WRT: Writer Response Theory

I’ve spoken about ARGs many times, and I’ve thought about having a TV series involved in an ARG, but now a group of producers are creating THE ‘alternate reality’ mix: a reality TV show about creating an ARG. Project Game Light will be launched in 2006. Here is the description:

Project Game Light : The first contest of its kind, blurring the lines between Reality TV, Game Development and Alternate Reality Gaming. Contestants and viewers will get a firsthand, real-time taste of the challenges of the creation of an actual game in an exciting new hybrid form of entertainment.

Project Game Light will feature three teams of amateur alternate reality game creators, or puppet masters (PMs), as they struggle to make an ARG under the strict budget and scheduling constraints of a commercial project. Project Game Light’s audience will be allowed and encouraged to interact with the teams and the events of the contest itself, by suggesting in-game situations, puzzles, and other game elements to be included in each team’s ARG.

Here is the call for sign-ups:

Do you think it would be fun to be a professional game designer or really cool to be on a reality TV show like Survivor or Big Brother? Project Game Light might just be your chance to live out both of these dreams, at the same time!
* Project Game Light is the first contest of its kind, combining the very best and most exciting aspects of Reality TV, Game Development, and Alternate Reality Gaming.
* But Project Game Light is groundbreaking in another way, too. Project Game Light is a new and truly unique hybrid form of entertainment. It’s not just a videotaped show made for the Internet, or an Internet contest with video elements. Instead, Project Game Light combines the immediacy and emotional drama of the reality TV show format with the interactivity and pervasiveness of a multimedia narrative marketing campaign. Here’s how you can get involved with Project Game Light!
* As a possible contestant – Very shortly, we’ll be posting complete details and requirements for applying to be one of the three amateur PM teams involved with Project Game Light. Please keep checking this site for updates and announcements. In the meantime, your team can be polishing up your idea for an alternate reality game, because part of the submission process will be “pitching your game” to us just as you might to a commercial client.
* As a possible online play tester – Even if you can’t or don’t want to be part of the actual Project Game Light show, you can still be part of it through the Internet, as one of the official play testers for the ARGs the teams are making. You can help put them through the paces by interacting with the characters and worlds they create, just as you would in an actual alternate reality game.
* As a fan of Project Game Light – Project Game Light will be utilizing a brand new community building and interaction software by IntroNetworks, allowing fans of the contest to interact with the teams and personalities of he show, other fans of Project Game Light, and the ARG community as a whole. The Project Game Light IntroNetwork will be your primary source of updates and interaction with the show
and help you find and get together with others who share the same interests, skills, and experience with ARGs.

Sign Up Today!
You don’t have to wait for Project Game Light to actually begin to start building your relationships with other Project Game Light and ARG fans. The Project Game Light IntroNetwork is available right now. Click here to sign up today!

I’ve signed up. I’d like a front-row seat on this one (as close as I can get without being seen though).