Back in August Jay Bibby (of the incomparable JayIsGames blog) posted a brief review of the BBC's new Alternate Reality Game (ARG), Jamie Kane: 1982-2005.

I'd wanted to work ARGs into my classes for some time now, and this one seemed a promising fit: it is short (only about 15 days' worth of content), not explicitly sci-fi (not that I have any problem with that, but I find that students are often inexplicably hostile to SF), it's free, and doesn't seem to require absurd programming skills (like ripping apart the source code of a Flash movie to find a message hidden therein).

This ARG explores the tragic death of former boy-band singer Jamie Kane, whose helicopter crashed into the North Sea while en route to shoot a music video for his second solo album.

The production values in this game are really impressive. The three albums by Kane are all available online with full streaming support for all of the tracks. I'm particularly amused by the songs on the first album, Boy*d Upp's Get Boy*d Upp. The cheesiness is palpable, and yet also completely believable. It's choice.

Your entrance to the game is through a Jamie Kane fan group, "JamieRules," whose members post to a message board (they also post to their own blogs, which are, helpfully enough, linked from the message board). One of the members writes on her blog that:

dont get me rong. im not one of those nutters who think kurt cobain is still alive and living in a 2-bed semi in cheadle.

or that elvis was killed by an exploding cheeseburger planted by north korean assassins (tho 3rd-year frank has some hard evidence to say he was – i know hes off his head most of the time but he has moments of perfect klarity).

in other words im not some sad and pathetic konspiracy theorist.

but ...

BUT ...

sumfings not rite.
i kant shake this feelin that jamie isnt dead. or he was murdered. or sumfing. SUMFING. it just wont leeve me alone.

[. . . .]

+ i am gonna find it if it kills me.

The cult of personality formed around Kane, in other words, is about to get sucked into an investigation of the death of their idol, and you're along for the ride.

Besides the number of sites, the albums and publicity photos for the bands (Boy*d Upp and Kane solo), there are also video clips of press briefings and news reports to be watched.

And if that wasn't enough, the game also incorporates some surprisingly sophisticated chat-bots to make you feel like you're really chatting via IM with the members of the fan group. When you first register for the game with the BBC, you get sent an e-mail from the group's president inviting you to check out the message board and to IM with her using a special (not real) chat interface.

Following some basic Eliza-type "conversation," Jessica asked an interesting follow-up question:

JESSICA> Hmmm, not into action films that much. But I guess they can be pretty exciting. So what is your fave film of all time? Mine is Almost Famous.

RICHARD> Blade Runner. I was hoping Jamie would star in a sequel. He'd rock as an android.

JESSICA> I've not seen it, but Harrison Ford's in it, isn't he? I must get it on deeveedee. You don't know who directed it, do you?

I was trying to scope out the limits of the bot's AI with the android and Jamie Kane references, seeing if she would: 1] make the connection between her idol and the film we were talking about (something like: "OMG, Jamie *would* be great in that!"), or 2] make a self-referential remark about being robotic herself (along the lines of: "androids need love, too!"), but she didn't do either. Instead, she consulted a film database and asked me a follow-up question. I was impressed that she did it, though not really with the substance of the question.

In any case, I am impressed so far. The students in my Digital Composing classes are getting their first tastes of Jamie Kane this week. We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.