On the Edge of Reality: Reality Fiction in 'Sanningen om Marika'

"Sanningen om Marika" (2007–2008) was a Swedish alternate reality game built around a public broadcaster's television series and debate program, and this study examines how its deliberate blurring of fact and fiction shaped audience interpretation. Survey responses from 385 participants, drawn from the broadcaster's website and the Conspirare community, revealed a sharply divided audience: roughly 30 percent judged the production to be real, 24 percent pretended it was real, 29 percent did not believe it, and 17 percent made no distinction at all. Respondents were largely engaged players, with about 70 percent visiting the community site at least weekly, and the audience was roughly gender-balanced and concentrated between ages 17 and 36.

The central mechanism behind this ambiguity was a "Pretend that it is real" game rule combined with what the authors call an "Orson Welles effect," in which some viewers accepted the content as genuine despite explicit disclaimers. Interview and survey material from experienced larpers shows that many embraced the rule as a ludic marker that signaled play, while others felt deceived, objected to the use of public broadcasting for what they perceived as a lie, or simply missed the disclaimers. The authors conclude that this blurring was largely unintentional, arising from the transfer of alternate reality game design ideals into a public-broadcast setting, and they judge it both unfortunate and ethically problematic because it discouraged potential participants and diminished the experience for others.

The study's broader conclusion is that the project's absence of off-game discussion forums and clearly marked fictional boundaries undermined player trust, generating avoidable conflict and disappointment, particularly among newcomers and those who believed the mission was real. Drawing on McGonigal's notion of immersive design as a "cage" that remains easy to enter and exit, the authors argue that transparent boundaries and a shared social agreement between organizers and players are essential to ethical reality-fiction production.