"Join the pirates", an ARG
What is an Alternate Reality Game?
An Alternate Reality Game (ARG) is played through various media (for example letters, websites, video messages, etc.). The events in the game world often reach into the real world of the players. The particular attraction is created through live events in which the players interact with characters from the story.
An ARG doesn't just allow players to meet the fictitious characters, but also to cooperate and share ideas among themselves. There are also puzzles that a player cannot solve on his or her own, but has to work with others.
The beginning – Follow the white rabbit
At the start of November 2008, students at several universities were surprised to receive an odd little package in the mail. Why did someone send them a small saber? When the recipient used this as a letter opener to open the accompanying envelope, he or she found a small handwritten note with a code that revealed a URL: www.jointhepirates.com.
Their curiosity aroused, the students were already halfway involved in a thriller in which they were to play one of the main roles.
The story picked up pace: Stretch limos show up at certain universities and a masked person asks somewhat bemused students to go for a ride. Via a video message played in the limousine, they make the acquaintance of the leader of the Pirates Society – Charlotte Vorberg, who asks for help in the fight against the 48ers.
The Story
The players are organized in forums – what in the game are referred to as Phalanxes – and receive access to information from masked men and women, called Navigators. Step by step, the players navigate a labyrinth of sham companies formed around an energy company called Joulever. The players also investigate the shady dealings of Jouveler's CEO Tom Burroughs. What does a logistics company have to do with that? Why is a company called Hazard Cap insuring power plants that haven't been built yet?
More and more students join the business thriller, in which they have clandestine meetings with informants, decode secret dossiers and use their wiles to gain information from an offshore bank in the Cayman Islands by telephone. A scientist who was bribed to falsify an expert report is found dead. A woman serves as a source of confusion: Is Charlotte Vorberg just an undercover agent of the 48ers?
The players find out that the heart of the matter is an enormous swindle worth billions with the goal of controlling the world's water supply. It quickly becomes clear that the individual plot threads consist of tasks that can be solved only in teams and by sharing information. Racing against time, the players are successful in foiling the plans of the 48ers. The IPO of Joulever is prevented. The documents gathered make it possible to bring down the network of sham companies.
The most active team members are invited by Charlotte Vorberg to an induction ceremony in Berlin. On board a ship, the company behind the game reveals itself and the players are made official members of the Pirates Society. The founders enter their names in the logbook. The cornerstone is laid.
ARG Websites
Player Resources
Some Online Coverage
