and in one case it meant that players online, once aware that the cake had been picked up, had to wait anxiously for the computer to update and the final reveal to be made.

To solve this problem while keeping the event, essentially, identical, the bakeries could have been informed to call a number which would have had the effect of informing the website that the cake had been picked up and/or, if a number of reports appeared online stating that a cake had been picked up, someone from 42 Entertainment could have confirmed this with the bakery and updated the site themselves. While this slightly changes the narrative wrapper of the event and appears to remove the player’s responsibility to call the number, a simple change to the website including separate thematic signals showing the difference between a cake being picked up and the player checking in with the Joker could have actually increased that sense of duty.

The take home lesson: Build redundancy into your relay systems and prepare yourself and your players for potential delays

Entertaining the Online Audience:

This event originated online with a countdown prior to its start, presumably to increase awareness and build expectations. At the start of the day, the website updated with a fun carnival theme that informed people of where to go (providing addresses) and showing whether or not the cake had been picked up. With each cake that was picked up, the website changed and you could see that something would happen once all of the cakes had been claimed.

So, what was online audience to do throughout the day while sitting and watching as bears (the thematic symbol) fell from the site? Nothing. There was nothing for them to do other than gather on their respective forums and speculate at what awesome thing would happen at the end of the day. While speculation is great, there was little narrative for them to speculate upon. So, it frequently turned to complaining – about waiting, about the lack of events in their cities, about nothing for them to do. To lift their spirits, they would talk about all of the wonderful things that would happen at the end of the day, building their expectations as the day went on.

While there is nothing wrong with location specific live events, when they originate online and take place throughout the day, you need to expect and prepare for people sitting anxiously at their computer and wanting to take part in some related activity. There are a number of approaches to this but the most fulfilling is providing narrative to occupy the online audience with super bonus points if the narrative blends both the on- and off-line elements. For less narrative games, an alternative is to provide a simple online activity that the online audience can do to help the offline participants achieve their goal. In this case, perhaps, one of the bears that led to the various cities could have led to a simple flash game where, if enough points had been achieved or players participated, it could have added to the count of cakes being claimed. A bonus here is that it could have provided some redundancy and if there had been a delay in a cake being called in, the online players would have been able to count for that cake on their own through their actions.

The take home lesson: When you have a large online audience eager but unable to participate in an offline event, find other ways to allow them to participate

Reducing the Ovaltine Factor:

After all of the cakes had been claimed, the website changed, a teaser poster for The Dark Knight was revealed and, for those fortunate to live in a select few cities, players were able to claim tickets to see the six-minute prologue to The Dark Knight. After a day spent eagerly speculating about the amazing awesome wonderness that this super cool event must lead to, there was some inevitable disappointment and a number of “#@%$ this!” and “#@%$ WB!” posts. The audience for Why So Serious was, perhaps, a bit more understanding of the Ovaltine Factor than most – they consistently hoped that things would lead to Dark Knight posters and trailers. Even so, for some, this crossed that line and there were a number of players left upset by the lack of online pay off – a poster for the movie that would be otherwise revealed in a matter of days. For them, the effort (and increasing expectations) did not match the reward.

The solutions to this are varied. Managing expectations and balancing effort and reward are often difficult but especially so when you have such a creative, fun, and unique buildup. In this case, with little narrative to follow after the event, the best solution may have been to manage expectations by better occupying the online audience. A day spent sitting on your hands watching and waiting and hoping for something made them feel teased. However, if the online audience had participated in making the reveal happen (as mentioned above), they would have been left feeling as if they had a part in making it possible for others to have this great opportunity to go and see the prologue – even if they could not. Instead of passively waiting for something, they would have been actively involved and could be proud of what they had helped to achieve.

The take home lesson: Manage expectations, match effort to reward, and minimize the Ovaltine Factor.

Sitting here in 2010 and looking back at both what I wrote and my memories of it all, it really was an outstanding event – even considering my considering my initial disappointment. It was fun. It was creative. It fit the story. It’s easy to understand and to talk about. It has an incredible “wow” moment. Really, it’s about everything I every hope for in an event. The criticisms that I’ve made do not change those things. I post them not to put down the event, but to show that there are lessons to learn from even the most successful campaigns and that we can always challenge ourselves to be better. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Why So Serious was brilliant and I think it’s some of 42 Entertainment’s best work, the cake event included. I say this not to apologize for the picking at it that I just did, but because it’s true. If you’re curious to see other ways in which they engaged millions of fans by bringing Gotham to life, check out their page on the entire Why So Serious campaign.

A disclaimer… Several months after this was written, I went to work for 42 Entertainment. I was contracted on another project with them and, while I did occasionally help out with Why So Serious (as did everyone in the office – it was a huge campaign, nobody was spared!) none of what was said here was informed by my time there. Nor has it been informed, in any way, by anyone who was involved with the event.

Check it out. It places a black dripping oil smudge behind all sorts of words related to oil and bp. It is awesome. And brilliant. And hilarious. And I loved it.

For like five minutes. And then it was annoying. I started reading fewer blog posts and doing fewer google searches on things related to the oil spill. Now I still read the latest news. I can find out what’s going on. But after a few minutes, I just stop. Unlike the other procrastination killers I’ve tried in the past, this does nothing to make accessing the material more difficult (those I just turn off and never turn back on). I can access the pages and info just as easily as I could before. And, sure, I might waste some of my time, but I’ve got a constant and annoying reminder that I should move on and, well, after a few minutes, I do.

So, I figure what we need (ok, what I need, but there’s gotta be others like me) is a plugin that will let you customize it by inputting dangerous urls or keywords. It could make the keywords blink or turn the background to that crazy annoying neon pinkish purple color that is so hideous and painful to look at. Whatever. It just needs to make it easy enough to still access and read, but annoying enough that you give up after a few minutes.

Now, who is going to make it for us?

Design your experience for your audience, first and foremost. Don’t design for buzz at the expense of the players, the fans, the deeply committed people who love what you’re doing so much they’re willing to put a lot of time and effort into being there. Because if they had a great time, they’ll tell everyone they know. They’ll blog about it. They’ll post pictures and videos. They’ll become truly engaged. They’ll become your biggest asset.

When things get to this point, The Industry likes to call these people Brand Evangelists.

I like to call them Happy.

Head on over and read the rest of what he has to say. Take it to heart. If you are making an ARG or a transmedia campaign, it is some of the most important advice you will ever receive. Seriously.

I understand the delicate balance that creators face. I know the tension created by the constant pull between the audience and client or project. I know that doing this hip cool transmedia experience is fantastic and exciting and filled with dreams of buzz (and buzzwords like engagement). I know you may be looking down the road and seeing awards and recognition. And, yes, I know that some events and activities are created with not only with press in mind but also with visions of how it’ll look in various reels (demo, awards, case studies…). I know that you and your client want to be able to extract the essence of awesome into tiny little chunks. Bonus points if you can also throw in some meaningful numbers with it – dozens of, hundreds of, thousands of…

All of those things are ok. Great, even. But those numbers, at least some of them, are people. Individual people. Individual people who are spending their time making your fantastic experience fantastic. So be thankful. Celebrate them and, yes, give them what they want. And what they want, even more than the t-shirts and movie trailers, is for their experiences and, even, swag to come with meaning.

Providing meaning isn’t hard to do, even with the stand alone bits and pieces. It really isn’t. It may take a bit of work – a touch of creative writing & design finagling. But it is oh so worth it.

If it’s an event, make the event meaningful within the story by having the actions that happen lead somewhere or change something. Sure, it can still stand alone as an easily digested bite-sized chunk of the overall project, but if it leads somewhere, too, you not only provide meaning but create an accessible way to not only bring more people into the experience, but to encourage them to dig deeper and become even more engaged. (which adds to those meaningful numbers… so you can see how meaning for the players translates into meeting for you and/or your client)

If it’s swag (a t-shirt, a poster, a movie trailer…) do not make it so that it is little more than reward for completing a task. It can be a reward, sure, but the reward and/or task should be integrated into the experience. Whether it helps to clarify things or expand the experience, is up to you, but it should do something that is meaningful for the player experience.

Otherwise, I have to ask, why go to the trouble of attaching it to the transmedia experience. If the goal is, merely, to have these standalone events and/or give out swag – then just have standalone events and/or give out swag. Going through the motions and implying that there is some sort of meaning leads to a less satisfactory experience. Not to mention that having a number of standalone experiences without some unified message and underlying meaning makes the entire transmedia project seem more confusing and complex – which makes it less accessible and more difficult to attract people and/or buzz.

(It should go without saying, right?, that when you make it lead somewhere, you should not go directly to a branded message. That just leads to the Ovaltine factor and nobody likes that.)

Memories are created from meaning. That is important because when people are posting about things and telling their friends, what they are doing is sharing their memories. Think of it this way… when your player goes to their t-shirt drawer, how do you want them to think of that t-shirt you gave them: as some swag they got or as a t-shirt filled with the memories? Which is more likely to be worn? To be talked about?

And, as a bit of a post-script… be careful when you start calling things “tasks” – it’s easy for that attitude to quickly permeate through the audience making the experience feel more like work than, well, an experience. I know of a number of games that have lost players because they didn’t want to do some meaningless work or feel like they were completing a homework assignment. How do you want people to remember things when they start sharing their memories – do you want them to talk about the work involved or about the experience and story? Which do you think will create a more positive message?