EURAM 2010

Altenative Reality Games Exploration Peter Zackariasson University of Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law peter.zackariasson@handels.gu.se Timothy L. Wilson Umeå University School of Business tim.wilson@usbe.umu.se The Art of the Heist Peter Zackariasson Timothy L. Wilson Thank you! I Love Bees Introduction of the Audi A3 in USA (2006) Promotion for the video game Halo (2004) There is nothing more engaging then a good story! Storytelling as archaeology Platformless narrative Designing for a hive mind A whisper is sometimes louder than a shout The "this is not a game" (TINAG) aesthetic Real life as a medium Collaborative storytelling Not a hoax Participants Lurkers Buzzers The Beast Promoted the Steven Spielberg film A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) Within hours after Halo 2 was launched it sold 2.4 million copies, reaping $125 million in sales The film A.I. had a gross worldwide earning of $235 million As a direct result of the Audi campaign, online buzz for the A3 grew by more than four times Are ARG really that effective? ARG participation Characteristics of ARG 200,000 participants in a single day More then 3 million visitors 3 million active participants