Bloomington, Indiana was ground zero for ARGFest 2011, and it was arguably the most successful fest to date. The most prominent thing I always seem to come away with from this annual event is this: Community. In the words of J.C. Hutchins, “People, man. People.”

Indeed, this conference/fest (or rather, “fest-o-con”) is filled with wonderful people, who come together in an environment that promotes equality and mutual respect and admiration for creative talents and inspirational ideas. Players and creators co-mingle, learning from each other, and often meet for the first time in person people only acquainted via a series of tubes.

Players learn how creators of ARGs and other experiences they’ve enjoyed actually think, and are given an opportunity to thank, and heck, even acquire autographs, of those people they admire. Puppetmasters and newcomers to the field have an extremely valuable opportunity to play games and chat with players – the people for whom they create their games, art, and stories.

This is what makes ARGFest tick.

People.

From panels and sessions composed of professionals and players (or players who have become professional creators…or even professional players) – to general social interaction and pure enjoyment of the venue and city in which the fest takes place.  Below is an overview of what I took away from this year’s ARGFest.

The Hutch

This year, I had the pleasure of finally meeting J.C. Hutchins. I first came across ‘The Hutch’ in late 2008 when he began blogging enthusiastically about a silver briefcase he received in the mail. This mystery “silver case” was quickly discovered to be part of an ARG executed for the video game FEAR 2. At that time, he seemed to me a super-mega-popular-celebrity-blogger with an infectious joy for excitement and stories and a healthy love for people, and I’d followed his antics ever since.

After meeting him this weekend at ARGFest – that perception has not changed. J.C. is a professional author and creative storyteller, with a demonstrated genuine love for people. He attended ARGFest to grace us with a keynote speech which he titled “Getting to Good”, in which he describes his years from college to today and the lessons he learned as someone who wanted to create things. His keynote hit me on a very personal level – I felt his passion, and his childhood and youth experiences struck a chord; how his life as a youth who often spent time alone shaped his perception of the world and the importance of story, and of people. His closing remark for those working their way up the ladder as a creator of stuff struck home: “You won’t be alone. If there anything this community has taught me, it’s that you’re not going to be working alone.”

That’s the key element to this community, as JC put it – “the incredible value of collaboration, playing nice with others”. So often fledgling creators are left wondering if what they’re doing, if the type of stuff they’re creating will be accepted and gain an audience, if their vision will be understood, if they can make a living on it. Or as players, we often find ourselves surrounded by people who don’t “get” what we do or what we love. Yet when we’re able to come together and form an oft-cited “hive mind”, something happens – not just an intellectual sharing of knowledge and experience, but a personal encouragement and inspiration, a whole greater than the sum of its parts. We are not alone; neither as players nor creators, and ARGFest really is an embodiment of this community mentality.

After the fest concluded, I and a number of other stragglers had the pleasure of having one last meal with him, and on his way out, he continuously emphasized how happy and thankful he was to be able to spend time with us. JC is indeed a celebrity of his own right, but he treated everyone else like the celebrities. That’s an inspiration, and if only everyone thought like that, one can only imagine the types of things we’d be able to create together.

Check out JCHutchins.net for more about his past work and collaborations.  J.C. Hutchins left an indelible impression on us with his keynote speech – you can watch it below.

The ARGish Inquisition

Through previous years, a tradition took hold in which an individual would act as a “Grand Inquisitor” – an evil character who opens the floor for questions during or after panels and speaker sessions, typically in a nefarious, challenging manner, asking the tough questions, and getting the ball rolling.

This year, Andrea Phillips took on the role, and gave it a twist… she’d hoped to play a kinder, gentler inquisitor. Where previous inquisitors (including the likes of Elan Lee, Brian Clark, and Steve Peters) entertained by instilling in speakers and panelists a nervous fear of the upcoming questions, she would ask the difficult questions in the manner of a sort of genuine curiosity.

However, whether it was her subdued evil demeanor, or the fact that all she made any audience members who had a question don a nefarious black wig, Andrea shared: “I was sure I’d be the mildest Inquisitor ARGfest has ever seen, but in fact I found depths of cruelty I hadn’t realized were there.”

Andrea did a wonderful job as Grand Inquisitor this year, clearly putting much thought and effort into her role! You can follow her musings and writings at DeusExMachinatio.com.

Curation? A 4DF first

At previous fests, the ARG museums were organized by the likes of Dav Flamerock, Agent Lex, and Konamouse. With past organizers not in attendance this year, however, I was asked if I’d be willing to step in to head up the display. After brewing on it for a while, I opted to take the step.

Then it got real… The fest that is. Taking on the museum with only a few weeks to spare, I didn’t want it to be a half-brained last-minute fest component. I have a great respect for the creative talent that’s poured into artifacts created for use in many ARGs and marketing campaigns — It’s only fair to put a solid effort into displaying that work as an inspiration to other creators.

So, in moving forward, I opted to extend the museum with an additional element. I’d initially intended to have QR codes provide a detailed outline about each project on display, a sort of mini-IMDB purely for this ARGFest museum. But, as the weeks before ARGFest turned into days, there simply wasn’t enough time to build the entire system and catalogue all the details I’d envisioned.

In the end, I focused on a trivia element for the museum, providing for attendees a chance to have a bit of fun, test their past knowledge, and encourage a little more appreciation and exploration of the artifacts others had created. The mobile web-based trivia system ended up being a great success.

There was even an…unexpected intrusion. Some other evil inquisitor hatched a plot to infiltrate the museum and trivia game in a fit of vengeance, having been replaced by this year’s kinder inquisitor. It appeared, however, that this “Evil inQuisitoR” hatched his QR plan a little too late, and thankfully no ill came of it. Let that be a lesson to envious inquisitors looking for vengeance – it helps to launch your plans while there are still curious eyes exploring the exhibits, and less drowsy, sleepy-eyed late-night partiers who’ve already done their fair share of exploration. ;)

At the conclusion of the sessions, 5 winners were announced and given bragging rights for their ARG knowledge – Dee Cook, Daniel Van Gool, Kyle Woollums, Eric Kays, and Jim Senderhauf. Prizes included a selection of topically related books including:

• “This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming“, by Dave Szulborski
• “This is Not A Game“, by Walter Jon Williams
• “House of Leaves“, by Mark Z. Danielewski
• “Codes, Ciphers, Secrets and Cryptic Communication“, by Fred B. Wrixon
• “Chasing the Wish“, comic book by Dave Szulborski based on his ARG of the same name

Unfortunately my time at the fest ended up more focused on the museum than the sessions, but it was a fun and a rewarding experience. I was honored to be asked to take on the task, but my thanks must go out to all those who donated items for the museum display and trivia prizes, as well as helping with many trivia questions – it would not have been a success without you.

On Hospitality, Hustling, Herman and a Silver River…

While half of ARGFest is composed of panels and sessions, the other half is a social and gaming mixing pot. Other elements include FestQuest, a hospitality suite, and the straggler’s supper, but there may also be anything from collaborative mystery solving to late night drinkering at local establishments.

One element that seems to have become a tradition are Rock Band sessions in the hospitality suite. It’s quite a spectacle when a packed room erupts along with a drumset and two guitars in a chorus of Still Alive. The hospitality suite is the hang out during periods between scheduled events, and especially in the evening while people trickle away for what few hours of sleep remain each night.

The sessions this year were opened with an entertaining game from Awkward Hug (creators of Must Love Robots and Socks Inc.) called Wisconsin Hustle. This is a mobile game that’s set to release in winter 2011, but was brought to ARGFest for play-testing in card form and, well, for pure entertainment. Suffice to say, many retro dance moves made a reappearance, and the game got rave reviews from attendees (though no one ended up pantsless).

Another thing people have started doing in recent years is geocaching. Having been geocaching for two years now, I made the effort to get out and around the venue area, as did a few others who have taken up the hobby. Bloomington boasts a fairly active geocaching community, and Indiana University is peppered with caches around campus – including one named for Herman B. Wells, “Hangin’ with Herman“. I visited this one with SynthBio, and we had a bit of… fun with Herman. Geocaching is also a great way to appreciate the area and even learn a bit more about its history.

What better type of meal at an interactive storytelling/gaming conference than an interactive restaurant? A crowd of us hit up the HuHot Mongolian Grill for dinner on Saturday night. At the Grill, you fill a bowl of ingredients of your choosing to hand off to the grillers who literally circle a sizzling slate, tossing and cooking up your meal in front of your eyes as you wait, and making a show of it. And it’s also Delicious!

In addition to the social elements, gaming, discussions, sessions and panels on ARGs and transmedia, often there are puzzles included in the festivities. This year was no exception, although much of the puzzling seemed to be well focused on one particular piece from fellow Canadians Stitch Media. In the same manner as last year, Evan Jones included a puzzle in the ARGFest program. An apparently simple puzzle taunting attendees to solve it — a few lines of poetic phrases, emblazoned with Stitch’s logo. …were it so easy.

A number of us pored over the puzzle, drawn in by its intricacies and stubborn mysteries. We researched, tested, played, folded, poked, drew, scratched, and tore our hair out over the course of the weekend. All to no avail. Eventually, with the fest drawing to a close, we were nudged ever so slightly in the right direction, until it finally clicked, and we saw glorious freedom from its shackles! That puzzle is here reproduced along with the hints for your likewise inevitable discombobulation.

Socks and Cogs: FestQuest

This year’s FestQuest was organized by Studio Cypher‘s Ian Pottmeyer. It began Saturday at 1pm a couple of blocks from the venue. We set off at staggered time in a number of teams, following clues that took us from location to location around the university, with puzzles ranging from mathematical riddles to cryptic decoder rings to maze-like instructions told to us by Ian-himself-disguised-in-drag.

Teams set out at scattered times, but it was my team that ended up at the destination last. Not without reason, of course! With the intended access to a segment of the quest unexpectedly locked, we still opted to go for the full experience, so we circled around the building for another access point into an underground tunnel spanning two buildings on the campus. We were glad we did, but it also allowed another team to pass us. Nonetheless, much entertainment, brain teasing, and hijinks were had in this year’s FestQuest.

In the end, it was another raging success with many heartily enjoying the experience. Many props to Studio Cypher on a well-planned and executed scavenger hunt.

Other memorable moments

On Friday night I had an intriguing chat with Reed Berkowitz (@soi) regarding his perspective on the nature of fiction and reality. Reed spoke on the Saturday morning in a session entitled Reality As a Story-telling Medium.  He had some very intriguing and philosophical views on the perception of reality, truth, and fiction, and his session prompted a good amount of questions.

Martin Aggett of Remix Fiction launched a new project at ARGFest through the ARG Museum. The Martin Aggett Story chapter 1 ran in parallel to ARGFest, and included a black briefcase display incorporated into the museum. Some elements of his launch plans were met with a few minor hiccups though, which he discusses at opengamedesign.com.  But hey, who could avoid examining a mysterious briefcase in the environment of mysteries that is ARGFest?

In heading across the border on the way to ARGFest, I also learned a lesson for future border crossings with a large luggage bag of random collected items: Don’t say you’re going to a “convention” and setting up a “display”. That equates to products and sales at the border crossing guards. Also, document and itemize all items in print for easy perusal when questioned, including a detailed outline of what you’re actually doing, and for whom. (Who merely ‘attends’ an organized event, but helps with an element of the event itself, voluntarily, with no monetary gain?)

Final thoughts

There is a growing group of us who would be excited and willing to prepare a proposal for ARGFest Toronto 2012 – any thoughts?  Where would you like to see ARGFest next year?

For photos from ARGFest Bloomington, check out this flickr group!

Below are some of the sessions from the weekend as videos or in slide form. Thanks for Remix Fiction for recording and making videos available on Vimeo:

• Lance Weiler’s Videocast
• Drew Davidson’s session, ARGs in Education
• John Maccabee’s session, Transmedia Patter (part 2)
• Ian Pottmeyer’s session, Let Your Players Play
• Slides from SociaLens’ Taming the Butterfly

Now, if you dare, continue on to page 2 to relive ARGFest vicariously through a collection of tweets that went out from attendees over the weekend!

When I was child, my best friend Greg and I went through a stage of imaginative paper-based adventures — sure, we occasionally played “cowboys and indians” and whatnot, and we played with toys and action figures, instilling life into Star Wars figurines (I even vaguely recall a Star Wars lunch pail!) — but this was different. This was actually a very simplistic, childish sort of ‘game mastering‘.

I can’t remember how it actually started, but this was what we did for fun: We each took turns designing mazes on paper, secretly, on our own time, and then we’d sit down and take turns pretending to be trapped in each others’ mazes, exploring and trying to escape by saying where we wanted to go or what we wanted to do.

If I was the one exploring, I’d only see a portion of the map – whether it was obscured by a piece of paper with a hole cut in the middle that he’d move around to follow where “I” went, or whether he actually drew the maze as I moved around. But as I explored, as I turned each corner, opened a door or entered a new area, something new would happen – I might discover some treasure, a special item, some crazy mysterious object, or have to face an enemy and decide what to do. Whatever happened after I made my choice was decided by him.

The levels we designed for each other would typically be very simple (we were kids after all), but we loved the fun of exploring, interacting with other, and making decisions on the fly knowing that the results really were made up as we went along – that’s what made it fun.

The more we played, the more adventurous our games got, the more our levels ‘matured’ as we tried new things. The environments became labyrinths, forests, or space ships with intricate maps and structures. We’d start writing little introductory stories to lay out a mission or some task that had to be accomplished. I remember designing out levels of buildings, with secret rooms and interesting items to find, pick up and discover. We even built in ‘triggers’ where, for example, we’d note that somewhere on that map a door or hole in a wall might now be open if they picked up a particular item or flipped a switch somewhere else.

As a child, this was our game-like way of storytelling, of having fun, and it was a unique sort of adventure for us. This type of gameplay was of course nothing new – it’s a basic form of what’s known as table-top role playing, where a game-master (GM) creates a world, and leads other people, friends or acquaintances, in a game of exploration with characters the players design and improve within the guidelines of the environment defined by the GM.  Every action and decision is interactive between the player and the GM, and the story itself might unfold over the course of a day, weeks, months, or more.

It’s also the basic structure of role playing games (RPGs) – where a player controls an avatar of sorts, and explores a storyworld, discovering its story and seeing their character grow and change dynamically with every decision they make and encounter they face.

As I grew older and migrated to computers for gaming, that form of play translated to computer RPGs – text-based dungeon crawlers (like Zork), early internet Telnet environments (like the Muddy Waters MUD), and classic graphical RPGs (like the Bard’s Tale trilogy).  One thing remained the same for me, however – it wasn’t the idea of role-playing that I loved as much as the act of discovery. Any game that had a complex story or an environment ripe for exploration, I set out to map. Whether it consisted of rooms I connected as nodes and lines on paper after exploring cardinal directions in text, or whether it was a map of walls and doors sketched on grid paper – I simply had to discover and explore, to visit every nook and cranny, find secrets, uncover the whole story.

Today, when I look back at those games I first played as a child on a piece of paper, I realize that the passion I had for exploration and discovery has translated into what many today call alternate reality games (ARGs).

While both ARGs and RPGs both generally consist of core narratives, ARGs do have a clear distinction from RPGs.  In a role-playing game, the player enters the realm of the story in the form of a character or avatar; you play that role and explore the storyworld within its reality, revealing the narrative and building your character. In an alternate reality game, it’s the other way around – it’s as if the characters in the story are “playing the role” of real beings in our reality.  Where in an RPG, the Game Master effectively throttles how we role-play a character in their world, in an ARG the Puppet Master (PM) defines how the characters play their roles in our world.

And yet, the PM still has the final creative word on how the story plays out. They decide what narrative is uncovered, what characters exist and how they interact, what events will, can, or might happen, and to what degree the players influence the story. But, by its very nature of playing out in our reality rather than in a relative sandbox of a defined world environment, it means the results of every action and decision made by the player are essentially decided live by the PM. As a result of this interaction, the story that the player takes away from an ARG can potentially be far more personalized – not based on the decisions of the character they role-play, but based on their decisions in the real-world, on themselves, now an actual part of the story.

For myself, I also find it interesting that my childlike love for exploration and discovery, for mapping out environments and worlds, has translated to the ARG genre.  If the world of an RPG could be mapped out on grid paper, then the ARG equivalent could be described as the ‘trailhead’ — a timeline trail of interconnected events and assets laying out the route that the player, or players, have taken through the experience, through the open-ended exploration of… well, a real-world series of ‘nodes’, as the story is revealed.

For me, that love for world-mapping has taken shape in the form of the wiki. That eventually led to the creation of Wikibruce.com – the resource I set up for ARG players, providing a platform to ‘map out the story-world’ as it were; to document discoveries and retrace stories as they’re uncovered – stories created by the puppet-master as their games progress.

I was never really one for “role” playing, personally (heck, I can count the times I’ve dressed up in a costume with three fingers). And even in ARGs I’ve recently begun taking more of a back-seat when it comes to interaction and ‘play’ (mostly due to lack of spare time).

But this, really, is one of my attractions to the ARG genre — I don’t have to play some version of me that isn’t me. I can just be myself (with a tiny bit of suspended disbelief, or rather performance of belief).  If you think about it, it’s actually the PM that ends up playing more characters roles in an ARG than the players themselves.

If I were to define an Alternate Reality Game, from my perspective it would be something like this:

An ARG provides an experience for both the discovery and creation of a dynamic story, in real-world time, that interacts with and incorporates its audience and elements of their real life within its narrative – from its beginning through to its end.

This is, to me, the most appropriate description of an alternate reality game or what I, here at 4DF, refer to when I say four-dimensional fiction.

The hallways and mazes once drawn in pencil on paper are now city streets; the items once picked up to the inventory now show up in the mailbox; the hidden items once discovered are now retrieved from GPS-located dead-drops; the puzzles once solved to unlock doors are now encoded messages in personal email or cell phone voicemail; the crazy mysterious objects are now physical, tangible artifacts from within the story itself; characters encountered while traveling down a street may now maintain blogs and have social profiles – and who knows, they may actually be encountered out on the street…

It’s my childhood pencil and paper games of discovery and adventure translated to 21st century real-life story-based entertainment — whether I am the one exploring the maze, or the one secretly drawing out the levels.

One day, you sit down to watch TV, and catch a teaser trailer for a movie not scheduled for release for another year. It catches your eye, but you inevitably move on.

The next week, you receive a bulky piece of mail containing a hardcover book… you don’t initially recognize the author, or the company that sent it, but the topic interests you. As you open it, a piece of paper drops from its folds on which is written an email and phone number with a note asking you to contact the author by either method.

You’re curious, so you call the phone number and hear a recorded message from this person, who outlines their desperate situation and asks for help.

At this point you wonder where it came from. Out of curiosity, you start checking around. A quick google shows that the author doesn’t seem to exist, nor does the company. But you do find that the book and author are related to an upcoming movie, and you remember the teaser that caught your attention last week – the author’s name is familiar now, and you recognize their face.  Now you’re excited. For whatever reason, the lead character in the movie just contacted you, personally, and they need your help – a series of events are unfolding, right now, today, this week.

Enticed, you dig a little deeper… in doing so, you discover websites that reveal more about this character, this company, and the recent events that prompted them to contact you, and why. You find other people online who’ve been contacted as well, so you chat with them to find out what they know, and team up with them moving forward.

Over time, there are puzzling situations that you have to resolve, other characters you need to talk to, interact with and influence in your strive towards various accomplishments and resolutions, discovering more and more of the story as it plays out.

You’re taken places – nearby locations for secret exchanges of information, or for real-world tasks to be carried out. You watch videos, find clues in commercials, record and share videos denouncing an antagonist’s propaganda, even crowd-source a solution to a problem on your cell phone, with a bit of augmented reality thrown in… Your ongoing curiosity in this amazing story drives your enthusiasm. Your interaction and teamwork with others doing the same forms bonds and friendships, and a community of fans.

You become immersed in the story so much that when it ends and you’ve saved the day, you cheer and celebrate with your community and your friends!

Oh yeah, and there was that movie you wanted to see too… You wonder if or how your actions helping this author and the company had an influence in that story. Now you have to see the movie (and with friends, especially other people with whom you’ve shared the experience)!

You go and see the film. On screen you spot the actual location you visited to receive top secret information from the company that sent you the package. Then the person who asked you for help, the lead character in the movie, references the mystery that you just helped solve!

Your experience, the story you helped to complete over the course of a few months, connected you with a grander set of events – you became a part of the movie.

Shortly after the movie airs, Amazon shoots you an email recommending a novel that’s soon to be released – an autobiography written by the fictional author as their followup to their other book, the one you received in the mail.  You want it.

Being a comic book fan, you’re excited to hear about a series soon to be released centered on the company that sent you the package; about its rich history, chronicling many of its past …’mishaps’. You want it.

You’re at the local toy store one day, and you see a bobblehead – of the author. It makes you chuckle. You want it.

A year down the line, with this property still going strong (it’s now a thriving universe with a history, many developed characters, events, and stories you’ve come to follow and enjoy), a sequel to the film is announced… along with a video game spin-off on the gaming console you own. You want to immerse yourself in them, and discover what other exciting experiences the universe has to offer. You note their release dates.

Then, as you sit down for dinner, tuning into the latest episode of the TV series continuation that launched a few months ago, you get a phone call.

You recognize the voice.

It’s the author… the real person is talking to you. They’re called you because they remember how you helped them last time.  Your help is needed again.

They ask you, and you say yes.

Tupperware. In the woods.

Who wouldn’t want to find that?  Well if you do, you’re probably a geocacher, or else you’d make a good one.

A brief primer: What’s Geocaching?

Geocaching (pronounced gee-oh-cash-ing, or gee-oh-kay-shing to some) is a relatively new hobby that began in 2000 when selective availability, the government regulation that degraded GPS satellite accuracy to the public, was discontinued. GPS devices – handhelds and navigational tools among them – became all the rage, and far more useful and practical!

Not one day later, Dave Ullmer of Beavercreek, Oregon thought “Hey, this might be fun!” and he hid what would now be revered as the world’s first geocache (now commemorated by a plaque). Back then he called it a ‘GPS stash hunt’, and his little scavenger hunt spawned a hobby that now covers the world, literally.

Since then, the process of using a GPS device to hide and locate containers of any shape or size in any publicly accessible location has been labeled Geocaching, with its own website (www.geocaching.com) and massive database of over 1,000,000 geocaches world-wide. It’s grown into a pasttime that’s family-friendly, takes place outdoors, away from the computer, it can be competitive or challenging, it’s nature-respecting, relaxing, adventurous, and for people of all ages all around the globe.

Evolution of the geocache

In the ARG world, we make use of a method of exchange called the dead drop, which is used to exchange information or items covertly between two parties at a given location without them meeting face to face. A geocache is essentially an independent dead drop. It, however, remains in place, whoever finds it leaves it there (re-hidden) for the next person, and it contains at the very least some form of log sheet for the finder to sign and date as a record of their visit.

Geocaching, since its inception, has also evolved to incorporate a far wider range of cache styles and types.

As its popularity increased, people soon began placing containers that could only be located after solving puzzles to determine its coordinates. Sometimes you’d have to visit multiple GPS waypoints, picking up clues at each, in order to locate the final container. Some were simply tasks you had to accomplish at a specific location to be successful.

Arguably the most educational and interesting type of geocache, however, is the Earthcache. These are geocaches the details and accuracy of which are heavily scrutinized before publishing, and which explain or teach about natural landmarks, geological history and the like. In order for a player to legitimately log an Earthcache as found, the player must answer a few questions (like a little exam) about the subject matter, sometimes only solvable on-site, and generally they have to at least visit the location and share a photo as evidence of having been there.

Telling stories and creating experiences

What’s great about geocaching is its flexibility to be used as a story-telling tool, incorporating real-world tasks and rewarding players. While dead drops are typically a single task or event belonging to an overarching story, a geocache (or a series of geocaches) must be entirely self-contained. They must also be placed in such a way as to be able to last and be maintained for an indefinite amount of time.

In 2001, while still in its infancy, geocaching took on a unique promotional project. Paramount approached the webmasters of the site at the time, and partnered with them to produce a geocache series called “Project APE“. These 14 caches located worldwide were part of a promotional campaign for the film Planet Of The Apes.

Much like ARG dead drops, clues were released about the drops before they were published, and geocachers were among those in the hinted locations who were on their toes. These caches were very time sensitive. They were published as sequential missions around the world, telling events within the film’s universe, yet fictionally independent from the film. The missions were to retrieve highly sensitive items from caches placed by field agents fighting against a government coverup, while avoiding being detected by federal agents.

The caches themselves were specially labeled, and generally contained collectible items like props from the film as prizes for the first to find. The final cache, a special bonus cache, even contained coveted tickets to the film’s premiere for the first finders.

For all intents and purposes, these were legitimate geocaches. However, being placed by local geocachers on behalf of the marketers, over the years they began disappearing as they were either collected, stolen, or simply archived or retired for lack of maintenance. Currently, only two original Project APE caches remain active. One is still available in Brazil, and the other in Washington. The latter is maintained by Geocaching.com staff as the one and only remaining APE cache in the United States. Players who find these geocaches are rewarded a unique and rare icon for their finds collection. Three other APE caches have also been adopted, but were converted to traditional geocaches.

Since Project APE, however, geocaching has continued to be refined and made more self-supportive and independent. It’s been receiving more media attention recently as the GPS buzz spreads, and as mobile devices become cheaper and more consumer friendly – especially handheld phones, now packaged with GPS capabilities. It’s a hobby that’s sure to continue attracting people from all countries and walks of life for years to come.

Geocaching stories post-APE-pocalypse

With more and more tools and technology being made available, the potential to create more involved story-based geocaching experiences is enticing.

Another series inspired by Project APE is Forbidden Zone Geocaches. This is a series of caches designed to expand on the mythos of the APE caches, and provides an independent website for players to keep track of their progress and discoveries until they’ve found all the necessary tips to unlock the secret final mission and locate its cache.

More local to myself, there’s a geocache named LAARU BRAVO which takes on another mission-based theme, creating a story and self-contained experience with tasks that must be accomplished in order to locate the cache container. Reading past logs, many geocachers have even described their experience while still remaining effectively in character.

Another adventurous geocache with a small story based on an existing franchise is called Tomb Raider, located near San Diego. The story itself is minor and contained to the initial puzzle, however the journey to locate and find the cache is the player’s extension to the story, and that is where the real adventure lies.  More than simply finding a tupperware container in the woods, as it were, many geocaches prompt the player to embark on real-world hikes and experiences they otherwise may never have thought they’d ever be doing. This is one of the main attractions to the hobby, and wherein lies some of the best opportunities to tell stories and create experiences.

While many still view geocaching as a hobby that should remain simplistic and easy for laypeople to pick up and go, there’s no reason why it should be limited to such a view. These sorts of experiential geocaches are what attract the attention of visitors from around the world. There are many geocache series and unique caches that make headlines. A quick google shows a sample list of bookmarked “must do” geocaches, many quite distant from the geocacher’s home town. People love memorable geocaches, and elaborate story-based geocaches are a rare commodity; especially well created ones.

Geocaching 2.0: the Wherigo

Creating extensive stories for geocaches is not a simple task, given the rules and guidelines now in place for publishing at Geocaching.com. There is another new type of geocache, however, that promises to provide a method for generating even more interactive experiences. This is the Wherigo. It’s a form of executable application that runs as a “cartridge” on a currently very limited number of GPS devices, including Garmins and some Pocket PCs. Wherigo caches are more complex to create, but afford a lot more flexibility for storytelling, tasks and scripted actions.

While generic geocaches are primarily coordinate-based with optional calculations or separate puzzle solving required, the Wherigo makes use of the GPS device and provides live interaction with a script based on your physical location. This means stories can be told in segments on the field, and different types of puzzles and missions can be created to be executed, and solved while outside.

From Wherigo.com:

Wherigo is a platform that allows you to build location based GPS experiences on your computer and play them in the real world. Think Zork, Secret of Monkey Island or Myst, but in the park around the corner, or on the beach during your family vacation. Rather than clicking the mouse and selecting a location to move your character, you actually walk from one location to the next to advance the story.

Support for Wherigo cartridges is still fairly thin, but it should only be a matter of time before Android*, iPhone, Blackberry, or other smartphone app versions appear. Additionally, while not officially Geocaching activities, there are other organizations that provide location-based gaming experiences similar to this, such as GPS Mission or SCVNGR.

Bushwacking to the future

Geocaching is still in its infancy, with so much untapped potential as a story-telling method. As time goes on, hopefully we’ll see more innovative use of this pastime to provide memorable and entertaining experiences that span more than words on a screen or numbers in your hand, but engage players through multiple media. Who will create the first truly transmedia geocache? Has it already been done?

If you’re a geocacher, I’d recommend checking out the geocaches mentioned above next time you’re in their areas. If you’re hiding geocaches, I challenge you to do more than just hide tupperware in the woods (or magnets in the city) – create an experience to remember! Write a story, an adventure! Even if the container is easy to find, the journey to get there is what people will remember most.

Do you know of other notable geocaches that have given you memorable experiences?
Do you know of any that tell amazing stories?
Please share in the comments below!

And if you haven’t already, buy a GPS or GPS enabled smartphone, and sign up at geocaching.com!

* Update: The official Android port of the Geocaching app is now available, see Geocaching.com/Android

Some Geocaches to add to the To-Do list:

• Tomb Raider (GCWD13)
• Project APE (Bookmark list)
• Forbidden Zone Geocaches (website) [article]
• Necropolis of Britannia Manor III (GC2B034) [article]
• The Journal (GC484C)
• Sixth Sanctum (GC17XT8, series)
• The Sentinel (GCK060)

Last year at the San Diego Comic-Convention, a very successful live event (with online components) was the platform for the public revelation of a life-size ‘Light-cycle’ and the first public teaser trailer from the film (watch the official video recap here!). This event opened the door for fans to start following FlynnLives.com – hoping, wishing, and praying that whatever happens between then and the movie’s release would also award them with some sweet Tron swag! If the Comic-Con event was any indicator, Tron fans would be in for a wild ride over the next year.

Sure enough, in early February 2010 I, along with other people all over the globe began receiving small packages in the mail containing a palm-sized “Bit” as seen in the original Tron, with a hand-written phrase written on the inside lid of the box reading “/zerohour“. From this, the website FlynnLives.com/ZeroHour was discovered with a binary-coded countdown to 11am EST, February 24th – Zero Hour.

The Tron community erupted with theories, as over the next few days a mysterious message was slowly revealed below. A list of cities appeared, located within the United States, Canada, France, UK, and Australia – but there were no instructions accompanying them.

An email was distributed just before “Zero hour” hit reminding people to watch their nearest city. Right on schedule, three cities first lit up linked with instructions to meet a contact at a specific time and place in each city. What happened was a feeding frenzy of F5′s and website refreshes for the next 9 hours as all 27 cities lit up three at a time. At the drop points, the first person to arrive and say the code phrase to the waiting contact (and only the first person!) would be given a cell phone by which they were instructed to locate a deaddrop containing exclusive Tron collectible swag – as well as codes to be entered online.

At this point, FlynnLives.com allowed anyone to create a profile, including contact information. This implied potential phone calls, text messages, even physical mail to be distributed in coming months. Once signed up and connecting the profile to a facebook account, players discovered they could earn achievement badges – bragging rights. Additionally, those lucky enough to be the first to each ZeroHour location and enter at least one of the discovered codes online also received a special achievement, and their name listed as one of 66 special operatives.

At the end of this ZeroHour event, players online and offline were rewarded with a new desktop background, and instructions to visit PitCell.com at 4:00pm EST the next day — to be the first to register for an exclusive, limited IMAX screening in one of five listed cities: Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, London, and Sydney. Of what the screening is – still a mystery.

The next day, when this second zero hour hit, once again the refresh-frenzy began. Word had spread over the course of the day through mainstream media, and people worldwide were waiting in anticipation for the moment the (FREE!) ticket registration for this IMAX event would open. In an unbelievable record (where is Guinness to confirm?) The Los Angeles IMAX event was flagged SOLD OUT in under one minute. New York quickly followed suit about 5 minutes later. Toronto and London were next in short order, and Sydney selling out closed the deal.

A leading theory at this point is that individuals who grabbed a ticket in time (which is good for two people) will have access to view a special IMAX 3D scene from Tron, much like the 6 minute prologue scene for Batman: The Dark Knight. But details about the Tron screening as of this writing are still up in the air.

That’s not the end of it, however. After the updates, more was discovered online. Additional mysteries and strange codes, a hidden discussion forum with reference to Encom International, and what appears to be a deeper story still to be unraveled.

With tron: Legacy not slated for release until December 17th, 2010, this hype campaign is sure to kick up a notch or few in upcoming months, and those who miss out on this IMAX event shouldn’t fret about missing out entirely. Sign up for a profile, and watch for any opportunity to get in this game! One thing to keep in mind is that this kind of catering to a market fanbase is best and most successful when free, and only as good and enjoyable as the fans, players, and community make it.

You can join the search for Flynn in numerous ways:

• Bookmark FlynnLives.com and sign up
• Join the Flynn Lives Facebook group
• Follow #FlynnLives Twitter hashtags
• Join a discussion community like Unfiction or Tron-Sector
• Follow updates on Tron viral wiki, or the Tron wikia
• Watch sites that are tracking the campaign, like MovieViral.com and ARGN.com

(this article is mirrored from the original publishing at wikibruce.com)