ARGs as casual reading

May 17, 2015 11:13 AM

What are some archived, well-documented ARGs I can explore after-the-fact?

The AI web game and its wonderful fan follow-up Lockjaw were formative experiences for me as a kid, but I didn't have the time to play any of the next wave of Alternate Reality Games and never got around to diving back in. I'd love to spend a lazy weekend reading about the best examples of the genre from the decade-plus since. What are some ARGs that are:

1) Still mostly online.

2) Documented and curated. This is the main thing I'm looking for - I don't really want to solve the puzzles for myself, I want to read about and follow how the players experienced the game. I think, back in the day, we called this a Guide and a Trail.

3) Genuinely interesting.

No ski resorts.

posted by Simon! to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

For my money Where Else? Exploring Nonchalance, the extended write-up of The Jejeune Institute by mefi's own User92371 (aka Cardhouse) is among the best pieces of writing about transmedia that I've ever read. It is in no way objective about the experience and all the better for it.
posted by Hogshead at 1:34 PM on May 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

The Lost Experience was very extensive, and most of it is still around online, and thoroughly documented.
posted by jbickers at 1:53 PM on May 17, 2015

UZ?! OMG! I check ask.me once in a blue moon. Odd to stumble in today and see this! Not sure if you were around for Metacortechs, but a couple of the players put together a nice walkthrough in the form of a book after the fact. It's online, as well. You won't get the sites & such, but you'll see the game from their perspective - the story, some of the puzzles (solved, obviously). You can find archives of the sites here. It was a fan fiction effort for the Matrix and created by those of us who did Lockjaw with the addition of vpisteve, SpaceBass, & OzyY2K - so may have a style & narrative feel that you dig/remember.
posted by imbri at 2:41 PM on May 17, 2015

Perplex City? That's a link to the Quick Start page on the Perplex City wiki. It was very neat (and involved MeFi's own adrianhon).
posted by undue influence at 4:13 AM on May 18, 2015