A Novel Approach

By Alfred Barten

Interactive novels are at least as old as hypertext, which was invented in the 1960s by Ted Nelson with origins in Vannevar Bush's 1945 article As We May Think. The concepts can be traced back further. An interactive novel, also called interactive fiction, is a novel in which the reader influences the outcome and/or presentation. For example, the reader might be given a selection of where to send Jane on her holiday, thus determining which "Mr. Right" she meets during her stay. Since she and the candidates may all be karmically connected, their lives will be intertwined throughout the novel, but the question at stake is "How?" That will be determined by the reader.

Another form might let the reader choose reading a murder mystery through the eyes of any one of the key players, providing multiple viewpoints, multiple sequences, multiple versions of understanding.

Interactive novels can be used for educational purposes as well, letting the reader's choices play out "what if" scenarios, such as altering the rules extant at the time of the great stock market crash of 1929.

Traditionalists argue that an interactive novel is "just a game" - as opposed to "serious literature" - and perhaps they are right; I haven't decided. As far as I'm concerned, a thing is what it is regardless of what it's called. Moreover, I believe "serious" work can evolve out of almost any undertaking, so why not see where we can go with interactive fiction rather than simply dismissing it as inferior? In any case, since my interest here is in games, I'm perfectly happy to look for the novel in the game.

Way, way back in my adolescent years a good friend of mine and I spent many hours playing a simple dice baseball game I created. We used our bubble gum cards to form rosters. Then we played predetermined schedules, keeping detailed records (baseball is well suited to record keeping). Just as would have happened with real baseball games, we had plenty of drama - walk-off homeruns, game-ending double plays, and so forth. We watched with interest as certain players went on hitting streaks and slumps, while certain pitchers continued to win and others continued to lose. Our only input was the lineups we made for each game, but that was enough to make each game and each "season" a form of interactive novel. I could easily have written a game report for each game, pretending I was the Times reporter sitting in the stands.

Our train sims are natural interactive novels, just as our model railroads are - if we let them be. Games of the Tycoon variety are most obviously interactive novels, first asking us to name ourselves and our companies, then keeping financial records through the years as our companies grow and thrive (or not). Put yourself in the shoes of the grading crews trying to build your route through the Alps, or consider the importance to your Board of getting that critical link built before your competitor does. There's plenty of drama to go around.

At the opposite end of the spectrum (and I don't mean that negatively), the focused drive-it sims can also take on a bit of fiction if we imagine ourselves in a real-life situation in which the success or failure of our ability to drive the outbound commuter train on a snowy Christmas Eve according to schedule will delight or infuriate hundreds of riders (and maybe determine our Christmas bonus - hey, you're the one making up the rules; go for it!).

I'm waiting for the day when someone plays a game and writes up the story as saleable fiction. I've seen efforts made along these lines, though not necessarily with the idea in mind of selling a novel. Perhaps it's just a matter of editing - or should I say creative editing? - to put one over the top and onto the bookstore shelves. In any event, we don't need to be successful authors to enjoy the novel in our games.

Al

Reference:

Hypertext

The Interactive Fiction Archive

Eastgate - Serious Hypertext

More Articles:

[Visit the VR Reading Room]