The McKinnon Account: An Experimental Short Story Told Over Email (and Time)

February 19, 2015

The McKinnon Account is a very interesting and unusual project. First and foremost, it’s a short story. But it’s also a series of emails. And it’s technically a series of text messages to your phone as well.

Created by Andrea Phillips, The McKinnon Account is a short story about your first day on the job, at a company called Hunter, Brown & Shen, told via email over the course of a morning.

The messages arrive at specific times, and you just read along as the story unfolds. There is no real action required on your part. You simply sign up with your email and phone, and wait for things to get rolling the next day.

Again, all that you do is simply receive these messages. Described as an ARG (Augmented Reality Game) without the G, you’re just reading along. Here’s a very interesting description/theory by Phillips:

This is a small experiment in creating something that feels immersive and real-time, but doesn’t require nor allow any true interaction. I have a theory that people want to feel the emotional texture of having performed influential tasks in a story or game, but mostly don’t want to do the actual work. So: completely passive but it feels like something interactive.

I had a fun time with this project, but I confess I forgot about it at certain points of the morning. I got wrapped up with actual work work, and had these moments of “Oh wait, that’s right” – and then scurried to catch up on a few emails from the project/story/game.

I think the concept is a really neat one, and I love that it unfolds over time. I’m not certain if the game kicks in at 9AM the next day, or if it’s 9AM on the next work day. So if you’re seeing this now, maybe wait until Sunday or Monday to sign up.

[via MetaFilter Projects]