Come Play With My Story World

[Simon Meek]

Here it goes, another blog post from me. This time, I'm going to do a little head scratching and a little moaning about storyworlds, audience participation and what is expected by 4IP.

Okay, so the evolution of the internet is really mind blowing - and the potential to deliver NEW forms of narrative, to me, is possibly the most exciting of all. Traditionally - us storytellers - we've been restricted to platform as to what can be done whether that be TV, film, a book... even a game. The internet has liberated all of this - we can now make a 'marvellous medicine' out of all of these platforms and approaches. (ok, so I've said nothing new yet. give me a chance wont ya)

Now, of course, there are some movements into 'new forms of storytelling'... ARGs being one territory that I know the 38 minutes community is particularly enamoured with. Why? Well, it embraces that 'collaborative/participative hook' that 4IP wants in ambundance.

So now it's time to throw the cat among the pigeons. Within our 38 community, how many people subscribe to the power-to-the-people scenario that is being wax lyrical when it comes to delivering the next generation of narrative? It's exciting territory, but just because it is possible to give control to the people, doesn't mean that every storyworld should be soley based around participation (or indeed, that the people want total control/active participation).

I'm massively into the concept of 'virtual installation' type storyworlds (best example is still PC games Freak Show and Bad Day on The MidWay by The Residents in the 1990s). But it seems 4IP isn't. Shame. So where does this leave the development of this art form? I'm on about concepts that you can immerse yourself in and explore the story in your own time - this is not about games, but experiences.

Hey, so it's innovative, empowering, can easily adopt a PSP angle (no reason why this immersion can't be in history or clever weaving of storytelling to bring in facts - linking outward and inward from the whole of the net). AND, it does promote interaction - communities speak around projects that let 'me' be immersed and 'capture my attention' (even good TV shows will exist outside of TV space in offline micro-communities). Some of the most active forums are discussions around pre-existing content and experiences rather than building new ones.

So if we're talking immersive worlds of discovery, surely that also promotes forums, interaction.... AND BEST OF ALL... if you design the storyworlds to exist in Space AND Time, you can even allow users to go off in tangents and actually play with and invent parts of the story world. So it's like handing over a virtual playground - a theatrical stage, as it were.

Where is all of this going? Am I making any sense? Hmm, maybe not. But hopefully, there's something in what's been scribbled out above to inspire a thought or two and encourage a discussion. Do the guys at 4IP see anything interesting in this stuff... or is it a world away and a path we're gonna have to tread without our c4 friends?

BTW - I've been wowed by the shift in games towards embracing narrative in the last year (though slightly disheartened by a slight unwillingness to unite forces with storytellers). Cool beans.

[Simon Meek]

Fair point - though I suppose I was trying to say that any story, no matter how developed or pre-conceived it is, is never fully written, so there is always room for participation so long as the structure of the storyworld is correct. Book clubs and fictional biographies (written by readers) or literary figures sort of show this, but also there is also that idea of being given a theatrical stage/world for you/anyone to play in - the way, say, Bat Man or Judge Dread has been developed.

Oh, and The Dark Eye is another old school PC game which is worth checking out if you can get your hands on it and are interested in the whole immersive storyworld experience :)

Hope everyone has had a good Xmas and are still enjoying their break! Right, back to the mulled win ;_)

[Ewan McIntosh]

"...just because it is possible to give control to the people, doesn't mean that every storyworld should be soley based around participation (or indeed, that the people want total control/active participation)."

You're right. And neither should it be about 'installations' with limited or no participation. It's got to be a balance between the two. Authorship along with improv by the community. Watching "Outnumbered" on the BBC is a bit of a telly-based experimentation at finding that balance. Online, thankfully, it's a little easier given the tools that allow those less talented than those kids in the programme to have some meaningful part to play in whatever 'productions' we make.