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An alternate reality game (ARG) - sometimes called chaotic fiction - is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions. ARGs are now being recognized by the mainstream entertainment world. Setting the ARG form apart from other games is the "This Is Not A Game" aesthetic, which dictates that the game not behave like a game: phone numbers mentioned in the ARG, for example, should actually work, and the game should not provide an overtly-designated playspace or ruleset to the players.
Links:
- ARGNnet
 - http://argn.com/
ARG community hub, with links to other core sites and updates on games past, ongoing, and to come.
- Unfiction - http://www.unfiction.com/
Resource for those interested in Alternate Reality Gaming, both from the players' perspective and from that of the puppetmasters.
- Immersive Ideals / Critical Distances - http://www.eyewithwings.net/nechvatal/ideals.htm
"A study of the affinity between artistic ideologies based in virtual reality
and previous immersive idioms" by Joseph Nechvatal. Full text available in PDF. Written in candidacy for a Ph.D. at the Center for Advanced Inquiry in
the Interactive Arts (CAIIA), University of Wales College, Newport, Wales, UK.
- World Without Oil - http://www.worldwithoutoil.org/
WWO is a serious game for the public good. The concluded in June 2007. It invited people to confront a real-world issue: the risk our unbridled thirst for oil poses to our economy, climate and quality of life.
- AvantGame - http://www.avantgame.com/
Jane McGonigal's site, co-inventor of Flash Mobs, game designer and game researcher.
- Mind Candy - http://mindcandy.com/
Company developing social multi-player games such as Perplex City.
- Sean Stewart - http://www.seanstewart.org/
Writer of traditional novels while collaborating on new kinds of storytelling through a series of online projects including "The Beast" (2001), "I Love Bees" (2004), "Last Call Poker" (2005) and the Nine Inch Nails "Year Zero" (2007).
- Giant Mice - http://www.giantmice.com/
Exploring alternate reality gaming, experience design, and cross media entertainment. Good introduction to the ARG concept.
- Eldritch Errors - http://www.eldritcherrors.com/
Eldritch Errors is an immersive horror series - inspired by H.P. Lovecraft - playing out in real time on the Internet and in the real world.
- Fourth Wall Studios - http://www.fourthwallstudios.com/
Company providing single-player adventures to massive real-time experiences that play out all over the world.
- 42 Entertainment - http://www.42entertainment.com/
Company providing forms of cross-platform narratives based on online communities, to create participatory experiences.
- GMD Studios - http://www.gmdstudios.com/
Company developping experimental games based on online communities (such as ARG etc.)
- Cloudmakers.org - http://cloudmakers.org/
On April 11, 2001, Cloudmakers was founded as a discussion group for the interative web game centered around the film A.I. The game was solved on July 24, 2001. Though the original game, The Beast, has ended, the website now serves as a clearinghouse for online gaming.
- Christy Dena - http://www.christydena.com/
The personal site of Christy Dena. Articles and essays about topic fictions that employ multiple media platforms for meaning (cross-media fiction, alternate reality games etc.).
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