ABSTRACT
The Beast (2001) is credited as the first modern-day ARG.1 But, ARGs for noncommercial use surfaced in the mid-1990s and the ARG concept has been explored in short stories, books, television, and movies since the early 20th century. A 1905 short story, “The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown,” hints at the ARG concept.2 The Game is a 1997 movie starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn where Douglas plays a wealthy investment banker who is given a Consumer Recreation Services game voucher by his brother (Penn) for his birthday.3 Douglas’s character is skeptical but decides to investigate the company and the game. He’s pulled in to gameplay by a variety of strange events but doesn’t realize he’s playing. The lines between his life and the game continue to blur, resulting in conflict, danger, a rooftop leap, and ultimately self-realization.
