Interactivity, at first glance, seems to be all about notions of ‘freedom’ or ‘choice’ for an audience - choosing a role, or a path or an outcome. Stories, on the other hand, seem to be all about making those choices for you.
How boring.
Stories have held their own for quite a long time however, and do seem to still be fairly popular. In all sorts of media, interactive experiences are searching for narrative, while narrative experiences are playing with interactivity. What’s the middle ground? Where’s the ‘play’ in sitting politely and quietly, watching a play? How meaningful can a story be if there’s more than one ending? Does an audience really want to be free?
Coming at this question as a writer, a coder, a theatre maker and a game fan, Glyn Cannon will explore this with a short presentation that might possibly involve some performance, but no audience participation. We promise. Well… maybe a little…
