ARGs and Marketing

So on Wednesday I got caught by the Gotham City police.

After class on Wednesday I just couldn't resist. I went to unforums. I started playing an ARG--the Dark Knight, to be specific, tying into this summer's new Batman movie.

In Unreality: A Brief History of ARG, Gosney touches on the idea of how some people lose grasp of the distinction between reality and fiction when playing these games, and I can definately see that happening. This game's been going on for more than a few months now, so I jumped into it midway, and my first action in it was to try to hack into the website for a (fake) security systems company for the Joker. It asked for a log in of my name, cell phone number, and email address, and as soon as I submitted it my cell phone rang. It wasn't the security company or even the Joker; it was Commisioner Gordon of the Gotham City police saying that he now had all my personal information, and if I didn't turn double agent and gather info about the Joker for him, I was going to jail.

Now on the one hand the immersion of getting called on my cell phone by a character from the movie was pretty darn cool. On the other, it was slightly disturbing, in that--even if it was fictional--the police had caught me and I could go to jail. I could definately see how this aspect of ARGs could mess with people.

Now, another issue of ARGs that was discussed in class and also in the reading was that of marketing. In this particular ARG, it's rather obvious: it's advertising this summer's Dark Knight movie. Do I see this as some sinister form of viral marketing? Not neccessarily, as I was planning on seeing the movie anyway and this just makes the whole experience more fun. However, once I started playing I blabbed to all my friends about it and got them interested, which I suppose is the "viral" part of viral marketing. Also, I can see this being an issue in games where the marketing aspect of it isn't so initially obvious. At the moment, however, I really don't see the marketing issue as such a big deal. Corporate sponsership is neccessary just for the money it must take to set up an ARG, and I think it's possible to play without buying whatever they're advertising. So for now I'm just going to sit back and wait for further instructions from the police.