Lost in an Alternate Reality

The television show Lost, ventures into the emergent form of the Alternate Reality Game (ARG).  This article ask the question... can “The Lost Experience” teach us about transmedia storytelling and the differing ways television and games function as narrative media?  ARGs are an interesting phenomenon taking advantage of the role media plays in our daily lives.  An ARG by its definition must operate in secret, as the goal is to obscure the boundaries between an emerging storyline and real life in a paranoid mist–only after the game's completion are its “puppet masters” and underlying structure made public.  The show Lost has a dedicated fan base and the show focuses on puzzles and mysteries that being said, its narrative world highlighting paranoia and deception would make it seem like the perfect series to be extended into an ARG.  The buzz was strong among both ARG players and Lost fans this spring as producers announced the launch of “The Lost Experience” for May 3rd to run throughout the summer during the peak of the television season.  As time went on the game was over a month old, and it seemed that the game had not lived up to expectations, for reasons attributable to the competing industrial and narrative norms of television and ARGs.  In an ARG, the narrative typically launches in the midst of an enigma, presenting a situation which not only focuses on suspense but also asks players to question the rationale and existence of whatever they encounter.  Are these websites and emails real or part of a fictional world?  In many ways, the narrative of Lost does the same thing, placing characters on an island full of seemingly random elements (polar bears and hatches) and potentially deceptive psychological experiments.  “The Lost Experience” seems to be failing.  Judged as an ARG, players are griping on forums, blogs, and email lists that the puzzles are too easy, difficult, and repetitive in format.

Questions 

Have you seen Lost and do you agree with this article?

Why do you think ARG is failing?