Interview with the Slackmistress
Nina Bargiel, slackmistress and creator of the Valemont ARG, has graciously agreed to answer a few questions for me!
Below are her responses. I definitely recommend checking out the video of her on Youtube!
1. How did you get into this line of work with Electric Farm Entertainment?
I started my career in 2000 as a TV writer, and got my first gig on “Lizzie McGuire” and then moved on to writing a few different live-action and animated shows (“The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy” “Romeo”) and then things slowed down. WAY down.
Then one day I got a call from my former “Lizzie McGuire” Executive Producer Stan Rogow who had founded a company that was making Web TV called Electric Farm Entertainment. They were looking for someone with TV series experience who also innately knew and understood the online environment – from blogging to forums to Twitter to Facebook. I had been blogging since 1997 and have been exploring the social side of social media for just as long, so it was a natural fit.
2. Where did the ideas for the Valemont ARG come from?
Valemont's creators - Brent Friedman, co-Founder of EFE and writer Christian Taylor - already had the idea that there would be a college site (ValemontU.com.) As the site was built (by Fuel) I started to fill in the blanks and put together the story of the ARG to play alongside the script. Conceptually everyone had input, which I then formed into a script and executed.
3. The characters in Valemont use Twitter extensively. Is there a reason why this medium was picked for communicating information to the players?
I'm a big believer in using each medium in the most natural way, and Twitter was built for characters! I just spoke about this at the 140 Conference, so instead of babbling on, you can check out the talk here:
4. Are you satisfied with the response to Valemont, both from the media and the players themselves?
I am! The reviews have been mostly positive, and the player involvement and feedback has been phenomenal. While one of the secrets of Valemont was that it was a college for vampires, that secret wasn't revealed until episode 11 & 12. However, the secret ended up on a few early press releases. I was concerned how that would affect the ARG experience, but the fans stuck to canon. All in all, they've made it a richer experience by participating and owning parts of the story. It's been pretty incredible.
5. What would you say was the easiest thing to do in creating this ARG? The hardest?
Easiest? I don't think there's anything easy about an ARG, but the guys at Fuel were REALLY patient with me. As I was writing the ARG they had to deal with 3943294 emails and phone calls from me asking "uh, can I do this?" They made the tech part understandable for me, and now I have a much better understanding of how that all works.
The hardest is probably time and timing. When you live and work in this world, it can be a 24/7 job. While the ARG was scripted, there were parts that had to change (as it was being built as we went) and there were parts that occasionally broke (technology isn't perfect!) so in-between perpetuating the storyworld, I was testing and rewriting and doing tech support. It took over my life.
6. Is there anything you wish you did differently for Valemont?
Yes and no. I had to write the ARG before I had a schedule roll-out due to time constrictions. So I had to basically cut and paste it back together quickly before the site launched. Trying to get the timing down and making sure that I wasn't giving anything away too soon was vital. There was a piece that I was going to cut but I chose not to - in fact, you wrote about it. But I decided to keep that in because I thought the piece was less about information and more about the decision you make. In retrospect, I should have rewritten it or cut it completely.
As we were going through the season, I kept having new ideas and Brent would email me with ideas...and it was a situation where I thought "WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS MONTHS AGO??" But at the same time, I didn't know how people would react. Some we were able to use, some we weren't. Some we hope to utilize if we get a Season Two.
7. Are there plans for a second season of Valemont?
We hope so!
8. If there is a second season of Valemont, are the Watchers likely to play a more critical role?
You mean the Watchers on Twitter? I actually don't know who the Watchers are. They may be employees of Valemont...? Or are they working with the LIberation/Revolution? We have to wait and see...
9. Have you played any other ARGs prior to the creation of Valemont?
Not really. However, I written my entire life and played video games, RPGs, and spend most of my day in the online space. It was one of those things where you don't realize you're creating transmedia content, you're just trying ot be a storyteller and tell your story wherever you can. Obviously now I'm creating and consuming ARGs and transmedia content with intent rather than by accident.
When I started this process, I was lucky enough to have Brent look over all my work, and the one question he would ask over and over again is "why are they doing this?" It helped sort of "reset" my thinking. I opted to make it less of a puzzle game (although there are bits and pieces) and make it more of a personal experience - there's no clear right and wrong answer - it's about YOU. What do YOU think? Who do YOU trust? I wanted to take this amazing script that Christian had written about this personal journey of Sophie Fields, and give you the option to go through the same sort of journey - except it's YOUR journey - you don't have to trust Sophie, either!
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Comments
Great interview!
Thanks CABeach for conducting this interview, and thanks to slackmistress for sharing her thoughts (and for stopping by the class blog). It's always fascinating to hear how things go behind the curtain.
I think the insight in your answer to question 9 is really hitting the nail on the head -- it's all about you (the player). When we play ARGs, we don't pretend to be someone else, we use our real talents, interests, and social skills to work with a story world. If there's a sense in which we perform a role to complete ARG tasks, it's no more or less performative than the kinds of role-playing we do every day to fit into our various discourse communities.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your perspective!
Thanks for having me! So
Thanks for having me! So fascinated by your class!
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