• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 1, 2010

Last week brought the official launch of "MAG," a new multiplayer first-person-shooter game created for the PlayStation Network by Sony Computer Entertainment America -- but the social marketing campaign to build buzz on Facebook began in early December, coinciding with the debut of the beta version of the game.

"MAG:" is set in a dystopian future -- 2026, to be precise -- after WWIII, when the world has been divided between three competing "Private Military Corporations," which enlist online players to carry out missions against rival teams (after arming them to the teeth with futuristic firearms and high explosives, needless to say). Digital agency Drumroll created a fan site for each of the three teams -- Raven, Valor, and SVER -- featuring an array of multimedia designed to draw players into the fictional world of MAG, as well as virtual recruiting stations linked to the PlayStation Network.

The recruiting stations include profiles of different roles in the game including snipers, commandos, rapid assault, air support, and -- for players with moderately less violent tendencies -- field medics. Since their launch in early December, the fan sites have attracted thousands of fans with content that includes fictitious video news reports from the fictitious news organization, GNN, which fills in the game's overarching narrative -- along with angry disavowals of the news reports by equally fictitious spokespersons representing the authoritarian corporate mercenaries.

The sites also have bios of fictitious executives that are oddly realistic in their opaque corporate doublespeak. Indeed, the fan sites contain a level of detail and original content that actually makes them extensions of the game, rather than simple promotional platforms, according to Drumroll. They also offer an array of downloadable extras including wallpaper, profile pictures, and buddy icons.