culture hacker

You’ve taken the plunge and decided that you really want to go behind the scenes of an Alternate Reality Game in some capacity. Perhaps you’ve had an amazing experience as a player, or maybe you’ve just researched the genre and thought it sounded like it was right up your alley. Because, let’s face it – putting on an ARG is a lot like writing a book, playing games, acting in a play, and setting up a scavenger hunt all at the same time. It is a lot of fun to do – but absolutely emotionally, mentally, and physically taxing (as well as satisfying), even for those who are not leads on the project. But as an ARG designer, what skills are essential? What can you expect? This is by no means a thorough list, but from personal experience some of the first things that came to mind:

1. A thick skin. There will be criticism, and it will likely come from both within your design group as well as from the players. They are two separate types of criticism to deal with and require separate coping techniques.

   Hopefully the internal criticism is all constructive and only inspires you to do better things, although in a time crunch sometimes the “praise sandwich” and other niceties tend to get discarded in favor of bluntness for the deadline’s sake. If you’re starting to feel needled, honesty is always the best policy – don’t let small annoyances build up until you suddenly explode over what may seem minor to others. If you need clarification on motives, ask for it as soon as possible in order to prevent bent or hurt feelings and dysfunctional groups down the road.

   External criticism in another animal altogether, and affects people in totally different ways. You may end up taking it very personally or may not. What you need to keep in mind is that when players complain about something, it is likely because they don’t have the whole picture or because something in the game play is broken. Sometimes there is a ringleader who sets off a wave of complaints. Honestly examine your game mechanics and story and see if anything needs to be tweaked. If everything is good, let the players blow off steam. Maybe have a character drop a line to one of the complainers and try to build a relationship. In very extreme cases, such as when game play is completely broken but in the process of being repaired, a designer might quietly contact an invested player out-of-game to let them know the team is addressing the issues.

2. Pick a talent, any talent. Especially on a grassroots game, there is room on a design team for many different kinds of talent. Of course writers are appreciated, but so are copy editors, researchers, puzzle testers, blog software installers, graphics people, security specialists, public relations experts, community moderators, organizers, schedulers, producers, and so on. Combinations of the above skills are even better. Professional teams tend to be a little more rigid in their job descriptions.
3. Trust in your team. If you’re not the lead, you probably don’t know the big picture. Sometimes you might even be asked to do something that seems counterintuitive. That’s fine if you trust your lead, but what if you have never worked with that person before? How do you build trust?

   First, don’t stop doing work simply because you think someone else is wrong. That might cause a domino effect down the line with others waiting on your work to do their own. It’s okay to ask where it fits in, though. Even better, if possible (and it’s not always!) is to have place to chat with your team both asynchronously and real-time. Staying in regular contact via Base Camp, message boards, and email, and then having meetings or quick questions via IRC, instant messenger, phone, or Skype really helps to build team trust and relationships as well as helps everyone meet their expectations.

So there’s a starting point for those looking to venture to the other side of the curtain. Those of you who have designed or puppetmastered games – have anything to add? Please speak up in the comments. We would love to hear from you.