I’m currently in Amsterdam at the IADIS Gaming 2008 conference. It got off to a kicking start this morning with an opening keynote from Adriana Skarped, one of the main designers of the Swedish ARG The Truth about Marika. I was really amazed at the amount of planning (two years in this case) required for a project of this kind, the attention to detail that is required at all stages and they way that they mixed multiple media from subliminal clues in a television programme to bizarre events in a multi-user game world (with the complicity of the game company). Adriana actually played one of the characters in the game and it seemed to take over her entire life, to the extent where she couldn’t leave her house for ten days during a period when her character was abducted.
I was one of the players of that game, and the immersion was truly astonishing. It was even broadcasted on national television!
Great blog, btw. 🙂