Meigeist

A New Form of Entertainment

In late 2006 Hazel Grian (described by The Simpson’s creator Matt Groening as ‘a funny filmmaking genius’) and UWE graduate and Alternate Reality Game (ARG) veteran Jonathon Williams were awarded a Diffraction Placement at HP Labs, Bristol, funded by Arts Council England and managed by Watershed.

The Diffraction Placements sought to connect art, industry and innovation to create engaging new experiences with the technologies outside their original purpose. The results of this three month placement was the production of a brand new Alternate Reality Game (ARG) called Meigeist.

A question you may be asking yourself right now…“What is an Alternate Reality Game?” Answer: “An alternate reality game (ARG), is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions.” Wikipedia.

Following three months of research undertaken as part of the residency, in January 2007, Hazel moved into an office in Watershed to launch the game. Blending fiction with reality by telling its story across different media including websites, text message, live events and email Meigeist was completely free to play and became the largest non-commercially funded game of its type ever to be produced in the UK.

Over 30,000 people around the world took part in the game that lasted eight weeks. Meigiest was called “the funniest game of all time!” and “the ARG event of the year!” 

Hazel went on to contribute with Jan Libby, another talented ARG creator, to Kate Modern (by the creators of LonelyGirl15) an online interactive  drama series.

Visit the Diffraction site to read more about the Diffraction Placement Scheme and Hazel’s journey.

Related links:
Hazel Grian