by Michel Reilhac , published on 4.09.2009

A concrete presentation of ARG/ERG through the case of Breathe (a project by Yomi Ayeni in London) and two projects by Caroline Gerdolle. Questions on games mixing reality and fiction and the importance of maintaining the confusion between the two dimensions in order to keep a permanent effect of surprise and ambiguity. It’s the idea of creating something that’s real even though it’s fake.

Question on how to manage the expectations of the players that might feel slighted when they realize that they’ve embarked into a fictional world that they didn’t suspect.

The notion of game and the issues at stake, the involvement of the audience and the authors: to the difference of the fixed situation of the relationship in a linear story (feature film), the involvement in an ARG can vary in depth depending on the moment and the availability of the audience/actor.

ARG Breathe

Are they really fictions? Is there a real freedom in the writing, a fictional quality? What’s the status of the author?

Notion of the Rabbit hole: ARG has holes where one can fall like in “Alice in Wonderland” and tip over into a new dimension where what is fake is accepted as real.

The parallel with a new dimension of role-playing games.

Audience members have become image experts and are very demanding on the dramatic quality and surprise of the offer.

The bridge between reality and fiction must be fluid.

The role of improvisation is great, it’s a guarantee of the quality.

The notion of uniqueness of each project and the difficulty, at this stage, of having a model for the writing, the scripting and the production.

The question of insiders is incompatible with the surprise of the participant, it’s important to not to give the key to the mystery before the game.

The question of ethics to avoid falling into information manipulation: example of the RTBF announcing its separation from Flanders.

Problem of the relationship to reality, in the documentary realm: how to use the tools of entertainment and interactive fiction to create a link to documentaries, especially between the audience members and the subjects of the reality that is being depicted?

Questions regarding the problem of the blurry limit between reality and fiction.

Comparative reference to serious gaming (a videogame based on real facts) and crowd sourcing.

Michel Reilhac