Electric Farm Entertainment and MMO's like upcoming 'Star Wars - The Old Republic'. A Good Fit?

One of the things I most value in a video game is story. Unfortunately, in my opinion, not a lot of games have a great story/storyline that invest the player in the characters, the world, and into seeing that story unfold. I think this is particularly true when it comes to MMORPG's.

Bioware sees this need and is looking to make story to be a foundational element in their upcoming MMORPG, "Star Wars: The Old Republic".

Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk of Bioware describe traditional MMO’s as focusing on three primary pillars:

1) Exploration.
2) Combat.
3) Customization/progression.

Bioware looks to up the ante by making story and character and meaningful choice with consequences a fourth pillar of the genre. They believe that this fourth pillar is the context for the other three and that the story should drive the experience, leading to deeper immersion by the player. Sounds cool, particularly so because Bioware’s games usually have a great immersive storyline!



This seems to parallel what Brent Friedman said on a recent podcast we had the opportunity to participate in.

By the way, thanks go out to Co-hosts Jackie Kerr (ARGNet, Unfiction forums), Sean C. Stacey (Unfiction, Despoiler) and Jonathan Waite (ARGNet, Unfiction forums). Thanks for including us in your interview of Gemini Division executive producer and series creator Brent Friedman. For those interested, check it out at ARG Netcast. Definitely worth checking out!

Brent talked about involving and engaging viewers in the story. He talked about doing this in such a way that the story itself is influenced by the actions of the players. He also mentioned the possibility that viewers would potentially have the opportunity to be a part of content creation in an upcoming series.

The podcast at ARG Netcast and the interview from Bioware triggered the thought that Friedman's philosophy is particularly well-suited for video games, particularly MMO's. From there I developed the following proposal/possibility.

Idea Summary
EFE could produce a story set in a quality game universe like Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guild Wars, or World of Warcraft. The primary story would be standalone and released in a daily rollout in traditional EFE style (Afterworld, Gemini Division, upcoming Woke Up Dead).

As the story progressed, unique quests in the Massive Multiplayer Online game could be unlocked. These quests could reveal more about a character, or provide additional background to the story. Players would have the opportunity to interact with non player characters (NPC's), other players in player versus player combat (PVP), or even with "actors" who are officially playing the role of a character in the story (think ARG/puppetmaster and a new type of acting/ARG interaction). That could be pretty cool!

As players completed these quests and as events unfolded in the MMO, this could then in turn unlock extended video content.

Three General Viewer Categories
Consumers of this type of EFE content could be broken down into three general categories:

1)Casual viewers of the EFE story.

2)Players who want to dig deeper and really immerse themselves into the story by joining in on the parallel extended experience in the MMORPG game.

3)Gamers of the MMO who want to dig deeper into that game world, immerse themselves, customize their character, and extend their gaming experience.

Return on Investment
People could buy this at the local video game store as a unique “Extended Game experience”. These players would be able to add the “Extended Game Experience” to their in game accounts. They would have the opportunity to acquire additional quests, items, cool looking customizable gear, etc, but most importantly they would get story!

This is a value add for the game developer and for the players. It would be nice in that it would be a way to generate ROI apart from advertising. Players who purchased this extended game experience could watch the story free of ads. However, they would need to log in with their game account to do so. Multiple simultaneous logins would not be permitted and an active game account would be required to watch the content without ads.

People who wanted to just watch the story could do so with ads and without any type of login. (Though, ideally the ads would not be overloaded! :). For these people the story actually becomes advertising for the MMO.

Central Portal Site
The portal site would have a lot of quality themed graphics, sound, and music to work with already in place. This would be an ambitious project requiring the MMORPG game company and Electric Farm Entertainment to work together. However, both would have a vested interest in making it work and making it cool!

Conclusion

Oh, and by the way, Mr. Friedman. This just can’t be done! :P (For context listen to ARG Netcast's podcast with Brent Friedman).

As far as upcoming MMO’s go, “Guild Wars 2” (no monthly fee required) and “Star Wars: The Old Republic” could be nice settings to tell some cool stories. The stories wouldn’t necessarily need to be limited to the MMO present, but could tell stories of the past and of the future. Some very cool and interesting possibilities!

P.S. As an aside I found Gordon Mattey's latest entry an interesting supplement to this article. Particularly the "1000 true fans" article that he linked to.

Brent Friedman to discuss Gemini Division EE

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/arg-netcast

Afterworld and Gemini Division executive producer and series greator Brent Friedman will be a guest on the October 20th ARGNet podcast discussing the Enhanced Experience [EE] for Gemini Division, the growth of Electric Farm Entertainment's Alternate Reality Games from the Afterworld ARG through Gemini's EE and onward as new properties are released.

We'd like to thank ARGNet co-hosts Sean C. Stacey (Unfiction, Despoiler) and Jonathan Waite (ARGNet, Unfiction) and their panel [ Marie Lamb (ARGNet, Unfiction) and Michelle Senderhauf (ARGNet, varin.org)] for inviting both Tim and me to participate in the podcast.

We are looking forward to asking Mr. Friedman about the development process of the Gemini EE and his view on the the differences between an ARG and an EE as the evolution of EFE interactive experiences from AW thru upcoming projects. I am specifially curious about Brent's views on the future of ARG as it it combined with immersive entertainment and how he views the integration of immersive elements such as Hotel 626 in conjunction with web based series.

A little love to the folks over at ARGNet, Despoiler, and UnFiction , and Varin for including us; To listen live or participate in the chat (and maybe have your question answered by Mr. Friedman) visit the link posted below on Monday, October 20 at 5:30 PM Pacific Time:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/arg-netcast

Biofeedback Entertainment System

This post is a bit different from what I have written before, but I thought I would write a little bit about one of my latest fun projects. It is a biofeedback system where I combine exercise and entertainment.

I am working on an innovative method to simulate powering my entertainment experience via my heart rate. The basic biofeedback prototype is working. Currently using ActiveKeys to control volume and Gamma Panel to control monitor brightness. Heart rate information is sent to the computer wirelessly via PC POD (Heart rate belt and USB stick ~$129). The heart rate belt communicates on Com4 using the ANT protocol. I wrote a perl script (thanks to Iomule) that can capture the heart rate information from the belt.

I currently have three heart rate zones set up. I have an ideal zone, an ok zone, and a bad zone. As my heart rate goes from the ideal zone to the bad zone the monitor will get darker, and the volume will diminish. As it goes from the bad zone to the ideal, it reaches optimal levels. Still need to work on incorporating rumble from the wireless 360 controller into the biofeedback system. Plan on using Xpadder (remaps the controller keys) to add increasing levels of rumble the further I am from my target zone.

So now I can play Guild Wars with a wireless 360 controller for Windows (quite a few keys mapped for this one) while I work out on my elliptical and my workout level affects the experience. Pretty cool, this works for watching movies as well.

The Benchmark for Immersive Experience: Hotel 626

In recent articles I’ve focused on Alternate Reality Gaming, Enhanced Experience content, and attempted to answer the question on how these types of ancillary components to television and web series could be used to forward the ‘immersive experience’ for viewers.

6:00 PM to 6:00 AM anyone searching for the benchmark of immersive entertainment needs look no further than Hotel 626. Tim emailed me the link earlier today and I just had a chance to visit the site. Once you provide your contact information you are advised to turn off all the lights, put on your headphones, and turn on your web cam and mic.

Fade in from black – first person view: YOU in a hotel bed.

Let the bedlam begin.

Hotel 626 utilizes digital video combined with cg animation to provide what can best be described as a ‘choose your own adventure’ book if it were written by James Wan, Ernie Barbarash, and Leigh Whannell and then turned in to a film directed by the bastard love child of James Cameron and James Wan.

As viewers progress through the ten scenes they are presented choices and puzzles…all the while those hairs on the back of your neck standing a little more at attention as each second ticks by. What makes 626 the benchmark relates directly to the way that players are presented with an almost 360 degree first person gaming environment while they watch the story progress. The closest thing comparable is a first-person-shooter where players would be able to interact with the cut scenes.

If Hollywood were to use this type of methodology in a web series the experience would be a level beyond what we see today. Not only would viewers be able to watch videos…they’d also be able to actively participate in the episode.

Imagine if you will, watching your favorite show and being able to interact real time with it. An example would be ‘picking up’ and reading through the patient’s chart while Dr. House and his team discuss the differential or being able to step out of the room the detectives are in and explore other rooms of a crime scene for CSI, Law & Order SVU, or NCIS. While you’re exploring the episode would be paused. When the exploring is complete or the puzzle is solved the episode resumes. Structured correctly it could appear as though you were an active participant in the episode.

When I talk about real-time interaction for 626 I mean real-time. At a certain point you are asked to supply your phone number. If you do you receive a call where the speaker accompanies your journey real-time. It is both amazing and extremely creepy. The item that blew past my expectations was the supplementary phone call I received about 30 minutes after completing the website.

If only the Big Four could harness this type of experience and deliver it to the masses.

Go, now, you’ll love it.

www.hotel626.com