Luke's Semester Recap

 Digital literature shows so much promise for storytelling. That being said, it still feels like we are just barely stretching our wings as artists. The forefront of digital storytelling still has yet to collide with popular culture. It has the potential to be convenient and hand-held like with the Motto storytelling. It can be interactive and make the viewer question their morality like in Agence. Unlike traditional storytelling mediums, a lot of digital mediums require very active participation from their audience, which can be uncomfortable at times. But it creates a wonderful freeform way of sharing perspectives and ideas. I think the most promising field for digital storytelling right now is videogames. There are already tons of games that put the viewer in control of the narrative. It's a type of storytelling that has been developing and growing for decades, ever since you got to play as a red plumber rescuing his princess. If there's one place that digital media and non-linear storytelling can collide with VR, it's in a videogame. Agence is a great example. I think it's even available on Steam which is a gaming platform. Other digital stories like V[R]erse fall short of using their medium to the full potential. In V[R]erse you're essentially reading a story on different plaques around a statue. While it's interesting and the writing is great, it's not the same thrilling story that you get while playing as a no-nonsense cowboy in Red Dead Redemption. You also don't feel the same heartbreak at losing a character you loved like Cayde-6 in Destiny 2. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I truly feel like games have been putting the viewer in control of the story narrative for decades, in a way that only digital media can achieve. That being said, there are other digital mediums that do things games can't. Motto requires the viewer to submit videos of their surrounding to become part of a larger tapestry of storytelling. Some stories we covered two weeks ago were virtual reality maps of physical spaces. In this way, digital media can evoke empathy in different ways than video games. We can show each other the actual spaces we inhabit. VR can become a platform to share our actual surroundings, and short Instagram snippets can be stitched together to tell a larger story about shared humanity. I'm excited to see what the next great minds come up with as the digital tools available to them multiply. The ease of access for these mediums is only improving. Already there are some platforms for painting and creating art in virtual reality. Eventually, I think we'll have the tools necessary to make interactive digital stories as easily as we edit video together.