Alternate reality games, as these experiences are known, are a hybrid of game and story. The story is told in fragments; the game comes in piecing the fragments together. The task it too complicated for any one person. But through the connective power of the Web, a group intelligence emerges to assemble the pieces, solve the mysteries, and, in the process, tell and retell the story online. Ultimately, the audiences comes to own the story, in ways that movies themselves can’t match.

- Frank Rose, “The Art of Immersion”

(Source: artofimmersion.com)

We don’t really consume popular culture anymore, certainly not as a linear narrative. Instead, we co-create it, by deconstructing plot twists in elaborate blog posts, contributing to extensive fan wikis that delve into the motivations of each character, and creating our own parallel narrative in virtual worlds and alternative reality games built around films and TV shows.

- Gaurav Mishra, “The Storytelling Mandala: Purpose-Inspired Transmedia Storytelling”

(Source: gauravonomics.com)