[Prestidigitweeze]

I've been following this general idea since spending a bit of time at Brown with novelist Michael Joyce and his application, Storyspace, in the 90s.

In a sense, many games wed narrative (fiction) and stochastic content (gameplay) to create an immersive medium which I wouldn't characterize as literary necessarily but does seem important. The idea of a narrative environment in which the reader can actually walk around is going to become increasingly important to everyone. In their need to escape, some people will reject the stress of gameplay but not the immersive aspect. I believe that, in the near future, there will be games without any gameplay at all -- tourist games, if you will. The ordinary person might not be able to jet to Java for the weekend, but they can explore Java as a mapped-out game surface. A very old person might not have the hand and eye coordination to win virtual tournaments, but they'll be able to walk around in imaginary places and talk to friends who keep them company and seem to care about them.

People think that games are interesting for the transgressive or competitive aspect, but what's often most liberating is the sandbox: The freedom and sense of space. I believe that that sense of space can be refreshing (potentially) for nearly anyone.

In my view, games are the future of hypertext narrative and have been for some time. Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Rule of Rose, Silent Hill, Persona, Fatal Frame, Portal, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Heavy Rain, -- each in its way is the descendent of Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch and is an indication of what film and lit might become over the next century. Gamers who hate cutscenes and those who live for them (FF fans) will come to represent two completely different directions for narrative-driven art.

I think it's cool that Sony's playing with the ideas of literature and gaming in tandem. I don't necessarily think it's a commercially viable idea in this present form, but I think it's ambitious, and that kind of ambition is something I've always liked about Sony's R&D if not its business division.

Part of what many people like about gaming isn't really gaming content at all. And it's that part which fiction, music and film purists might eventually add to their escapist playlist.