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November 05, 2003

In whose hands we place our trust...

The first two paragraphs of blurb for this talk on interactive drama run by New Media Knowledge are very infuriating.

I can't believe they are boasting about one of the great wasted opportunities for the medium.

Watching my interactive budget being repeatedly plundered to pay for more and more linear production was one of the most depressing things I've had to sit through, powerless against the new agendas of those who I worked for, in recent years.

(And okay, it wasn't completely wasted, Gabriel pulled off miracles given the pressure he was under, but without this attitude it would have been *soooooooooooooo* much better. Just a beacon of hope to the whole community.)

Anyway, good to see a whole bunch of my ideas still kicking around and being talked about. I'm particularly proud that people are celebrating my campaign that branching narrative just doesn't work.

I've ended up instead with what I call the ostrich-knee narrative - where any choices come back to the main thread quickly, and in doing so further illuminate the character. And this means taking that return very very seriously and treating it as just as important as the rest of the narrative. "I feel terrible I'd better do the other thing" is just a copout. Anyway, moving swiftly on, back to work...

Posted by Tom Dolan at November 5, 2003 01:27 PM

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