It's Just A Fantasy, But Real Life Is Always In Play
from the the-latest-online-gaming-trend dept
It's been nearly two years since the surprising success (read: obsessed players) of the online game that was associated with the movie AI and EA's launch (and subsequent quick failure) of their online game Majestic. However, those two well-hyped "games" have created a whole new world of "Alternate Reality Gaming", according to the NY Times. These aren't online games like The Sims Online or There.com, but rather, these are puzzles that get players involved, as if they're tracking down a crime. They create elaborate websites and mysterious trails. Certainly, some are much more successful than others. A few are simply trying to jump on the bandwagon and are really attempts at promoting some sort of product. However, there are a group of people, it seems, who are really quite obsessed with getting in on the latest of these games as soon as they start. Of course, many people say that none of the games have been able to match "The Beast" - which was the official name (though, no one playing the game knew it) of the game for AI. I definitely see the appeal of such games, but at the same time, it doesn't surprise me that they haven't become entirely mainstream yet. To do it right would require just the right mix of storytelling, creativeness, and sneakiness - which probably don't come together all that often. To some extent, these games seem like they've captured what made Myst such a success years ago. Instead of focusing on the gameplay aspect - they're focused on the story, and building challenging puzzles that advance the story, while immersing the player in the experience.
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