An interview with the creators of ARG Digest, a self-published magazine for fans and creators of alternate reality games
Welcome, CFIA readers! The Center for Immersive Arts is a project to preserve and explore the history of immersive arts. You can learn more about the CFIA by subscribing to the newsletter and supporting my work on Patreon to get behind-the-scenes updates and info.
In the early 2000s, interactive online narratives known as Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) helped shape a new genre of storytelling, with narratives that played out on the internet and through real-world interactions, engaging audiences in ways traditional media couldn’t. With the restoration of the integral Unfiction forums as a static archive, we’re able to revisit an integral part of the history and origins of these pivotal games.
But that was more than 20 years ago — what’s happening with ARGs today?
To answer that question, I spoke with the creators of ARG Digest, a self-published magazine for fans and creators of alternate reality games. We discussed the emergence of alternate reality games as a pandemic-era storytelling model when digital-first narratives and remote connection became more essential than ever, talked about what it’s like to make interactive online games as an independent creator, and the importance of self-publishing as a way to share work outside traditional media structures and to foster a passionate and engaged community.
Alternate reality games, originally developed in the early 2000s, heralded a new era of storytelling on the internet. These games were interactive narratives playing out in real time for a multiplayer audience of dedicated fans who tuned into television shows, found clues in movie posters, called phone numbers to speak to actors, chatted with characters and solved puzzles online.
This style of game thrived in the early days of YouTube and Facebook, but in the 2010s, ARGs declined in popularity as online activity became more siloed around social media and people moved away from blogs and personal websites. At the same time, corporate marketing goals shifted from creating buzzworthy moments that could be publicized to more concrete and measurable metrics such as video views.
ARGs began to cycle back into the public consciousness with the rise of fan theory videos and conspiracy theories around the year 2016, as detailed by game designer and author Adrian Hon. Then in 2020, COVID-19 lockdowns around the globe corresponded with a flourishing of new games by independent solo creators — and with this new generation of game-makers has come an evolving vocabulary and a fresh understanding of what these games can accomplish in storytelling.
ARGs in the early 00s tended to follow a roughly similar format: for several months, a group of people would collaboratively solve puzzles or tell stories together, often facilitated by a character asking for help. (In fact, as pointed out by writer Andrea Phillips in her 2010 South by Southwest Interactive talk, this often took the form of a “hot brunette” pleading for assistance.) Today, the term “ARG” has evolved beyond that original framework and has become synonymous with the broader term “unfiction”, encompassing a wider range and scale of internet-based storytelling experiences.
Works of unfiction can include a wide range of types of interactions, such as live improvised storytelling where audiences speak with fictional characters through social media platforms like Discord or Twitter, writers collaboratively generating stories within a shared narrative world such as the SCP Foundation wiki, or more passive narrative formats, such as a YouTube or TikTok series that presents a mysterious story through videos, inviting speculation but without requiring active player participation.
While alternate reality games were originally conceived as marketing tie-ins for large corporations, they inspired a wave of DIY projects that aimed to capture the same sense of mystery and adventure. Today, unfiction and ARG projects largely continue in this independent spirit and are often created by individuals or small teams — a stark contrast to the substantial marketing budgets of the early 2000s.
With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, isolated creators and fans around the world found themselves with more time on their hands and a heightened desire to connect with other people through the only medium that was available: the internet.
Three of these creators, Austeria, G.P. Reeds and Ardat, found themselves making games for an audience that was eager for the stories this new medium could provide.
“A lot of stuff came out in that period,” said North Carolina-based Ardat, whose game Relived Eternally, a sci-fi game about the return of ancient Mesopotamian deities, began in the summer of 2020. “People had time on their hands, and creative people will find something to make. There was a hunger for it, and there were people that wanted to provide for that hunger.”
“I was so interested in ARGs because it’s psychology [and] sociology,” said Austeria, a creator based in Washington state. Her game Rhee’s Rapture, a horror-tinged psychological thriller framed around a mysterious person obsessed with watching a girl on her webcam, ran from July 2021 to September 2022, with players taking personality quizzes and interacting with characters through websites and Discord.
“For me, ARGs are an encapsulation of the human experience,” said Kentucky-based Grant “G.P.” Reeds. Reeds’ game GPR, which later became Naomi Rim Access, ran from December 2019 until September 2022. “It brings you into the story, so you get to live it. It brings the inside elements [of yourself] to the outside in a way that words can’t express, or any other medium. And in doing that you make true connections, you can actually express yourself. You discover things about yourself.”
After meeting through Twitter while roleplaying as their respective games’ characters, Austeria, Reeds and Ardat began to collaborate on creative projects. Eventually, Austeria recognized the need for new channels and mediums to discuss and promote ARGs.
“I started doing posters and editing things, and it just came to mind: you know, I could make a magazine about ARGs. I could design it, I know I can do it,” Austeria said. “I wanted to see it come to life.”
“She told me, ‘I want to do a magazine,’” Reeds added. “‘I want to bring ARGs to light in a different format that nobody else has done. Everybody does dives [long YouTube explainer videos].’ She wanted to do something unique.”
A quick note about zines: Zines are significant cultural artifacts and serve as unique windows into the thoughts, experiences and artistic expressions of their creators. The essence of zines lies in their DIY ethos — anyone can make one, using whatever materials are at hand.
Unlike traditional publications, which may undergo formal editorial and commercial processes, zines are self-published, created outside mainstream media channels, and typically produced with minimal resources. They capture raw, unfiltered perspectives, making them valuable primary sources for understanding subcultures, social movements, and personal narratives that might otherwise be overlooked or erased.
In the same way that contemporary ARGs rely on DIY-style creative collaboration, word-of-mouth discovery and audience participation, self-published zines create a space for creators and fans to connect, share ideas and celebrate the art of immersive storytelling. It makes sense, then, that ARG makers today would find a zine to be the appropriate medium to discuss these games.
Founded by Austeria and co-created with Reeds with Ardat as a staff writer, the first issue of ARG Digest was released January 24, 2023 and featured a cover story about DadFeels, a long-running science fiction conspiracy game about YouTube culture and mind control, created by YouTuber Nathan Barnett.
“I love that grimy kind of artsy collage-like feel that ARGs have,” Austeria said. “And I like the thought of making a physical thing that you can hold and touch. I like the idea that there will be a place you can read about these stories that are usually lost. I think all of us feel frustrated because [stories] get lost.”
The magazine is available via print-on-demand by Amazon and as a free PDF download on the ARG Digest site. (I’ve also uploaded the current issues to the Internet Archive and will continue to back up future issues there.) It’s sold at cost, and makes no profits: “Kind of the reverse of profits,” Reeds said, laughing.
“I mean, that’s sort of ARG’s heart,” Austeria said. “It takes a lot of effort, and it’s there’s no money. It’s just pure art, pure passion.”
“It’s a love of the craft, for sure,” Reeds said.
“But there’s nothing like it, is there?” Ardat added.
And I agree: there really isn’t.
ARGs played an important position in the history of storytelling and the internet, a legacy that the CFIA’s restoration of the Unforum aims to preserve. The growing number of contemporary independent games shows that it remains a narrative format with huge potential for impact, engagement and creative expression.
Publications like ARG Digest document these ephemeral experiences, introducing them to a new audience. Likewise, with the Center for Immersive Arts, I aim to preserve physical and digital copies of this magazine as it is published, ensuring that a record of this arts subculture is maintained for research and reference well into the future.
If you enjoyed this interview and my preservation efforts, please consider supporting me and my work on the Center for Immersive Arts with a recurring pledge on Patreon.
The support of Patreon backers like Ariock ®, Shiina Markov, Beth Wilbins, Cameo Wood and Kathryn Yu make this project possible! Join them as a supporter today — as a bonus you’ll get early access to posts like this, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the immersive history projects I’m working on, as I’m working on them.
Leave a Reply