Playing In Real Life, Entering Alternate World
When we were a kid, the world is our toy. Like, when you were a kid, have you seen someone jumping among the b̸̭̯̒uildings when you were in a car? Have you ever stepped on specific fl̸̡̛̥oor tiles to move diagonally? Or avoiding black tiles? Have you ever a̴̰͋voided floors because suddenly they became lava? The world was just so fun and interactive before adultery hits us.
How do we know this kind of thing? These “games” spread ac̸̜͛ross consciousness among humans in the world even before the internet was brought to us. It’s like we have a single hive mind to exchange our imaginations, or maybe, playing is just a natural thing for humans.
As we grow older, instead of playing in the real life, we use games as a tool for escaping reality. Phone screens, TV, cards, game board, dice, and minis became tools to materialize our imagination and once again portal us back̴̪̙̃ to the realm inside of our mind. But, what if we can keep playing in reality? That’s the premise of the Alternate Reality Game.
Alternate Reality Game
An Alternate Reality Game, whic̵̈́̕ͅh is usually called an ARG, is a way to tell stories across the medium. If a video game is only constrained in its medium, which is “video” itself, ARG spreads a̷̤̽̚cross multiple places waiting to be played. If a game usually made you think to become a certain person, hence called Role Playing Game, ARG is played by you as yourself. It blends realit̶̰͓͋̂y and what is not.
Many ARGs are made exclusively for the internet. Stories spread across websites, forums, and chats. Some even bleed into other mediums such as newspapers, public phones, and even s̶͖͈̓̉kywriting, which happened for one of the great ARGs for Batman Begins!
How To Play ARG?
Strangely enough, one of ARG’s rul̸̩͚͛es is TINAG, which stands for This Is Not A Game. So ARG is a game, and it’s not a game. Confusing? I know! It’s thrilling, isn’t it? We don’t know how and what will happen. ARG is a series of narrative blends into the real world and crocheted with puzzles waiting to be deciphered.
So whé̴̡͍re we can find it? That’s the beauty of ARG. It’s part of your luck and your perceptiveness to acknowledge the pattern called “The Rabbit Hole̶͈̖̊̿”. Like Alice who is curious about the white Rabbit that appeared out of nowhere, once she entered the hole, everything unravels.
Most ARG sprawling around puzzles and deciphering codes, such as Caesar’s Cipher, Base64, or simple Jigsaw. They are so simp̴̢͍̈̌le, but the thrill of uncovering the mysteries and following the story woven around the theme is what’s so cool about ARG.
Is Our Life an ARG?
Maybe? Even in Qur’an, there’s a verse from Al-Ankabut(29):64 that said the world is play and amusement.
So if we expect our current life to be real life, well, it isn’t. Our current life is a big ARG which still playing for centuries. Have you found the Rabbit Hole, collected scattered glitches, and found the link to take into the world on top of our world?
