Industry-produced Alias ARGs were redundant add-ons with one-way ties to the TV series, providing no new backstory¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2007 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The Season 1 and Season 2 Alias ARGs did not provide backstory insights beyond what watching the show offered, and gave participants little opportunity to interact with the full fictional universe. → Henrik Örnebring 2007

Evidence¶

Henrik Örnebring 2007¶

Henrik Örnebring. (2007). Alternate reality gaming and convergence culture: The case of Alias. International Journal of Cultural Studies 10(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877907083079

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

Qualitative archival case study reconstructing the two ABC-produced Alias ARGs from archive sites and player forums. The analysis finds the ties to the original fictional universe were decidedly 'one-way', with the rich interplay between texts described by Jenkins for the Matrix universe absent here.

"the Season 1 and Season 2 Alias ARGs did not provide any insights into the backstory that could not also be gleaned from watching the show, and neither did they provide much of an opportunity for fans and participants to interact with the full fictional universe of Alias"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The fan-produced Omnifam ARG centred on extending the Alias backstory through the Rambaldi mythology while staying faithful to the fictional universe
• Intellectual-property concerns and fan attraction to the backstory jointly shaped the fan ARG's focus on the Rambaldi mythology
• Fan-produced and industry-produced ARGs based on existing media properties perform the same cultural function of extending the narrative within a shared consumption framework — related