I'm really going off the deep end with this, but I'm stoned and this is something I've actually fantasized about before to some extent, so....
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Thanks for your input. You will be happy to know that we are thinking about all of this! I'll respond to a few of your points because I think people reading through the thread will benefit by it.
"You say people want a more immersive experience, but perhaps what people really want is something that they can
care about. In other words, emotional immersion rather than multi-media or multiple context immersion."
Emotional immersion is exactly what people want, and that is why we are using transmedia to bring it to people. A movie or a book can be engaging, but it doesn't completely engulf the audience within the world. Transmedia gets people engaged in ways that they may never expect, and that may feel more "genuine" than simply watching a movie or reading a book. In fact, most of the largest political movements in history have taken place through a transmedia environment. It has been shown throughout history that the best way to get people involved with a cause is to engage them through multiple platforms.
"Could the blurring of the lines between game and reality even go as far as the storyline itself, with competition to control the narrative."
Today's world is filled with competing narratives. People who believe in climate change and those who don't, people who think bitcoin is a new paradigm in technological development and people who think it is a scam, people who believe certain truths are false, and vice versa. Our alternate reality experience will absolutely aim to challenge our audience's preconceived notions of "truth." And it may lead to certain audience members taking away one "truth' from the experience, while other audience's take away a completely different "truth." We intend for parts of our experience to be nearly indistinguishable from reality.
"You say part of the problem is getting people involved after the initial stages, even though then the puzzles will be getting harder and you may perhaps need to catch up on what happened before - well perhaps some element of the gamification of social / political / cultural competition via game factions could provide the necessary motivation to accomplish this?"
We are going to tackle this through a few various methods. The simplest way to do it is to have on-ramps into the deeper aspects of the game through a variety of forms of mass media (for instance, apps, films, websites, social media, etc). But some of the deeper content that will be created for niche communities and fragmented groups across the world will absolutely need to spark a desire in those who interact with it to share it and get others involved.
Thanks for your post