The concept of an Alternate Reality Game (or ARG for short) began approximately with the art project Ong's Hat, which used print media and Internet to tell its story. Modern ARGs follow the transmedia format established by Ong's Hat and thus combine tropes from other media while inventing some of their own.
See also Interactive Storytelling Tropes.
Alternate Reality Game Tropes include:
- Alternate Reality Game: A online game where a fictional storyline is presented as a story happening in Real Life.
- Entry Point: Most of an ARG's gameplay is hidden from the public eye. As such, the game-creators will insert conspicuous story/puzzle samples on their websites and advertisements to entice people into their game.
- Flashmob: This is usually an unintentional side-effect. An ARG may require its players to travel to real locations as part of the gameplay, which may result in multiple players showing up in large crowds at random places.
- Kayfabe: Part of an ARG's immersion stems from the storytellers playing various characters and/or pretending that the game is a true event.
- Story Breadcrumbs: An ARG's storytelling is not one continuous narrative but rather pieces of information dealt out periodically to players as they solve puzzles and progress further and further into the game.
- Urban Legends: Certain ARGs blur the line between reality and fiction by promoting their plots as mythological tales that may or may not be true.