Comments on OnFiction: Interactive Fiction

Thank you Valentine; I didn't know about Th...

2012-02-03T16:55:58.070-05:00
Thank you Valentine; I didn't know about The Diamond Age, but I've now done a bit of web-research and it does look interesting ... I'll go and get it. And, having worked for a while at the same place where Turing once also worked (the UK's National Physical Laboratory) and having even programmed his prototype computer there, the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) I feel a fondness for him, and his test, and his other works, so I will be glad to see these matters featured in the book.

Keith, you should read Neil Stephenson's Th...

2012-01-30T21:30:42.386-05:00
Keith, you should read Neil Stephenson's The Diamond Age (: or, a young lady's illustrated primer) -- still the best book on interactive fiction I've read. (Although, spoiler alert: Stephenson, who has a pretty wild imagination for futuristic programming, and spends a fair amount of the book on Turing machines, doesn't have a lot of optimism for AI and language -- the interactive functions of his e-book are run by a person on the other end of the network...)

Thanks very much for this comment. I agree that th...

2012-01-27T18:14:43.443-05:00
Thanks very much for this comment. I agree that there's a long distance between being able to interact in a computer game and being able to collaborate with an author, really take part in generating a story. My reason for thinking that those of us who are interested in fiction should keep an eye on this space—wide though it may be—is that thoughtful people tell me that this is where some fascinating new developments are likely to occur.

This certainly would be the perfect playing field ...

2012-01-26T13:05:32.097-05:00
This certainly would be the perfect playing field for fans of "social sim games", e.g. "Little computer people" or "The Sims".

I think the makers of "Heavy Rain" aimed for generating a interactive fiction experience as well, but set in a thriller genre it shows the huge problems this generates for story consistency.

There's most certainly a long way left to go from being able to interact with, to really take part.

In the end remains the truth of what got said about the so called "interactive movies":
"Games are not a good medium to tell a story, the game play* gets in the way."

*(one could even go as far and say your target audience gets in the way)

Comments on OnFiction: Interactive Fiction

Thank you Valentine; I didn't know about Th...

Keith, you should read Neil Stephenson's Th...

Thanks very much for this comment. I agree that th...

This certainly would be the perfect playing field ...