breaking the same old cycle

[David Galiel <web@galiel.com>]

> the goal of the interactive fiction/drama/storytelling movement 
(which  this list exists to serve) is to produce storytelling 
entertainment generated or mediated by software.

There is a critical distinction between "generated" and "mediated". 
Often, it seems those obsessed with generating eventual, possible, 
replacements to human creativity are determined to shout down those of 
us interested in how technology can, *today*, mediate, facilitate, 
empower and scale human storytelling.

As long as those more fascinated with predictable machine-code than 
ambiguous, "messy" humans insist on controlling the conversation, what 
you arbitrarily call the "movement" will be nothing of the kind. Rather, 
it will be a collection of individuals shouting past each other.

It is as if folks insisted on trying to design increasingly complicated 
automated voice mail systems to address the complexity of human need, 
when many of us just want to use the telephone to talk to each other. 
Not that there isn't a use and a place for voice mail, but it is NOT the 
end-all and be-all for all human communication, no matter how many 
manhours one has spent in hermitage "interfacing" only with oneself and 
one's code.

Meanwhile, those of us more interested in doing than arguing, will 
continue to do, and increasingly give up on these conversations 
altogether - which will impoverish us all. Especially when those who do 
least, speak the most.

It would be refreshing, for once, to find a developer forum where people 
are more interested in learning from one another than lecturing everyone 
else, in listening more than talking, in collaboration rather than 
competition, in humility rather than incessant self-promotion.

And to address new issues rather than hash over the same old flame-wars.

Sigh.