Introduction (Antero Garcia, Colorado State Univeristy, USA & Greg Niemeyer, University of California, Berkeley) Part I: Guiding Principles of Alternate Reality Games Chapter 1 - From Alternate to Alternative Reality: Games as Cultural Probes (Patrick Jagoda, University of Chicago, USA, Melissa Gilliam, University of Chicago, USA Peter McDonald, University of Chicago, USA and Ashlyn Sparrow University of Chicago, USA) Chapter 2 - The Game Did Not Take Place - This Is Not a Game and blurring the lines of fiction (Alan Hook, University of Ulster, UK) Chapter 3 - Alternate reality games for learning: A frame by frame analysis (Anthony Pellicone, Adelphi University, USA Elizabeth Bonsignore, University of Maryland, USA, Kathryn Kaczmarek, University of Maryland, USA, Kari Kraus, University of Maryland, USA, June Ahn, New York University, USA & Derek Hansen, Brigham Young University, USA) Chapter 4 – Promotional Alternate Reality Games and the TINAG Philosophy (Stephanie Janes, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK) Chapter 5 - The Coachella Disaster: How the puppet masters of Art of the H3ist Pulled a Victory from the Jaws of Defeat (Burcu Bakioglu, Lawrence University, USA) Chapter 6 – Designing and Playing Peer-Produced ARGs in the Primary Classroom: Supporting Literacies through Play (Angela Colvert, University of Roehampton, UK) Part II: New Frontiers of Alternating Reality Chapter 7 - Games Beyond the ARG (Jeff Watson, University of Southern California, USA) Chapter 8 - Methods: Studying Alternate Reality Games as Virtual Worlds (Calvin Johns, University of Texas at Austin, USA) Chapter 9 - A Typology to describe Alternate Reality Games for Cultural Contexts (Diane Dufort and Federico Tajariol, University of Franche-Comté, France) Chapter 10 - Sociability by design in an Alternate Reality Game: The case of The Trail (Elina Roinioti, University of Athens, Greece, Pandia Eleana, Panteion University, Greece, Skarpelos Yannis, Panteion University, Greece) Chapter 11 - Ingress: a restructuring of the ARG or a new genre? An ethnography of Enlightened and Resistance factions in Brazil (Thaiane Olivera, Federal Fluminense University, Brazil) Conclusion (Antero Garcia, Colorado State Univeristy, USA & Greg Niemeyer, University of California, Berkeley) Index

Alternate Reality Games and the Cusp of Digital Gameplay is a rabbit hole into a wondrous world where everything we encounter is playable, every problem demands extreme-scale collaboration, and every story is open to co-creation. In this world, the virtual games we play threaten -- or promise? -- to blur the boundaries of our real lives and even become our lives. The volume is nothing less than a definitive history and the most significant theoretical examination yet of the strangest happenings in the most transgressive and personally transformative genre of games to emerge in our connected age. Don't forget: In an alternate reality, anything and everything might be a clue to something bigger -- including, yes, of course! the very pages in this book. Happy playing! And keep your eyes open for clues...

Approaches to Digital Game Studies examines the social significance of digital games, bringing together a range of voices from different disciplines in order to advance ongoing conversations and initiate new areas of inquiry in the field of game studies. While conversant in digital game studies, titles in this innovate series bring approaches, theories, methods and questions from other disciplines to bear on the study of games. Each volume is organized around the examination of a single ludic, thematic, or functional game genre. https://sites.google.com/site/approachestodigitalgamestudies/