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Jamie Kane

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Jamie Kane is the name of an alternate reality game created by the British Broadcasting Corporation, aimed primarily at girls aged 14 years to 18 years and named after the main character in the game, a fictional pop star named "Jamie Kane". In addition to a primary web site, the game is noted for involving interspersing fictional content related to the game in many of the BBC's web sites, including fictional interviews between BBC Radio 1 presenters and "Jamie Kane", fake Top of the Pops appearances by the character, and fake BBC News reports of the character's death. The aim of the game is for players to unravel the mystery of that death, solving on-line puzzles and following clues that are available from a variety of sources.

Unusually for BBC content, the game involves no links to any broadcast series or other BBC characters. This, alongside with the fact that the game has launched two months behind schedule, has caused speculation that this venture by the BBC into alternate reality gaming might prove to be unsuccessful1. Sophie Walpole, head of interactive drama and entertainment at the BBC, however, was publicly confident about the game's prospects at its launch, expressing her hope that the game will "go viral", adding that "More than 1 million teenagers visit BBC Online a month, and I'm aiming for in excess of 100,000 players in the first year. It could be just the start of new interactive fiction by the BBC."

History

The BBC commissioned development of the game in February 2004, shortly before the publication of the independent report by Philip Graf on the BBC's practice in May 2004, which saw the BBC cease its involvement in online fantasy football and surfing stories. The game was initially scheduled for release in early 2005.

For 10 months the BBC worked with outside contractors Preloaded, creator of the various mini-games and puzzles in the game, and Creative Virtual, a specialist in artificial intelligence on-line chat robot technology, to create the game, at a cost of more than £250,000.

On 2005-05-11 the BBC publicly announced that it was calling for beta testers, a move that some alternate reality game commentators considered to be unusually straightforward and open for the world of alternate reality gaming4. According to a Preloaded spokesman, this call for testers engendered a response and the game was "tested on hundreds of teenagers".

The game was finally launched on 2005-08-05. The launch incurred some teething troubles, with reports from players that they could not sign in to the web site5. Other players commented on the quality of the chat robots, and their inability to respond meaningfully to comments made by players that addressed the central theme of the game10. The interspersal with other BBC content also confused non-players into thinking that the game's character was real12.

On 2005-08-13, the game incurred further controversy when the original entry about "Jamie Kane" in Wikipedia reported the fictional biography of the game's central character as if it were fact. Questions were asked about the possibility that the article had been written by someone within the BBC itself with the intention of promoting the game.6 Rob Cooper responded for the BBC saying that "the BBC would never use Wikipedia as a marketing tool."7 15 16

Credits

The game's storyline was written by Matt Beaumont, author of E: A Novel; The Book, The Film, The T-shirt, a novel written in the form of a succession of purported electronic mail messages. The "Jamie Kane" character within the various video clips and stills is played by Simon Bailey, an actor who has also worked in productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat in the West End of London. Real-life Top of the Pops presenter Fearne Cotton also features in the video clips.

Elements of the game borrow heavily from the failed Electronic Arts subscription game 'Majestic', which was shut down early in 2002 after failing to reach the required number of paying players.

Playing the game

The game involves both web content and interaction via text messaging (accessible within the United Kingdom only), electronic mail, and with a chatbot on a proprietary Flash interface designed to resemble an instant messaging system. Rob Cooper, producer with the BBC's interactive drama and entertainment department, stated that "You play for around 20 minutes a day and it makes use of AI chats to feed you info. Typically, it will take around 15 days to solve, a clue at a time."

Player reaction to the game has varied. In addition to the initial reactions mentioned above, players have described the game as "wicked detailed" for the chat robot's reactions to references to Kill Bill, 24, and Amélie and for the descriptions of the game web site's links to the Time Cube web site12; and described the Flash animation instant messaging system as "odd" and unlike actual instant messaging systems in nature13.

During the beta testing, Christy Dena, in a lengthy and detailed analysis on the gameplay, complimented the immediacy of reaction of the chat robots, and the "smooth" integration between the various interactions with the game (specifically between electronic mail and chat). Dena also pointed out that, unlike many alternate reality games, players can join game play at any time, and the game is not played in real time14.

Storyline and characters

This is a brief summary of the characters in the game and its storyline. Template:Spoiler Jamie Kane is a pop star who is a member of a boy band Boy*d Upp who dies in a helicopter crash. The other members of the band are songwriter Fran Barber and model turned dancer Jedd Nicholson. The band has had two UK top ten singles and several European music awards.

A fan of Jamie and the band is Jessica ("Jess"), who runs her own unofficial Jamie Kane web site, populated by several other Jamie Kane fans, who communicate via forums and instant messenger.

References

  1. Losowsky, Andrew (2005-06-23). "BBC's teen dream a risky business". {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  2. "BBC look for beta testers for online Jamie Kane game for 14-18yrs". 2005-05-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  3. Waite, Jonathan (2005-08-04). "Jamie Kane Goes Live". {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  4. Peters, Steve (2005-05-11). "BBC Announces Jamie Kane Beta". {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  5. . August 14 http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2005/08/jamie_kane_wont.php. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |Work= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |Author= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Title= ignored (|title= suggested) (help)
  6. . August 14 http://www.boingboing.net/2005/08/13/bbc_punks_wikipedia_.html. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |Work= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |Author= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Title= ignored (|title= suggested) (help)
  7. . August 15 http://www.boingboing.net/2005/08/15/bbc_wikipedia_is_not.html. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |Work= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |Author= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Title= ignored (|title= suggested) (help)
  8. Gibson, Owen (2004-11-11). "BBC creates teen drama to appear online". {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  9. "BBC's interactive mystery adventure for website". 2004-11-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  10. "YA Game, Drama, Mystery from the Beeb". Grand Text Auto. August 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  11. "BBC Plans A Mainstream ARG for UK Audience". deaddrop. August 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  12. "Comment on Jamie Kane". jay is. August 15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  13. "Jamie Kane". Miscellany is the largest category. August 15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  14. . August 15 http://wrt.ucr.edu/wordpress/2005/05/28/bots-just-wanna-chat/. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |Author= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Title= ignored (|title= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Work= ignored (|work= suggested) (help)
  15. . August 15 http://www.boakes.org/beeb-viral. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |Author= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Title= ignored (|title= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Work= ignored (|work= suggested) (help)
  16. "Jamie Kane Wikipedia Entries". Jamie Kane. August 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help) — BBC press release on the subject of Wikipedia and Jamie Kane
  17. "IGN's Majestic review". August 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)

See also

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