Alternate Reality Games

Back in 1997 I was waiting for the train to arrive at the station for my morning commute when I noticed that all of the poster ads had been changed. They bore a yellow background and a URL, TheGame.com. That was it. Seeing as I worked for a B2B company (the first, I believe), I had to give the site a try when I got in the office. The url points to a company called Consumer Recreational Services, which apparently creates personalized games, and the index page presents the beginning of a survey designed to get a rough idea of what type of game they'd create for me. It's an interesting business pitch, so I take the bait and answer a few innocuous questions, but the questions quickly get dark. Do I enjoy harming small animals? What kind of sick games do these people make? Soon the survey ends, and a brief message apologizes because CRS is unable to help me.

Now I'm really interested.

I went back and answered the questions as if I was a psycho who dragged Morris across pavement, but I still got the same no-can-do response. I worked in marketing at the time, and I began to get the feeling that this was some type of promotion, something new and really fun. A few days later I learned that Michael Douglas was starring in a new film about a live-action game that goes wrong.

Alternative reality games, as they've come to be known, infuse marketing with story and mystery, and I've grown to respect and enjoy them, which is saying a lot for a guy who still quotes from The Merchants' War.

Today I took a bounce through the ARG developed around "LOST" and found it a blast. It stretches across a few other sites, such as that of fictional author Gary Troup, Oceanic Air ("We'll take you to destinations you never imagined!"), the tin-foil wearing DJ Dan and some cryptic messages left by Hanso-hating hacker Persephone. If you like "LOST," I recommend the ride.