The audience for Location Based Games

I attended the 1st screening of The Institute at Cinema Village here in NYC last month. 

The documentary is about an interactive art piece called The Jejune Institute that took place in San Francisco in 2011. It was instantly dubbed an Alternate Reality Game that blurred reality and fantasy. At it's core, the film embraced the idea of injecting ludic sensibility into the everyday landscape. I would have loved to participate in the Jejune Institute, but experiences like this are for a fixed period of time at a fixed location.

It will surely get you thinking. Are games like this confusing for a mass audience? Will our role in the game make a difference if there are no clear goals?

A fun fact: Jeff Hull, creative director of The Jejune Institute, has a striking resemblance to Johnathan Blow.

Winter is coming. When will the temps be acceptable enough to go outside again and play some location based games. By the time Spring rolls around, will there be a renewed interest in this form of gaming? Who wants them? Do people need to get their hands on the newfangled virtual reality headsets and wearable computers about to hit the market?

Shadow Cities closed down Oct. 7, and Wise Guys Events behind in LA only reached half of their kickstarter goal for The Augmented Detective.

I believe there is hope when the weather turns for the warmer with Clandestine : Anomaly and the latest full fledged app from Mark Skwarek called Play AR. Of course, you can always check ARGNet for games playing now online and perhaps even in your region!