transmedia realtime events - some thoughts

I watched something very interesting yesterday.

Something I have seen in a few other places and disguises; something I wonder if I shall see more of.

I jumped in on the Flynn Lives – Tron legacy ARG yesterday as a page on the Flynn Lives site was counting down to zero. I was sooooo excited and in high anticipation.

When it reached zero – a couple of things happened – an "access'"gate appeared (not what I want to talk about) and the twitter stream/facebook wall for the operationtron – Flynn Lives ARG began transmitting.

I was like ohhhh cool – this is real time interaction. That right there was the first rub – what about all the people sleeping, or working, or not at a digital device?

Eh, ah well, their loss, right?

On facebook, people were starting to comment and get excited. Then, as the event unfolded, the mood of the group changed.

It turns out instructions were tweeted for people to go to certain locations in San Diego and photograph themselves with different "characters" from the Tron movie – AWESOME – yet – I am not at comic-con in San Diego

And neither were the people talking on twitter and facebook. As the event continued, the comments, from many, soured (not sure if they are still there – but take a gander). People began to complain and sulk and all sorts of variations on the "I am not in San Diego so this whole thing sucks.

Now, a few comments tried to remind people to enjoy the event and live "vicariously" through those actually fortunate to play (which when it was happening no one who was playing was checking in, I am sure they were busy, but we had no one to live vicariously through).

Also, many people have left because the "game" was to hard to follow or solve. They could not go along with the "treasure" hunt, so they had no way to sink into the story.

The comments, reactions and mood reminded me of some other events and "things" I have noticed. In many ways, people

1. Are greedy and selfish in that they want to be the player and have a hard time just watching and enjoying the "collective" mindset. That seeing someone else "win" is not good enough and mind very much in filling the role of passive observer.

2. People like some level of predictability and to be able to move along with the story.

Many of the people once they found it was not something they could do, left, or checked out, pretty much leaving the "experience". Frustration and jealousy will be what they think about with this event and many may even not really turn into other events.

I think back to my "attempt" to play along with "The Beast" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_%28game%29 – yes I was one of the first there, but only to watch. I never got a chance to solve the puzzles, or participate in the first line events. Plus, many were late to the game so they could not play, or certain things had been opened and they could not recreate the experience.

Now I have an odd quirk; I like to watch people play video games. I am often content watching someone else play the game and get through the "puzzle" (whether it be dexterity or mental) and seeing the story unfold. Myst, Half-Life, Bioshock, Red Dead Redemption, etc, I take the passenger seat.

BUT there is a difference between that and the Flynn Lives event, I get to help out. The "driver" is doing the work, but when he/she gets stuck, I can jump in and suggest things to try and kinda "drive" by proxy. At least I am still "involved" and making a difference.

I have seen these flashes of "me" or "green-meanies (jealousy)" or "if I can't play, I won't stay" many times with these type of events. This attitude creates a negative perception and often pulls people away. I remember reading about Lance Weiler's great events surrounding Head Trauma (arincrumley.com/diy-guru-and-pioneer-lance-weiler-head-trauma-case-study) but as I read more and more, I was like, "Well that sucks I could not be there" and I found I missed a lot of the story and reading about it just was not the same. The Rocky Horror Movie falls in a similar vein, but at least I can still watch the movie and not miss too much, although the live show does add a level to the experience.

Then there is predictability. I was watching "Hot in Cleveland" yesterday (ok yes I admit I like the show and you may be going OMG where did a reference to Hot in Cleveland come from and has what? to do with Tron…). And as the story progressed, I knew two characters were going to end up together. I think everyone knew, two of the other characters even had a punch line that they had bets and knew it would happen. Yet, I kept watching and I laughed and I enjoyed the show. Why? Because I could predict what was happening and could follow along and it was not hard to do. I enjoyed seeing the reactions and just visually seeing what my mind had already begun to set up. And, I was not disappointed, so I enjoyed the experience.

A really good blog by Scott Walker hits on this topic as he discusses transmedia and collaborative gutters (in a sorta connected way take a look here, it is a good read) - thismonkeycantype.com/blog/2010/07/19/the-narrative-and-collaborative-gutter-of-transmedia/

I understand that not everyone can participate in a real time event. And unless you have deeeeepppp pockets you can only have so many real time events. But, when planning a story around an event – there are many woes and issues you should make sure to address.

1. Real time events are awesome and something a transmedia project can use to enrich the story – but negative reactions can lose your audience. Finding ways to bring along "passive" observers is as crucial as making a dynamite event for those playing. The Regis and Kelly show (I do pull in odd connections and references, don't I ;) has this trivia game they do – and they pick a person from the audience as well as a person on the phone – this ties these two people together and even though only one is playing, at least the other now has a vested interest.

2. ARG/Transmedia/Real Time events at this time serve mainly a small, focused, game-oriented crowd. If you want to up the ante to the masses, you need predictability and a way to make sure the story includes a way to help bring along the crowd (again I give a shout out to Scott Walker's article http://thismonkeycantype.com/blog/2010/07/19/the-narrative-and-collaborative-gutter-of-transmedia/) Although some might argue these events are NOT meant for the masses....

3. Late to the Party – not everyone lives on the game schedule. If your event is a one time shot, that's fine, just calculate that in as a piece of your story that may not have impact. If possible, design the event to have an after-live. Rocky Horror – sure you missed the Saturday night event, but there are plenty of guides and ways to help you recreate your own showing or a chance to find another showing.

Speaking of, does anyone know if Lance Weiler is planning more Head trauma events (ala the traditions of Rocky Horror and having it be "part" of the story almost as a given) – I would love to not just participate but host a Head Trauma event. Think one of those murder mystery parties to the Nth degree ;) - seee there is a way to do these things – turnkey the whole event – then fans can recreate and well – that is transmedia viral spread of the story – how delightful!!!!!

4. Half-Life and sustainability – one of my many interests runs to preserving these narratives and how they will stand the test of time. More and more digital mediums are disappearing and without being archived. That means when the forum closes, there goes your story. And how do you capture these events. I will read today reports about the event and go, oh cool and damn wish I'd been there, and then poof on I move. The richness of Flynn's Arcade to building the Tron Legacy storyworld may be lost to me (or maybe not, perhaps the creators have a few ideas up their glowing sleeves ; )

But regardless, a lot of transmedia properties are disappearing, or at least being… whittled down (which will, IMO, show the true difference between a transmedia story and others. A pure transmedia story does not necessarily need all of the parts to still reach the core story. The parts just expand the storyworld. so if one or two are "lost" or not experienced, a person can still walk away satisfied and not lacking.

Hmmm, does that mean in many transmedia worlds, the world has the potential/danger of becoming smaller in the over time, not bigger?