Interwhative Whichtion?
I’ve been focused on my Interactive Fiction hobby for the past few days, so this is for those of you who have little or no idea what that means.
There are, in fact, several types of Interactive Fiction, but most of these center more on differences in technology than what that tech is helping to represent. I’ll start with the first interactive fiction that most of us encountered, which child psychology-types call Pretend Play.
Maybe you were exploring the surface of Mars, leading knights into battle, searching for pirate treasure, managing a house, cutting your way through the tropical forest, or busting some burglars, but in any case I’d bet money you’ve done it. You’ve participated in an interactive fiction. You may not remember it as such today, because the surface of Mars was your buddy’s backyard, and the machete you used to trundle through the jungle was a stick, but if you think back long enough you’ll recall that backyard was something exotic, even totally fantastic. I recall black and red dragons flying through the air as my best friend and I dove over hedgerows hoping we hadn’t been seen.
Regardless of the setting or situation, you and your friends got together and improvised a story. It probably wasn’t a complex story, and it may not have even made a lot of sense, but you made it and it was fun. This communal creation is the essence of Interactive Fiction. Everybody is an author, and so it follows that everybody is also a reader. After warning my friend about the dragons and diving over the “wall,” I thought we’d be safe long enough to come up with a plan, but then he announced that they’d spotted us, and off we were, running and dodging their fierce attack.
These earliest interactive fictions tend to have another trait that leads to their demise … no rules. Did you ever shoot the robber but he said, “No you didn’t, because I ducked?” Or maybe you were the teacher and she was the student, except that she decided that it was the other way around but didn’t tell you? Without rules, the play devolves into a short shouting match.
Luckily, some grownups came up with rules, eliminating arguments about whether the robber got shot or not or who the teacher was. I’ll get to how that came about next.
There are, in fact, several types of Interactive Fiction, but most of these center more on differences in technology than what that tech is helping to represent. I’ll start with the first interactive fiction that most of us encountered, which child psychology-types call Pretend Play.
Maybe you were exploring the surface of Mars, leading knights into battle, searching for pirate treasure, managing a house, cutting your way through the tropical forest, or busting some burglars, but in any case I’d bet money you’ve done it. You’ve participated in an interactive fiction. You may not remember it as such today, because the surface of Mars was your buddy’s backyard, and the machete you used to trundle through the jungle was a stick, but if you think back long enough you’ll recall that backyard was something exotic, even totally fantastic. I recall black and red dragons flying through the air as my best friend and I dove over hedgerows hoping we hadn’t been seen.
Regardless of the setting or situation, you and your friends got together and improvised a story. It probably wasn’t a complex story, and it may not have even made a lot of sense, but you made it and it was fun. This communal creation is the essence of Interactive Fiction. Everybody is an author, and so it follows that everybody is also a reader. After warning my friend about the dragons and diving over the “wall,” I thought we’d be safe long enough to come up with a plan, but then he announced that they’d spotted us, and off we were, running and dodging their fierce attack.
These earliest interactive fictions tend to have another trait that leads to their demise … no rules. Did you ever shoot the robber but he said, “No you didn’t, because I ducked?” Or maybe you were the teacher and she was the student, except that she decided that it was the other way around but didn’t tell you? Without rules, the play devolves into a short shouting match.
Luckily, some grownups came up with rules, eliminating arguments about whether the robber got shot or not or who the teacher was. I’ll get to how that came about next.
posted by Christopher A. Dellario at 1:41 PM
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