Interactive Storytelling in Games: Introduction

Everyone loves a good story. As children, we read, watch, and listen to stories. We let our imagination run wild and ascribe stories to almost everything. As we grow up, our tastes in stories mature. For some, their appetite for this most delicious fruit wanes as they enter adulthood.

Or does it?

It's true that not everyone reads. It’s true that not everyone watches movies. But there are a precious few people – and I have met none – who do not enjoy to an interesting story. Whether it’s listening to co-workers or classmates recall their weekend adventures, playing Dungeons & Dragons with friends, reading in a chair, or sitting in front of a gaming system, people want stories. And as more and more people are spending more and more time playing more and more video games, satisfying that desire becomes more and more important. This, of course, leads to the now-oft-discussed question: how do we approach storytelling in this comparatively new medium? Of course, I cannot possibly claim to answer that question in a single blog post, or even in a dozen – especially when I have no experience writing stories for a commercial video game. However, as a gamer who is obsessed with experiencing a good story and as a writer who loves to tell one, I definitely have some thoughts on the topic.  I will post these thoughts in a series of posts thoughtfully named “Interactive Storytelling in Games.” Keep an eye out!