Re: Interactive Drama: Why I've lost interest

["Kenneth Lu" <kenlu@subjunctive.net>]

My own take is: I agree I've never really felt a need to have computers
tell stories for us, when there are so many people wanting to tell
stories.

Instead, I see interactive narrative as a new medium FOR authors to
express their message in ways they could not use before.  In particular,
interactive stories are unique in that they allow the author to specify
the "mechanics" of the world, and it is through these mechanics that we
can express our views in a way that's fundamentally different from
what's come before.

One example I keep coming back to is how Balance of Power measures
social unrest on a scale from terrorism to rebel bands to all-out civil
war.  That in and of itself is a message.  Like it or not, it
"legitamizes" terrorism to some degree as merely the low-budget form of
civil war.

Likewise, the most interesting thing I learned from playing Sim City was
not whatever message there is in letting Godzilla rampage through my
town.. But rather budget-balancing.  Oddly, that one game somehow made
budget-balancing seem more fun to me later in life when I had to do it
for real.

Often, we tell stories to demonstrate a single example of how some
system works, and I think interactive storytelling can help that by
making far more aspects of a system visible (and by aiding understanding
of that system through interaction).

Most of the "systems" computer games have tried to demonstrate have been
more abstract, like city or troop management.  I think the future is in
exploring the most interesting system of all: basic human interaction.

Look at it this way:  Many of the best movies are about ordinary people
(though often in extraordinary situations).  They show you one instance
of how people react and interact in a given interesting situation.  How
neat would it be to be able to more fully explore those situations?

The "what if" games we have today tend to be very rigid, and AIs
generally only respond physically.  What I'm interested in is seeing if
we can have AIs respond with a wider range of "emotional" and
conversational options.


Currently, we can see someone's take on how people in a given situation.
 I want to see their take on how people would act in a variety of
situations, larger than what a linear story would allow.

Yes, each particular path I choose won't have the richness of a fully
authored linear story, but it can also offer something linear stories
can't.

So that's the value I see in interactive storytelling, and I don't think
it's being explored much today.

-ToastyKen
---
Kenneth Lu
kenlu@subjunctive.net
http://subjunctive.net