Seven Questions with Georgina Bath

Posted by Andy

[This is Part Two of a two-part post about the Smithsonian's alternate reality game, "Ghosts of a Chance." For more info and links about the game, check out Part One. Bonus: if you've joined our reading group on The Ecology of Games, stay tuned for Jane McGonigal's chapter, Why I Love Bees: A Case Study in Collective Intelligence Gaming.]

Georgina Bath is the Interpretive Programs Manager at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Luce Foundation Center for American Art. Answering a few questions for us, she offers a glimpse behind the curtain with her insights into the creation of their (currently running) alternate reality game, "Ghosts of a Chance." Thanks Georgina!

Q: What first sparked the idea of developing an alternate reality game (ARG) for the Luce Foundation Center for American Art?

A: John Maccabee from the company City Mystery first approached the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) about the game. He met with our then IT Chief, Michael Edson (now Director of Web and New Media Strategy for the entire Smithsonian) and they both agreed that the Luce Foundation Center was the perfect venue to host such an event. The Luce Foundation Center is SAAM’s visible storage facility that displays around 3,300 objects from the museum’s collection. The richness of content and wide variety of artworks make it a good fit for the narrative involved in ARGs. The Luce Foundation Center also has permanent staff that runs an active schedule of programs in the space. Essentially, we had the content and the people all ready to support the game!
Q: In creating "Ghosts of a Chance" with game designers at City Mystery, what did your team look like and how would you describe the process?

A: I have been the main contact with the team from City Mystery and the Playtime Anti-Boredom Society (who are co-designers of the game). We had a week of kick-off meetings in May/June with representatives from almost every department in the museum. From those meetings we established a group of people who would be involved in reviewing the various deliverables along the way. This group included SAAM’s Deputy Director, two museum educators, Michael Edson, our Public Affairs Officer, and our Chief of External Affairs. I have been diligent about keeping people informed along the way – making sure the relevant departments know about aspects of the game that might affect them. I have also given several presentations in progress to departments that have expressed particular interest. In August, City Mystery was back on-site and we had another series of meetings with relevant departments as well as the review team. City Mystery (and co.) is responsible for designing the game, marketing it virally, and creating all media assets. SAAM is responsible for reviewing major deliverables such as the storyline, scripts, media assets, and event structure. SAAM is also responsible for marketing the game through our regular channels, including printed flyers, calendars, our social networking sites (blog, facebook, twitter), and local media.
Q: Tapping into "maker culture," the game asks players to literally create a new museum exhibition by mailing in their own homemade artifacts. How do you hope this will change players' perspectives?

A: We’re hopeful that it will draw people into the game who may not have heard of ARGs before. We’re also hopeful that it will make the game “stand out” a little from other ARGs as we’re asking people to make objects and we’re also asking them to attend live events. I’m also hopeful that we’ll generate interest among the museum community as I believe it’s quite a revolutionary thing that we’re doing in actually temporarily including these artifacts in our collection!
Q: You've written about the "idea of blending fictional and historical narrative around collection artifacts without being disrespectful or confusing." I'm sure this tension between fiction and history in a museum setting must've been a major concern. Could you share how you approached this challenge?

A: SAAM was comfortable with adding a narrative to certain elements of the collection as long as it was understood that all game-related content would only be on view for the duration of the game. We also reviewed all the objects that the game designers wanted to use to make sure they weren’t including something that might be a sensitive issue. I think we approached it in the same way that many museums are approaching user-generated content, by differentiating between the museum voice and the game voice. For the most part, all game content is identified by either the name of the game or by the logo. We also plan on issuing a statement after it’s complete that lets you know what was real and what was fake.
Q: After the six weeks of live gameplay are over, you'll re-use some assets to create a repeatable, one-and-a-half hour game module for onsite visitors. How will you include in this new version the clues that are currently scattered across the internet?

A: This is not something that we have completely figured out yet. I believe that most of the modular game will be pulled from the five-hour live event on October 25.
Q: As the first ARG produced for a museum, how will the game's success be measured?

A: In a variety of ways. We will be analyzing traffic to the various game sites, primarily the main Ghosts of a Chance page. We will also be evaluating the people that attend on October 25, and contacting some of the central group of hardcore players to get their feedback. I think if the game gets people talking about our museum then we can consider the experiment a success, so I am constantly reviewing and documenting the chatter about the game on various web 2.0 sites.
Q: What recommendations would you offer folks at other institutions who might be considering the addition of an ARG to their visitor experiences?

A: I’m not sure yet! It’s certainly been a huge adventure so far and a great project to work on. I’m hopeful that by the end of it we’ll have a great list of tips and lessons-learned to share with other institutions. I would certainly tell people to be sure that the institution is prepared to support the “fiction” in every way possible. Every department at SAAM has been incredibly supportive and willing to play along, and it definitely would not have worked if this were not the case.