An old middle school buddy of mine has reached out to me to assist in him an ARG. I have just read the Wikipedia page but I still am having trouble understanding what happens and therefore what kinds of things he'd like me to help with.

He seems to think my writing and art skills would come in handy and I sort of agree, but I'd like to understand more what I and the participants would be doing. (I am presuming I would be a totally behind the curtain person).

From what i can make out, it is a lot of work with very little payoff. It may support an endeavor, but it doesn't appear to be on itself. It looks like busywork in order to fully enjoy an experience that should be enjoyed on its own.

The best example that came to my mind after reading the wiki is all the extra stuff that Lost did with the Oceanic airlines stuff, or publishing a book written by an author who was supposedly on the plane. None of it was necessary, yet all of it supposedly offered "clues" into the mystery of the TV show. Yet, in the end, none of the clues had anything to do with the mystery of the show.