Glossary

Page Description
This page serves as a glossary/dictionary of sorts, describing common ARG/Unfiction terminology and phrases to help you better understand the genre and this Archive.

Unfiction
Unfiction is an umbrella term describing immersive stories told in immersive ways. The presentation of the project must be in a realistic way that makes sense within the world of the story. All of the footage you watch and the words you read exist in the eyes of the characters, and the website or account you are watching or reading exists for those characters too. Everything is immersive.

Alternate Reality Game (ARG)
A type of unfiction project which involves viewer interaction. This typically comes in the form of viewers solving puzzles, talking to characters from the story via social media, joining Discord servers, or many other possible methods of interaction.

"This Is Not A Game" (TINAG)
A core tenant of Alternate Reality Game creation, which came about in the early 2000's. The idea of this phrase is that everyone involved must act like the project is completely real - both the players, and the creators. This caused frequent issues in the past, with ARG creators having difficulty communicating to their playerbase or taking credit for their work due to their dedication to this rule, despite the players knowing that it was, in fact, a game. The idea of "TINAG" is incredibly outdated and essentially doesn't exist in the modern day. Everyone involved will still roleplay as if the ARG is real, but the divide between creator and player, lack of authorship claiming, and the strict rules against breaking character have been dissolved.

Puppetmaster
A term referring to the creator(s) of an ARG - those creating the video content, writing the story, and designing the puzzles (essentially 'pulling all the strings' and therefore being dubbed the Puppetmaster). This terminology is also outdated but not for any specific reason; it has merely fallen out of use.

Immersive Fiction
An umbrella term for all immersive fiction - which includes unfiction. Also included under this umbrella are escape rooms, immersive theater, found footage films, and more.