Serious Fun

摘要

What do you get when you combine technology, advertising and unconventional storytelling? Scores of "Batman" fans roaming the streets of San Diego wearing Joker costumes and carrying smart-phones. One of hundreds of alternate-reality games (args) orchestrated for marketing purposes, this elaborate quest, staged at a comic-book convention in 2007, began with $1 bills that led players to a Joker-themed website. The site, in turn, gave them a time and a set of satellite-positioning co-ordinates. At the time and place specified, players found a plane writing a phone number in the sky. Calling the number sent them on a scavenger hunt with online components.rnAnd this massive cross-media event represented only one part of a game called "The Dark Knight", put together by 42 Entertainment, an advertising company, to promote the film of the same name. It may sound like a convoluted way to get the word out about a film, but games like these are becoming more widespread, attracting new players and bigger clients.