I've heard that there's a scattered body of (amateur?) scholarship analyzing QAnon as an ARG [1] that the "players" don't realize is fictional. I've only briefl

I've heard that there's a scattered body of (amateur?) scholarship analyzing QAnon as an ARG [1] that the "players" don't realize is fictional. I've only briefly dabbled in "playing" ARGs, so I'm far from an expert, but the dynamic does seem strikingly similar. A few people allegedly even believe that QAnon originated as a legitimate attempt at an amateur ARG and was then hijacked by real-world political interests, though I don't understand how the ARG would have worked given the venue and content of the original "Q drops". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game