Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication Studies

Faculty/School

Faculty of Arts

First Advisor

Dr. Colleen Kim Daniher

Advisor Role

Help with editing, proofreading, and guidance

Abstract

Alternate reality games (ARGs) are transmedia games that exist and operate utilizing a number of digital communication platforms. These games see players employing their digital literacy skills in order to solve narrative puzzles and craft theories with other ARG players – through engaging with the alternate reality fiction presented to them. sabrinamiller230 is a horror themed ARG that takes the appearance of an Instagram profile and presents players with a speculative alternate reality world featuring an alien who critiques humanity’s many injustices. This research paper seeks to address a key problem regarding the lack of digital ethnographic studies of ARG communities and their player cultures. This paper argues that players who engage with the sabrinamiller230 ARG, by contributing to the page’s many comment sections, are primed to imagine and work towards the possibility of potential progressive futures. In locating the progressive elements of sabrinamiller230 and how they work to internalize progressive sentiments in the ARG’s player culture, this study combines research methods of passive digital ethnography and auto-ethnography in observing sabrinamiller230 players. By having players deconstruct notions of justice through engagement with sabrinamiller230 gameplay, players are able to ‘rehearse’ the collective imagining of more equitable progressive futures.

Convocation Year

2025

Convocation Season

Fall

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