Narrative paradox and the design of alternate reality games (ARGs) and blogs

Abstract

This article explores the narrative paradox and how we can design interactive fictions where actions and narrations can contribute for a more meaningful experience within an interactive setting. In this paper we argue that pervasive and alternate reality games (ARGs) and blogs, where participants can cooperate and compete in the real application of tactics and strategies as they play the game online and offline, can contribute to create a more engaging environment where players are able to build their own stories. Player made content and hyperfiction are useful tools to better understand alternate reality games and blogs. The analysis of playable fiction can contribute to recombine action and narration in digital ecologies and we may consider that implosive stories, in which everything happens simultaneously, present in digital spaces allow us to better understand the problem of interactive environments that use mixed technologies. We consider that ARGs are inclusive spaces where gamers can learn how to deal with different media, different communities and different genders. In this mix media spaces gamers can play with action and narrative in order to design their own fictions and stories in real time. In this article we consider some ARGs, I'm Trying to Believe, I Love Bees, Uncle Roy All Around You, among others, in order to argue that this persistent games can be useful to better understand the narrative paradox.