The project distinguishes itself from other ARG’s primarily by seeking to expand the audience of the genre to players who do not have the interest to devote large amounts of time and energy normally needed to play an ARG.  4th Wall also is important in the sense that it is a self-contained experience. There is no need for a human “Puppet Master” to intervene and communicate directly with the players. The game system is the Puppet Master. As players interact with it, it responds.

The responses from the game system are an important differentiation from ARG conventions. Most ARG’s provide very little in the way of instruction sets or feedback.PLayers are given the initial clue, or “Rabbit Hole” into the game and are forced to fend for themselves.

4th Wall provides emergent instructions as well as ongoing feedback to players as they continue to interact with the game system. This feedback and instruction loop is integral to the inclusion of casual players.

Another innovation of 4th Wall is the ability to save a player’s progress in the game so they can leave the game at any time come back at their leisure. This feature is also designed to appeal to players who do not wish to make the time commitment that a traditional ARG requires.

Both of these are designed specifically to lower the barrier to entry for a casual ARG players and to expand the audience who has grown to love this still evolving genre.