Tim O’Rielly recently posted about a dream he had for augmented reality and fiction.
I share this dream as a reminder that the fiction and entertainments of the future may have a very different form than the fiction of today. The first metamorphosis is just to change the medium, in the way that the paper map or atlas morphed first into online mapping sites.
In a lot of ways what he’s describing in his post is interactive story, or more specifically interactive drama. The technology is usually what draws people to interactive drama, but it’s the story that makes them run for the hills.
Story is hard
As Robert McKee has a funny line comparing aspiring writers to aspiring music composers.
If your dream to compose music, would you say to yourself: “I’ve heard a lot of symphonies… I can also play the piano… I think I’ll knock one out this weekend”?
McKee’s message – story is hard and it takes study. I’ve spent the last 10 years just trying to write a good screenplay. I’ve written lots of screenplays, none of them good so who cares. If the story can’t hold an audience no amount of technology is going to change that. It might prompt some posts on TechCrunch but the buzz will fade and the artist will move on to more rewarding projects.
Adding technology only adds to the difficulty of creating story
A few people have been plugging away at the interactive drama conundrum for nearly two decades. I’ve been plugging away for 5 years and have nothing to show for it but half-finished scripts, mock-ups, and this blog. Chris Crawford is probably the most dedicated in a field where I’ve seen more than a few come and go. It’s a tough problem to solve and it gets old when no one finds mainstream success. To this day when you explain interactive drama most people reply, ”You mean like those Choose Your Own Adventure books from the 80′s?”
Choose Your Own Adventure diagram by David Sky
There’s a reason Choose Your Own Adventure books were for kids, they’re really hard to write. David Sky does a great job of mapping out the branching storylines. Seeing it laid out you can better appreciate when Chris Crawford discusses the problems of branching storylines. The author had to keep everything in their head and resolve every storyline in a satisfactory way. It’s hard enough to perfect one storyline, try multiple intermingling.
Even though branching is the most common method for creating interactive drama there are others, or at least other theories. Chris Crawford has his approach. I think there is a lot that can be done with perceived agency.
Unanswered question
In many ways those of us in the field plug away with one unanswered question hanging over our heads – do audiences actually want the interactivity in their stories? The question has probably been the impetus for more than a few to leave the field as we can’t get the answer we want until we find mainstream success.
I know personally that it was the interactivity that drew me to the Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid, however I also remember jumping back and forth to see how each storyline played out. Was it the interactivity that I enjoyed or was it the story? It all reminds me of how for years people told ATT they wanted picture phones. Hundreds of millions of dollars and decades later they gave them the Picturephone, but all people did was dial and walk away.
What we need are more artists
Film pioneers first occupied their time filming Vaudeville acts and oncoming trains. It wasn’t until the discovery of continuity editing that artists created the modern film. And when you really look at it, modern film doesn’t make much sense. We know logically that Superman will win in the end, he always does. But we still go along and emotionally feel that he might not. The artist is able to weave his tale and play with our emotions.
I hope the same will be true for interactive drama. Right now we mostly have technologists in the field, what we need are more artists. And I think they’re coming for a few reasons:
- There’s a captive audience thanks to Facebook – artists can get feedback and social gaming companies are looking to feed that audience anyway possible
- Hollywood model is dieing – they need to find a new model
- Technology is cool – it draws buzz
Remember, it’s about the story
All that said, there are some examples of succesful interactive dramas – just from Japan. Look at visual novels and dating sims. To some these might only be scratching the surface of what the technology is capable of, however remember that it’s mostly about the story. I hope we see more variations, but it’s more about the story. Dan Hon said pretty much the same thing in his piece about ARGs – it’s not about the tricks and games but the story.
I’ve built and designing web pages since 1996. Having seen the art of web design evolve I can honestly say the best book I read on the subject and recommend more than any other is “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug. It brought a sense of clarity I had never felt before. In 1996 people were trying anything and everything when designing web pages. Anything was possible so it was time to experiment. Which is great but as Krug’s book pointed out, visitors didn’t care much for our experiments. They typically only spent a few seconds on any web page and were quickly looking elsewhere. “Don’t Make Me Think” made this painfully obvious and then explained the conventions that had emerged over the years. Your logo goes in the top left hand corner or across the top of the page, don’t use fancy words in your navigation menu, on and on. “Don’t Make Me Think” seemed to cut through all the endless possibilities and get down to business.
, for one, is heading to Zynga to work on a “new, special project”. He won’t tell me what it is, but he promises it will be “big”. To be continued, I suppose.
