“Fake” Real Experiences are the Future

Alternate Reality Design stream at Exosphere Academy

The truth is that you are a slave. Like everyone else you were born into bondage, into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch, a prison of constructs designed by someone else, a reality designed by many others who came before you, a prison for your mind. (See: http://exs.ph/2cu6xU4)

From Game of Thrones and Disney World to Pokemon Go and World of Warcraft, the art of designing immersive alternate realities that inspire, enrapture, and entertain is among the most exciting forms of creative expression. This incredible future dwarfs its already remarkable past. As Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies increase the number of possibilities for reality design, the demand for other-worldly experiences continues to skyrocket, with no end in sight.

This sounds amazing and although it may lead you to think of the difficulties and many levels of complexity involved, once we deconstruct it, Alternate Reality Design really starts with only one skill: forgery.

We define forgery here as “the ability to create an artifact whose context and content do not match but still appears harmonious.” These artifacts are still usable and coherent and a person interacting with them can believe and act as though they are real. It’s a lot about appearance and the circumstances of creation. Everything else follows from forgery.

What we conventionally see as design skills (making logos, layouting websites, designing systems and experiences) are tools that aid the process of creating an overlay — of whatever form — over the “real world.” Acquiring these tools is generally done while attempting to solve a real problem. Since

problems faced by practitioners are unique to their client, there is no single methodology or set of tools that is used by all.

However, here are a number of fields, tools, and approaches that tend to be useful:

– Pen and paper for idea development and sketching
– Internet research
– Control theory / cybernetics
– Persuasion
– Image manipulation
– Communication skills

In order to become paid practitioners, novices tend to either earn recognition for self-created projects or begin a career in a related field and build a reputation. A starting point is the development of a certain kind of awareness that comes from realizing that all culture is a game. Analyzing social situations, playing games, conducting personal experiments — all of these are ways to hone one’s skills.

In the process of Alternate Reality Design one must figure out how to use things, both genuine and fake, to design and control social systems. These include “growth hacking” or strategy work for startups, designing experiential events for organizations, advancing political agendas through activism, or creating awareness for social issues through special campaigns.

But in the end, it really is all about one thing, and one thing only: problem-solving.

If you are or aspire to be an artist, costume designer, storyteller, writer, game maker, animator, videographer, or other creative genius, you can’t afford to miss this opportunity. Immerse yourself in an actual Alternate Reality Design project with other forward-thinking creative minds from around the world.

One of the most exciting aspects of Alternate Reality Design is that it currently is in its infancy, and new and future technologies will just take creation possibilities to unimaginable places.

During your 8 weeks at Exosphere, the students that choose the Alternate Reality Design stream will learn and collaborate in the design process for an Alternate Reality project from beginning to end, and acquire the tools and strategies that will make your skills more valuable to potential clients and partners in the Creative Economy.

Check this message from Bryce Hidysmith, the fellow for the Alternate Reality Design stream:

Example Practitioners:
42 Entertainment: http://42entertainment.com/
Disney Imagineering: http://exs.ph/2crhoux

Project Examples:
The Beast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(game)
Ingress: https://www.ingress.com/
Pokemon Go: http://www.pokemongo.com/

The Exosphere Academy program is an 8-week experience to learn new skills, build exciting projects with other dynamic people, and jumpstart your new life & career. Apply for the Alternate Reality Design stream now!

>>>Learn more about the Exosphere Academy Program here!<<<

As an institution that creates options and alternatives for the future of education and work, Exosphere is doing a 5-minute survey to understand the current status of work, education, and emerging tech. We know these questionnaires can be kind of lame so we tried to keep it short and simple: https://goo.gl/KWciuL

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