They’re the opposite of sci-fi and fiction games. They require real-life cybersecurity and investigative skills. They’re art in digital form, a blend of scientific experimentation and aesthetics. Their communities are a niche on the Internet, gathering people who are in for the challenge. Welcome to the world of ARGs – Alternate Reality Games.
What are ARGs?
At the core of ARGs is the idea that the game pretends not to be a game. So much so that players are often called “participants” or “the community.” These work collaboratively to solve challenges. The design principle of an ARG goes by the acronym TINAG – This Is Not A Game. The creators never acknowledge the fiction inside the story.
Characteristics of an ARG
ARGs can assume different forms and follow different formats. However, they have some key characteristics in common:
- Multi-platform storytelling: the narrative invoves websites, videos, phone numbers, social media, emails, physical mail, live events, hidden geocaches, etc.
- Puzzle-driven: participants must solve a series of puzzles using ciphers, steganography, cryptography, riddles, geolocation clues.
- Collaborative: players often must pool their findings on forums or Discord to progress.
- Real-time progression: events happen on a schedule; missing a live drop could mean losing an opportunity.
- In-world immersion: everything is “diegetic” — any interaction is framed as part of the narrative.
The entry point (or rabbit hole) for an ARG is often a mysterious video, a strange email, a QR code, or a cryptic social media post that prompts an investigation of some kind.
ARGs are designed to be very realistic, and they also involve so-called NPCs (non-player characters). These are actors or online personas who interact with the players. Each medium involved in the ARG gives a different piece of the story, and gate challenges must be solved to unlock the next narrative stage.
Famous ARGs
Besides entertainment, ARGs are often created as a marketing or promotional strategy for upcoming movies, games, or books. Fan-driven ARGs create fandom communities even before the stories are published. The experimental nature of these media attracts all sorts of participants, so much so that some are rumoured to be released to test their skills or for recruitment purposes by the Government or cybersecurity companies.
Some famous ARGs are:
- The Beast (2001) was created to promote A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. It's considered the first large-scale modern ARG.
- I Love Bees (2004) was a viral campaign for Halo 2, involving payphones ringing all over the United States.
- Cicada 3301 involves mysterious cryptography puzzles posted online, not tied to a product, and with still unknown origin.
- Year Zero (2007) was tied to a Nine Inch Nails album, mixing websites, phone numbers, and hidden USB drives at concerts.
- 11B-X-1371 (aka the Plague Doctor video) is a creepy standalone mystery with an ARG-like decoding, that was never solved.
Why people love ARGs
People all over the world love ARGs. First of all, for the thrill of discovery and the feeling like you’ve “found something you weren’t supposed to.” The collaboration aspect is also very appealing: strangers unite across time zones to solve something together.
ARGs create immersive scenarios, where participants are living inside a story instead of just watching it. Furthermore, the skill challenges combine cryptography, OSINT, digital forensics, and creative thinking.
Risks and challenges of ARGs
Releasing an ARG requires careful and thorough planning. Blurring the lines between game and reality presents many risks.
Oftentimes, participants can take fictional events too literally, with unpredictable effects. For example, in the early 2000s, a proto-ARG project called ONG’s Hat blended with a conspiracy theory. Participants believed that fictional material about a “portal” in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens was real and believers went physically searching for it in remote wilderness areas, risking injury or getting lost.
Some ARGs require meeting strangers or visiting real-world locations, creating concerns for public safety or interfering with the everyday life of people unaware of the ARG. For example, the I Love Bees ARG had payphones around the U.S. ring at precise times, with players needing to answer them. Some phones were in unsafe or sketchy locations. Between 2006 and 2007, the Perplex City ARG contained one puzzle hinting at a buried object in the real world (a “Receda Cube” worth £100,000). Players started digging in public spaces without permission, raising legal and safety concerns.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, without careful planning, an ARG can fizzle if players lose interest.
- The TINAG principle encourages total immersion, which can obscure real-world safety boundaries.
- Geolocation clues may require travel into unknown or unsafe areas.
- Open participation means that creators can't control who shows up or how they behave.
- Unmoderated puzzles can accidentally overlap with dangerous real-world situations.
ARGs or Traps?
As a final consideration, everything that makes an ARG likeable and interesting can also be used as a trap to scam its participants. The blurred lines between game and reality can offer an easy way to engage a large number of people in disclosing information about their whereabouts, personal information and more.