An extremely in-depth debate is developing over at Intelligent Artifice regarding the future of interactive story telling - a currently rather theoretical videogame genre based around deep characterisation, compelling narrative and realistic interpersonal relationships (although that definition itself is hopelessly contentious). It's all been kicked off by Michael Mateas' rather downbeat observations from this year's GDC, most notably on an unsuccessful panel discussion entitled, 'Why Isn't The Game Industry Making Interactive Stories?'.
Arguably, everyone has failed to properly consider the likes of Final Fantasy, Fable and Deus Ex, all of which - for different reasons - present a compelling form of narrative adventure to the gamer. In fact, it's difficult at times to work out what these people actually want. Does effective interactive story-telling require a whole new approach to game construction? And most importantly, do gamers actually want to play stories?
Whatever the case, at a time when the industry seems to be homogenizing the design process, with individual game types increasingly giving way to 'super genres' like the driving action adventure, it is just good to know that issues like this are still being discussed.
