The streets of Adelaide converged with those of a cyber-city for a unique multimedia performance game called ‘I Like Frank in Adelaide’ at this year’s Fringe arts festival. Created by award-winning UK artists’ group Blast Theory, the game used a smorgasbord of technologies to help players collaborate online and offline as they searched for the elusive Frank. Included in the mix were Internet, third generation (3G) telecommunications and interactive 3D mapping.

Online players used web chat, voice messages and SMS text to share information with players using video handsets as they roamed the CBD. ‘I Like Frank in Adelaide’ is a theatrical performance in which the audience becomes part of the story. Each street player tracks the elusive Frank and discovers clues that shed further light on the story. Online players can interact with street players and help them toward the overall objective. The players’ social relationships govern the outcomes as the game progresses, and at the end of the performance the participants have explored some pretty interesting issues relating to social constructs such as ‘trust’ and ‘community’ and the future role of technology in these areas. Adelaide-based advanced broadband consortium m.Net Corporation and its technology partner Alcatel provided Blast Theory with a dedicated 3G telecommunications network for the game, allowing a high level of interactivity between players. The network was built as Australia’s first 3G testbed in 2002 as part of the m.Net Australia project, which is supported by the Advanced Networks Program, an initiative of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. m.Net’s goal is to provide corporations, developers, researchers and investors with opportunities to succeed in the new mobile economy. Blast Theory artist Matt Adams said the presence of the high-speed network had extended the possibilities for what he calls ‘mixed reality’ — a place where the physical and virtual worlds meet. The ability to use the latest Motorola 3G handheld devices made it possible to deliver an interactive experience to people as they moved around a large physical space, in this case the north-east corner of the city. Mr Adams said the existence of a dedicated high-speed 3G network was a huge bonus, giving the group greater artistic flexibility to make it a compelling experience for the players. m.Net Corporation CEO Horden Wiltshire said the Blast Theory game was a great example of the application of advanced technology to support human interactions. He said the game was a proving ground for delivery of new media and arts in the mobile world, with its notion of building a virtual community providing inspiration for what mobile technologies could do in the future. An accomplished group of artists, Blast Theory is participating in the State Government’s ‘Adelaide Thinkers in Residence’ program (www.thinkers.sa.gov.au). The group is considered a new media pioneer with accolades that include the Golden Nica at the 2003 Prix Ars Electronica, the world’s leading festival of electronic art. For more information about m.Net, visit www.mnetcorporation.com.