OpenIndie, in the first instance, is a user generated film screening site with the aim of democratizing distribution. Development will take place over a number of phases but ultimately using the site users can discover and bookmark films they’re interested in, request a screening in their area and put on a screening of any film on the site. Likewise, filmmakers can add their film to OpenIndie, and upload and promote their film via social media. Plus, in terms of exhibition anyone, from an individual or a group of friends, to theatres, venues, film clubs and festivals will be able to measure demand for a film in their area, screen a film and share their revenue with the filmmaker. We’ve developed this model with Arin’s experience of self distribution in mind and believe that this site can not only change the way that filmmakers distribute their films but also help make independent film production a sustainable enterprise. The key to OpenIndie is that anyone can screen any film!

Ted Hope listed Arin on his ‘21 Brave Thinkers of Truly Free Film‘; Jon Reiss highlighted Openindie in his Huffington Post article on ‘Re-connecting Audiences and Filmmakers‘ (and Jon mentions me in his book Think Outside the Box Office!); Lance Weiler has interviewed Kieran about the ’social curation’ aspects of Openindie.

As part of the next stage of the project, Openindie has now opened its doors to any filmmaker who wants to put their film on the website. When they do this, for a limited time I will also be giving them a one hour consultation. This is my way to give back to the community I love, to learn from the filmmakers, and potentially gain some future collaborators! I’m excited!

Check it out!

EVOKE trailer (a new online game) from Alchemy on Vimeo.

What is interesting is that already — while there has been much publicity before the game, it officially started on March 3rd — a parody has been created. Invoke is described as an “ARG to save the World Bank”.

It isn’t the first parody of an ARG or online game of course. There was a similar one for I Love Bees called CAPitALLism; and more general fun ones like I Love Beer. Last Call Poker had Fast Mall Joker. Jay Bushman wrote a short parody scene of The Beast, as if the true protagonist was Coroner Sweborg [pdf]. But these parodies have not just been created around large-scale (or at least well promoted) branded entertainment ARGs. Small independent ARGs also have parodies too, like Chasing the Fish for Chasing the Wish; GuysGuise webpage for Lockjaw…and I’m sure there are many others (tell me!). There have also been general ARG parodies (parodies of ARGs in general or all ARGs, not a specific ARG), such as Seen Steve. There was even a #pretendargfest (a festival in Twitter for those who weren’t at the 2009 ARGFest). I was honored to be invited to speak on the future of ARGs. I spoke about ARGs in space. And, in a slightly bigger context, Penny Arcade has been running a parody of fantasy franchises since 2005 (it started with this comic and blog post, and has continued with many comics and an extensive wiki of the fantasy ‘world’ for years).

But what I find interesting about these parodies is two things. 1) what it says about nature of the forms; 2) the design issues associated with them. On the first, let’s look back at some discussions about why parodies emerge in the first place. A key insight was introduced by philosopher and semiotician Mikhail Bakhtin in his theory of dialogism. Within dialogism is the notion of the contre-partie. To Bakhtin, there is no discourse (whether it be artistic, rhetorical, religious etc) that doesn’t have its own double, its own parody. A contre-partie provides:

the corrective of laughter and criticism to all existing straightforward genres, languages, styles, voices; to force men to experience beneath these categories a different and contradictory reality that is otherwise not captured in them (Bakhtin, 1981 [1930s], 59)

In order for someone to parody an ARG, or any similar formats, it needs to be recognised as a form in itself. That is, for a long time ARGs have been this weird unknown form that many people have struggled to grasp. Parodies have emerged, but they have been from players already in the community. But the Invoke parody is not by the ARG community, it is by game educators, critics and consultants Christian McCrea and Katharine Neil (I’m not sure of what Katharine does, but I know Christian does those things).

The parody is a critique of the World Bank, capitalism, branded entertainment, ARGs, and Jane McGonigal’s online games. I can understand criticism of the World Bank and capitalism. The fact that the mechanics of the game, the whole multi-sited system and missions can be parodied means that it is a form that is immediately recognisable. It wouldn’t be a parody of form if there was no recognisable form to parody. This means the mechanics and missions have become somewhat standardised. They are not part of experimental fringe culture, but have moved into mainstream creative forms if you like.

Then there is also a critique of the rhetoric of ‘games saving or changing the world’. This is something that Jane has been championing for years. Games are a prevalent expressive mode that is definitely becoming part of all aspects of culture. But, as ARG (cross/transmedia) designer Adrian Hon reflects, there is a tendency “to make some very big statements about using these games to tackle some even bigger problems”. Adrian notes that many of the ’save the world’ games do inspire people, “but that means they can change the world no more – and no less – than stories or books or movies or TV shows.” Another issue is how to measure whether people are ’saving the world’ and whether they are games at all. Here we have a corrective of media spin, if you like, or the simple sound-bites and sometimes simple mechanics that are rife at the moment in the wild wash of gameifying everything (go with me on that word).

The Invoke attack on branded entertainment is somewhat specific to the World Bank being behind this project. But Markus Montola highlights this issue with a few other branded entertainment games:

I don’t know what’s the lesson for ARG designer, for company with a bad public image, or for pervasive games researcher. I remember hearing complaints on The Lost Ring based on the fact that it was financed by McDonalds and collaborated somehow with Beijing Olympic Games. Similarly I remember Vanishing Point being criticized for being a Microsoft Vista promotion. When you mobilize the grassroots, you should prepare to face criticisms such as this one. Personally? My view on World Bank is so much influenced by various criticisms, such as Naomi Klein’s in Shock Doctrine, that I wouldn’t be thrilled to work for them.

Most branded entertainment gets criticised, this isn’t anything new. But there are some brands that are criticised more, and some that may raise issues with the practitioners who work on them. I personally do have a line I don’t cross. Thankfully the brands that I have worked with have all been ones that fit into my OK category. There has been one that I didn’t work with directly, but through a production company. On this project I worked on the initial design of the project pre-pitch. I would not have worked on it if it did go ahead because I didn’t feel the product added any value to people’s lives (even though the multi-billion dollar sales of it says otherwise). Thankfully the project didn’t go ahead so I didn’t have to give the *sorry but too busy* response. But I also personally like it when good can be done with…bad money.

This talk of brands and parodies and criticism and practice brings up what is to me a second interesting issue. That of design. ARG (and trans/crossmedia) designer Jan Libby has commented in Twitter that:

i’m sure the evoke gang knew something like this might come up & have a plan of dealing w/that dynamic of community

Likewise, Michael Andersen (new owner of ARGNet), is

sure there’s a brilliant idea to deal with it / incorporate the efforts

It will be interesting to see what comes next. McGonigal has the problem of dealing with protests within the game (if there do turn out to be any), but perhaps also ones outside like Invoke. Andersen doesn’t see a problem with Invoke, it is the ones that may potentially ruin it for the players within the game that are an issue.

Jane has commented in Twitter that she has:

caught some of the discussion, it’s not unexpected, we will keep trying to communicate the goal;
to create an environment to support new ideas and open innovation, not to push existing solutions;
& that EVOKE is a direct result of demand from African schools for a way to engage students in development.

While these are just tweets Jane sent to fellow ARG designers quickly in response to their conversation (I don’t want to paint Jane into a corner), they do point to the need to educate people about the goals of the project as she has been briefed. I mean, the project could work well for the World Bank, but it seems Jane hasn’t been asked to create a project to improve the image of the World Bank. The initial brief is critical in understanding the nature of a project. I know literary theories and game critics etc all trumpet the “author is dead” and so intention is unknowable and irrelevant, but it can help understand the nature of these projects. Sponsorship (branded entertainment if you like) is on the rise. Critics should not assess it in the same way they have branded entertainment in the past. I could talk more about this but enough for now as there is one other item I wanted to discuss.

How can the designers of projects that are expected to raise criticism (such as having the World Bank behind it) use this knowledge in the design? What are the things they can do? I have some thoughts brewing but I’m keen to hear your ideas…

Check out the main page for great presentations by these wonderful folks: Evan Jones, Lance Weiler, Hunter Weeks, Daniel Cross, Scott Kirsner, Kate Cizek, and Alexandre Brachet. Wohoo!

While TV and film have been dominant forces in 20^th century media, the 21^st century will see moving image content consumed on a vast array of platforms – at a time and a place that is determined by the consumer. Successful individuals and companies will be those who grasp the opportunities offered by this changing landscape; those that confine their operations to a single platform are more likely to struggle, or will certainly limit their growth and creative potential.

The event I’ll be mentoring at is a special one involving Indigenous practitioners, organised for Screen Australia. I’m really looking for to it.

Check out their website: http://www.crossoverlabs.org/

Transmedia storytelling is to fragment stories, offering multiple windows of opportunity to find out more and ‘drill deeper’ into the storyworld. Stories are spreading and migrating from the page and tv/cinema screens to a multitude of platforms, offering choices of how readers and audiences receive the story, participate or collaborate. Publishers are interested in harnessing ‘e’ to give a wider and deeper transmedia experience, writers are now ’story architects’ and advertising agencies are utilising a transmedia concept to firmly place brands at the heart of story. This is an introduction to transmedia storytelling which is suitable for beginners or writers keen to find new ways to reach readers.

Check it out: http://saeonline.com/course/transmedia-storytelling

Only a few days left to submit to Content 360: MIPTV Cross Media Challenge

A rapid-fire LIVE competition across 6 different categories for independent producers, agencies and digital designers to pitch A-list commissioners on original interactive cross-platform content ideas.  Over the last 4 years, 1,400 ideas were received, 42 countries represented, 100 ideas retained, and € 400,000 in development funding awarded.

2010 categories include:

“Engaging with children through the use of connected TV” – Korea Communications Commission (KCC)

“Next generation online video experience” – National Film Board of Canada (NFB) -

“New advertising formats” – TF1 Publicité

“Engaging with teens through branded content for Coca-Cola” – Ogilvy /Coca-Cola

“Next generation audience engagement” – MIPTV Category

“Creating short video combining user-generated and EU online archives content” – European Commission

Check it out: http://www.mipworld.com/en/MIPTV/conferences-and-events/content-360/

Our goal is to bridge the gap between the different media sectors in order share information and find new opportunities. We want the gaming people to meet the TV people, the publishing people to meet the web video people, and everyone to meet the advertising people but let’s be honest, in the end, it’s all about the money.

The media industry has grown up with regulation and significant barriers to entry. The internet has eliminated many of those barriers by giving the general public tools to create their own content and, as a result, radically changing media business models. Now what?

This is not your ordinary listen-to-talking-heads gabfest. We will have one jam packed panel with 5 executives from key sectors that will act as the bridge between 4 technology demos and 2 cross media case studies. The event will move quickly – New York style – with company introductions from the floor allowing everyone to know who is there and what they do. We want something big to come out of this.

The event will focus on:

1. Demonstrations of new cross media technologies.
2. Case studies of successful cross media projects.
3. Networking opportunities between industry sectors.
4. Emerging cross media business models.
5. Discussions about how large media companies are melting the silos internally.

Key questions:

1. What do executives in the media business need to know in order profit from the “melting silos”?
2. What opportunities are there to work with other sectors?
3. Who has done this successfully in the past?

Key industry sectors appearing at the event:

* Video (Web video, TV, Film, DVD)
* Internet (Websites, Podcasts, Social Media, Marketing, Music, Email)
* Gaming (Social Gaming, Console)
* Publishing (Magazine, Books)
* Mobile (Apps)
* Advertising
* Merchandise

Grow a Game

Grow a Game is developed by Values at Play, which is a research project concerned with assisting and encouraging “designers to be mindful of what values their computer games promote. We would like to see a diversification of video game values to include positive principles like equity, creativity, diversity, and negotiation, along with the traditional tropes of violence and machismo”

The game involves coming up with a game from cards with Verbs, Challenges, Games and Values. The video on the site shows Mary Flanagan running a workshop and it seems to do the job of making values part of the design process extremely well. I really like the idea of including values in a game (or even, going further, including all elements that influence the design of a transmedia fiction — say, copyright and exclusive commercial agreements could be elements that constrain the design. But this depends on what the goal of the transmedia design game is: to teach how the various influences on design affect the outcome of a transmedia fiction, or whether it is about educating about the different design elements one needs to know when designing a transmedia fiction, and so on).

IDEO Method Cards

The IDEO Method Cards have a slightly different goal to Grow a Game:

IDEO Method Cards is a collection of 51 cards representing diverse ways that design teams can understand the people they are designing for. They are used to make a number of different methods accessible to all members of a design team, to explain how and when the methods are best used, and to demonstrate how they have been applied to real design projects.

The deck really is beautiful, and is split into four categories: Learn, Look, Ask and Try. Under each of these categories are cards that provide methods to design with people in mind. For instance, under ‘Learn’ you analyse information you’ve collected to identify patterns and insights using (for instance) ‘Affinity Diagrams’. Under ‘Look’, you observe people to discover what they do rather than what they say they do, using (for instance) ‘Rapid Ethnography’. Under ‘Ask’ you enlist people’s participation to elicit information using (for instance) an ‘Unfocus Group’. Under ‘Try’ you create simulations to help empathize and evaluate proposed designs, using (for instance) ‘Paper Prototyping’. Here, the game is more about method, which can be the focus of a transmedia fiction design game too.

Once Upon a Time: The Storytelling Card Game

The Once Upon a Time game is actually a storytelling game, but can be used for instruction. They explain that the game can be used “to exercise essential skills in reading, decision making, cooperative play, and creativity”. But beyond these functions, the game offers a set of story elements that make up the design of a story (which can be used then in designing transmedia fictions). There are three cards in this set: ‘Once Upon a Time’ cards (which are sub-divided into Characters, Items, Places, Aspects, and Events), ‘Happy Ever After’ cards (which are endings), and ‘Interrupt’ cards (which you use to interrupt another person’s story). This game has some elements (specifically the story elements) and mechanics that could translate well to a transmedia fiction design game.

GameGame

Ari Jarvinen created this game to “teach analytical thinking through theory”.

In GameGame, players compete in designing games. Players collect and trade cards in order to create a complete game design. In between, one player gets to play a game publisher, while the other players try to sell their game concepts to her. In the end, the best game design is decided in a vote. Let the best game win!

Now in this game there are both design elements and those ‘meta’ elements that influence design. There are BLAH card categories. The ‘Component’ cards describe what players manipulate in the game (for instance, a chess piece). The ‘End and Victory Condition’ card describes how the game can be won (for instance, ‘Bingo!’). The ‘Theme’ card describes the thematic level of the game (for instance, real estate trade in Monopoly). The ‘Goal’ card describes what effort is being put towards, the directive (for instance, save the Princess). The ‘Environment’ card describes the actual environment of the game (for instance, a chess board or football pitch). The ‘Interface’ card describes the interface tool a player uses (for instance, a joystick or tennis racket). The ‘Game Mechanic’ card describes what players do (for instance, trading). The ‘Assets’ cards are pretty clever and fun. They describe things that you are able to achieve as a designer (for instance, work game journalists into a frenzy about your game or headhunt a top designer to work on your team). I find this design set has a lot of parallels with what I initially looking to do with the transmedia design game (especially when you consider the inclusion of an ‘interface’ — which in my transmedia design game involves combinations of interfaces such as a keyboard and flicking pages in a book).

Do you know of other card games or any other type of design game that you like?

The First Day was Super
Oh how I remember that (real) first day I discovered my superpower. I say ‘real’ because, well, I experience every day as if it is the first day I discover my superpower. That is the down side — the catch — to my superpower. I’m well aware of this now though, and so I leave a note for myself, explaining how I’ve discovered this before. I detail how I shouldn’t call my parents, friends, workmates, no one. They are so sick of me ringing them. They’re happy for me and proud of the good I do with my power, but getting breathless phone calls and frantic visits from me every morning was too much.

I’ve tried many ways to break the news to myself. It is all about timing and easing myself into the truth. Early on I tried leaving a note on my bedside table, an audio message on my alarm, and even a poster on my roof. But that just ruined it for me. I would only have a few seconds of yelling ‘woohoo!’ before I felt like a fool. There is nothing worse than realising you’ve suddenly got a power that can help solve problems for people, solve crime, only to find the solution has already been discovered, by you. For a long time I spent each day depressed, jealous of the morning I first discovered it, and sometimes even resentful of having this superpower with such a stupid catch. But I eventually left a note on my bedroom door. That works, but I have to make sure there are no communication devices in the room, and that I gently explain the situation to myself.

It took many drafts to get that note right. It had to be short enough to ensure I would read it immediately and not throw the envelope to the ground in my race to get out the door. I also wanted to take the time to congratulate myself, and share in my jubilation for a few moments more. As you can see, I’m more at home with the downside of my superpower. But it took many sessions at Superpowers Anonymous to come to terms with it. What good is having super photographic memory when every night you forget you have it? Yes, my fellow superheroes have had many laughs at my expense. You can imagine the names I get, and the jokes.

But hey, I appreciate you giving people with superpowers the chance to share our stories. Writing the experience of my first day has helped me. I didn’t have the confidence to submit my story in the first round because I wasn’t sure how people would respond. But I can laugh about it now. So give me your best taunts if you like. It would be good to hear a new one. Oh, and if by chance you receive multiple submissions from me about my first day, please break the news to me gently.