Revisiting history: Using alternate reality games to tell a centuryold tale

The advent of the Internet has been instrumental in producing new Game Based Learning (GBL) products where education and game play converge. GBL allows educators to leverage the power of computer games to engage players to develop new knowledge and skills. Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are one such tool that can offer engaging GBL experiences. Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are cross media narrative-based games that use the Internet as a central communications platform. The interactions of participants drive the progression and direction of the story and play experience. Boundaries between reality and fiction are disguised, as game designers ensure that characters and scenarios react dynamically to player input. Working collaboratively, players collate a fragmented narrative by deciphering codes and clues. When used for educational purposes, Serious ARGs provide a novel form of GBL that encourages critical thinking, develops problem-solving skills and fosters collaborative learning. The pedagogical application of ARGs is still relatively new though, and their potential as a teaching tool has yet to be fully realised. This article presents a background to ARGs and Serious ARGs. Furthermore, this article also presents lessons drawn from an empirical study - the creation of Plunkett's Pages, a Serious ARG that allows players to learn about the events surrounding Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising. Plunkett's Pages offers insights into how an ARG can be used to support learning. A design-based methodology steered its development. This article analyses how an ARG's game design correlates with the desired learning outcomes, reflects on how an ARG can motivate players, and explains the techniques that enriched players' learning. A selection of evaluation criteria, extracted from the reflections of those who played Plunkett's Pages, are furthermore presented. These criteria specifically relate to engendering learning through game play, and are intended to enable novice ARG designers, or educators seeking to use ARGs, to formatively evaluate an emerging ARG design.