Interactive Storytelling in V.R.: Coming Soon?

Abstract

There have been many smart people throughout history who have misidentified the potential, or lack thereof, of new technologies. Thomas Edison, for all his genius, failed to anticipate the market for cinematic entertainment. His company’s early films lacked storytelling, and its film display technology, the Kinetoscope, permitted only one person to watch at a time. Perhaps there are lessons here for Virtual Reality (V.R.). Some have assumed that as entertainment becomes increasingly immersive, movies will somehow be absorbed into V.R. Even as many of the technical preconditions for this vision have fallen into place, there remain logistical and practical problems. Translating conventional forms of story authorship into the immersive, interactive context may not be sought-after. What is an interactive movie, after all? Even if strategies can be found to write and produce interactive V.R. movies, the results may be different from what people have been expecting.