Trigger Happy
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film or a book, a videogame changes dynamically in
response to the player’s input. Surely this must mean
something drastic for the traditional concept of a story,
authored jealously by one godlike writer? Two extreme
responses, for example, might be: videogames are so
radically different from stories that there can be no
comparison; or videogames have the magical, catalytic
ingredient that will change our very conception of what
a story is.
Now some theorists, such as the designers I met in
L.A., cleave to the latter view. They see in the unique
quality of videogames a potential revolution, a
liberation from the shackles of old, “linear”
storytelling. How? Well, according to a speculative
essay by Chris Crawford, “because the story is
generated in real-time in direct response to the player’s
actions, the resultant story is customized to the needs
and interests of the audience, and thereby more than
makes up for any loss in polish with its greater
emotional involvement.” (But the telephone directory
is “customized to the needs and interests of the
audience” about as much as anything could be, yet it
still doesn’t make me cry or laugh. There has to be
something more to the idea of storytelling than that.)
Interactive narrative, or interactive storytelling, it is
