‘C’ follows ‘B’, except when ‘A’ does
all the chatter about Bioware’s interactive storytelling prowess – especially with respect to the forthcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic – got me seeing some parallels to interactivity as found in my little corner of the game development universe. seems to me that trying to make an interactive story work, particularly in an MMO setting, is a lot like trying to make interactive music work, particularly in same said setting.
a fixed, linear piece of fiction / music is a pretty straightforward thing, with plenty of tried-and-true conventions to work with (or against). there are formal structures to adhere to (or deviate from) which can be used to predictably elicit the desired emotional result from the reader / listener. there is a lengthy canon to which the reader / listener has been exposed, which forms the basis for his interpretation of the material at hand. and the user is completely passive – not a participant in the experience, but a witness to it.
but interactive fiction / music turns all that on its ear, posing Escher-like conundrums that require Goldberg-ian) solutions. the comfort of a fixed, linear medium goes out the window, and with it go all those tried-and-true conventions. now the author / composer has to try and convey narrative and dramatic evolution in a fractured and ever-changing landscape, able only to predict but never truly certain of what will preceed or follow any particular moment. consequently, the story / music is largely restricted to reacting to itself as it unfolds. hindsight is still 20/20, but foreshadowing as a structural device is virtually off the table.
of course behind all this is the fundamental shift of the audience member from passive to active participant in the experience – the injection of a flighty co-author / co-composer. imagine the difficulty of creating Hamlet or The Ring Cycle with some yahoo in the room, shuffling and reordering the sheets of paper from time to time. great pains would have to be taken to compensate for the inclusion of mr. yahoo in the creative process. and in an MMO, it’s not one yahoo, but many many yahoos all at the same time. great pains indeed.
“yeah, my latest opus goes a little something like…”
