Prototype by Daniela Silva, Digital Media Graduate | Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin University

After thinking about multiple ideas for the New Canterbury Project, I knew I wanted something that allowed me to explore various ideas in the same medium. That’s when the idea of making an ARG came to mind.

ARG or Alternate Reality Game is a story that is told using the real world and transmedia storytelling techniques. This story acts as a game in a way and is often up for interpretation by the players.

I first learned about ARGs last year, when I heard about The Editor Wilbur ARG.

After doing further research on ARGs, such as the FNAF ARG and the Cloverfield ARG, I quickly realized that this would be the perfect way of expanding the New Canterbury Tales universe.

How does New Canterbury fit into this?

The thing that captivated me about New Canterbury Tales, is its dystopic aspect. The stories, especially Catriona’s, all have some elements mentioned that remind me of dystopic stories, such as 1984, The Hunger Games and the Divergent saga.

Stuff like there being micro-communities, no prisons and no regular law enforcement, make this the perfect contender for an ARG.

What does the New Explorer ARG focus on?

I started building this ARG on the principle of ethics and how ethics can affect decision-making. After reading Nina’s stories, there was a part of Varna’s story that really stood out to me. What surprised me about Varna’s story is how fast she changes her mind at the end. In a matter of a couple of lines, she goes from not knowing what she wants to do when she grows up, to being completely sure that she’ll be an explorer. She even goes as far as going against her classmates when they say that being an explorer in 2070 is silly because “there is nothing left to explore”. After reading her thoughts throughout the entirety of the story, the fact that she sticks to her word and doesn’t get discouraged when she hears her classmates and teacher say that, seems very out of character.

This led me to think about what had changed. Because something must have had to change in the space of time between when she’s at home and when she’s at school. And then I noticed the line that she so blatantly says right at the end that reads “they are wrong! There is still so much to explore, they just haven’t seen it yet. They have no idea.” This to me, gives the impression that she found something between the day she was at home and the day she went to school, that completely reassured her that she can become an explorer.

Following this, I decided that the logical path for this story to go was to make Varna discover different universes, and have that be what makes her so sure that there is in fact “still so much to explore”.

Therefore, in short, my ARG story revolves around the discovery of different universes and how that will affect the characters' decisions as well as their future. Will this lead to catastrophic results as we see in Nina’s final story “a letter from 2121”, or will they be able to fix whatever’s broken in time? Will their morals change throughout this or will their personalities and decision-making remain the same?

With the help of Jack MacNicoll’s character that Nina wrote, which revolves around fuzzy memories and messing around with the human brain, my ARG story, not only deals with the discovery of different universes but also the moral questions raised when it comes to messing around with people’s memories.

 Is it morally correct to delete their memories if the possession of such could potentially hurt the future of the universe?

Finally, like all stories, mine also had to have an antagonist. Portrayed by Justin Sabio’s character Quinn McGee (he insisted on that being the character’s name), we will see if an antagonist has to be inherently evil all the time, or if their decisions, which they believe to be for the greater good, are actually what’s causing them to be evil. Is evil actually evil if they believe they are doing the right thing? What if they have proof that they are doing the right thing? Is it still evil?

Where to start

Currently, this ARG is still in progress. There have been initial clues released that give access to other clues if the game is played correctly.
Not all clues have been released but are being prepared to be released.

Because what fascinated me the most about ARG is their transmedia aspect, this story will be told through various media platforms: Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, and Twitch lore streams, amongst other platforms.

If you want to start the game, follow the first clue here.