Robert said (on Facebook, naturally) that Facebook is an A.R.G. Of course, he’s absolutely right, but in such an insidiously sinister way I felt it deserved elucidation.
A.R.G., Alternative Reality Game. The example he gave me was a movie I never saw, called “The Game”, in which Michael Douglas’ life is turned inside out by what turns out to be--- you guessed it--- only a game. Real life interactions turn out to be fake, or at least part of the larger scheme. Dire consequences are negated, happy ever after attained.
That was a movie. Facebook is real, but it’s an ersatz reality. There are two people I don’t know on my friends list. One of them is completely random, we have no friends in common, nor do I have any idea why I was chosen. No further communication has occurred to explain it. My dog has a Facebook page, with more activity on it than my own. It's an A.R.G.. While I do my best to transcribe in human terms what I presume to be his canine motivation, it is absurdity in pixels and may stop amusing me at any moment. Robert can take over from there.
The idea of the A.R.G. is that fiction overlays reality. That distinction already blurs online. Deb, I’ve known you for seven years now, but if you walked up to me on the street I wouldn’t recognize you because we’ve never met. For that matter, my photo was taken before I let my hair go gray.
Where is the edge of reality, and what constitutes an alternative? If there is no ultimate purpose to Facebook, and it seems like there isn’t, maybe it is all just a game.
1 comment:
ok, you may have ONE person on your FB page whom u don't know. but i have a dog on mine.
and as for Jonah's page, it's not an ARG, it's an ARF.
sorry, am overtired and cudn't resist.
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