Rachel Miller
Entertainment
ARG's. Has nothing to do with pirates.

	Alternate Reality Games, or ARG's, are a new kind of entertainment growing in popularity. They are realtime games that are often played off of a computer or game console and involve problem-solving skills and the ability to think on your feet. Some games, television shows, and movies have ARG's associated with them, like the Halo series, Lost, and Cloverfield.
	Games are usually created as marketing ploy, but not to inundate you with scores of banner adds every time you visit a game website. They have more to it than that, even if the "rabbit hole," or website where you first find the ARG, seems innocuous or shallow. But follow that suspicious link or email the funny address and you can get into a game bigger than is sometimes realized.
	The problem with ARG's is how to describe them to a non-player. How would you talk about a something that can leave the computer and span cities, states, and even countries in its game play? There can be players numbering from only a dozen to thousands.  42entertainment is a company devoted entirely to creating ARG's for products that have both depth and amazing game play.
 	The simplest definition of an ARG is that it pulls you out from behind a character or avatar and pushes you into a world of interactive puzzles and activities.
            	The key word here iS interactive. ARG's constantly change and morph while still in play, resulting in interesting and often unexpected results. The "Lost Experience" For the show of the same name got thousands of people online to figure out elements about Lost mythology, and a first-person shooter was marketed by a poker game that had people playing cards with gravest0nes.
	Another important factor is initiative. To be able to play the games and to be involved, players need to go out and find clues, participate in live events, and search the internet for hidden websites. These games are gaining popularity because they make you think and get out from in front of the computer or television.
	The outcomes are also an incentive to play. The prizes for completing the game can range from just satisfaction of finding out what's going on to money or free cell phones and cars. Either way, you can count on the games being intriguing and full of twists and turns that make game play unexpected and surprising.
	Alternate reality games are all over the place, and only need a good eye and head for puzzles to be found. Go out, have fun, and play for keeps!