Alternate Reality Games as Platforms for Practicing 21st-Century Literacies

Abstract

Alternate reality games (ARGs) are a new genre of transmedia practice in which players collaboratively hunt for clues, make sense of disparate information, and solve puzzles to advance an ever-changing narrative that is woven into the fabric of the real world. This paper highlights the potential for ARGs to promote 21st-century literacy skills. We propose a meta-level framework for 21st-century literacies composed of seven core literacies: gather, make sense, manage, solve, create, respect, collaborate. We then describe how the unique properties of ARGs can be used to teach these core literacies, drawing upon expert interviews and examples from numerous ARGs. Finally, we outline the major challenges and opportunities for using ARGs in the service of education, focusing on reuse, budgetary issues, scale, and improvisation. We end with an outline of key research questions that need to be addressed to merge ARGs and education.

Exercising library and information literacies through alternate reality gaming

“…With these multiliteracies inherently practised in games (Gee, 2003), including alternate reality games (Bonsignore et al, 2012), it can be seen that constructivist principles are used extensively in games, thus showing that constructivism is a useful educational perspective for game-based learning applications.…”

“…Definition of the term has previously proved difficult, as various sources tend to focus on different aspects of the genre. However, an analysis and amalgamation of aspects of 15 sources (Alternate Reality Gaming Network, 2002;Bono and Breeze, 2008;Bonsignore et al, 2012;Chess and Booth, 2013;Dena, 2008;Gurzick et al, 2011;Hakulinen, 2013;Hansen et al, 2013;Kim et al, 2008;Martin and Chatfield, 2006;McGonigal, 2003b;Ornebring, 2007;Stewart, 2008;Szulborski, 2005;Unfiction, 2002) presents the following succinct definition: "An alternate reality game is a game that focuses on delivering a platformless, fragmented narrative experience to its players. This narrative is progressed through the collaborative solving of puzzles that, along with the narrative, is delivered through the use of multiple mediums (audio, text, and video, amongst others) and technologies that utilise these media.…”

“…This is eased by the frequent publication of "game guides" by player communities, wherein players document their journey through the game, as well as their findings (Dena, 2008). It is important to note that this documentation is often not explicitly required by the game, but the content synthesis and collaboration that occur during guide creation are inherent learning experiences (Bonsignore et al, 2012).…”

Microcore: A Playable Case Study for Improving Adolescents Argumentative Writing in a Workplace Context

“…ARGs are a relatively new genre of transmedia storytelling in which "players collaboratively hunt for clues, make sense of disparate information, and solve puzzles to advance an everchanging narrative that is woven into the fabric of the real world" [14]. Players of ARGs subscribe to the "this is not a game" (TINAG) ethos, wherein they participate in the experience in authentic ways that make it feel like it is not a game, although in most cases they know it is.…”

“…While the authentic nature of ARGs provides many learning opportunities, most ARGs run a single time and are not replayable, making them costly to produce and limiting their potential reach [14]. Strategies for creating reusable ARGs are being identified [19], and some of them look very much like a more recent incarnation of experiential simulations.…”