Trigger Happy
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does a character reflect upon previous events within the
synchronic story. Not easy, is it?
A second problem with shared story nuggets is
increasing familiarity. The reader of a particular
Fighting Fantasy
book, after just a few “plays,” would
soon learn to avoid number thirty-four if it was an
option, because the Ganges demons lived there, and the
game would end horribly. In such a situation, the
player/reader’s own memory is taking advantage of the
book’s amnesia to the detriment of the story-telling
experience. A very similar sort of situation obtains in
the sort of videogames that reward the wrong choice
with instant death. You get killed in Tomb Raider, you
reload the game and this time you don’t run heedlessly
down the path because you know about the spike-filled
pit that killed you last time. Or you get shot to pieces in
Metal Gear Solid and next time you remember to creep
nervously past the security camera. If you know the
consequences of your choice in advance, it is no longer
a choice. A corner of the imaginary world has been
cordoned off.
Erase and rewind
Knowledge gained through a previous play throws up
a deep problem with the whole notion of “interactive
storytelling”: what the fact of videogame
