2. GROUPTHINK IS NOT A 4-LETTER WORD Alternate Reality Games & Collective Intelligence Craig McKenney Texas Tech University IPCC 2008

3. PROBLEM: ENGAGING GENY “Despite a lasting surge in media, business, and academic interest, proven mechanisms via which to harness the wisdom of crowds remain in short supply.” “The chief obstacle is and always has been: how to properly incentivize the participants in a system, such that they generate meaningful, unbiased input.” James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds Craig McKenney Texas Tech University

4. CONTENTS Definitions Case Study: The World Needs Heroes Collective Intelligence Problems & Implications Craig McKenney Texas Tech University

5. WHAT IS AN ALTERNATE REALITY GAME? …a player community working together to analyze the story and coordinate real-life and online activities. Craig McKenney Texas Tech University …interactive narrative that takes place in real-time and evolves according to participants' responses. …characters that are actively controlled by the game's designers, as opposed to being controlled by artificial intelligence as in a computer or console video game, and that are directly interacted with by the player. Collaborative Narrative/ Hyperfiction

6. WHAT IS AN ALTERNATE REALITY GAME? …uses the real world as a platform. …often involves multimedia, such as telephones (texting, cell cams, Jott.com, etc), email, and mail, but relies on the Internet (free + ubiquitous) as the central binding medium Craig McKenney Texas Tech University Multi-modality

7. WHAT IS AN ALTERNATE REALITY GAME? …provides intense player immersion/ involvement Craig McKenney Texas Tech University Virtual Reality/ Digital Rhetoric

8. WHAT IS COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE? “the members of a thinking community search, inscribe, connect, consult, explore……Not only does the cosmopedia [the online space, the ARG, etc] make available to the collective intellect all of the pertinent knowledge available to it at a given moment, but it also serves as a site of collective discussion, negotiation, and development……. Unanswered questions will create tension within cosmopedic space, indicating regions where invention and innovation are required” Pierre Levy, Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace 217. Craig McKenney Texas Tech University

9. WHAT IS COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE? “On-line fan communities might well be some of the most fully realized versions of Levy's cosmopedia, expansive self-organizing groups focused around the collective production, debate, and circulation of meanings, interpretations, and fantasies in response to various artifacts of contemporary popular culture.” Henry Jenkins, “Interactive Audiences? The 'Collective Intelligence' of Media Fans” Craig McKenney Texas Tech University

10. THE WORLD NEEDS HEROES Craig McKenney Texas Tech University http://threshold.monomyth.org/images/MonoMythex.jpg LARP Social Justice

11. THE WORLD NEEDS HEROES Summary of Narrative The King of Dust has incapacitated the Community Crusaders and stolen the Bible of Dreams. The leader of the Community Crusaders, The Professor, has called the students into action to save the Bible of Dreams. Game Structure Letter via USPS Videos Live Action Role Play Community Service Narrative Building/ Reflection Craig McKenney Texas Tech University

12. http://www.heromachine.com/

13. Craig McKenney Texas Tech University

15. NARRATIVE AS COSMOPEDIA Developing/ Flexible Narrative Knowledge Sharing Essential to completion of game Learning as play Craig McKenney Texas Tech University

16. PROBLEMS & IMPLICATIONS Craig McKenney Texas Tech University Level of engagement Teamwork & cohort model Use of “non-GenY” platforms Developing Quantitative Measurements for “success”

17. E-Mail: craig.mckenney@ttu.edu Yahoo! IM: mckenney_craig http://flightline.highline.edu/cmckenney/final%20project%205369.swf