I so wanted to make yet another Twilight Zone reference in my blog title this evening. (I'm obviously incredibly excited for that new series.)
Anyways, back to interactive fiction! When I was younger kids loved the chose your own adventure stories. They would always be out at the library when we had library days, and I could never get my hands on one, until one day, my mom bought me one and I was hooked. I grew up loving chose your own adventure stories or, as we're calling them in terms of digital storytelling, interactive fiction.
In my totally biased opinion, interactive fiction is the best way to tell a story! As I've said in previous posts, my favorite thing about reading and writing is feeling like I am a part of the story. I want to take a moment to look at the spin off of Black Mirror (as I'm sure several other people have done already) called Bandersnatch. Bandersnatch came out on December 28th, 2018 and was such an incredible and immersive experience that people were still talking about it when I finally got around to taking part in the story three weeks later.
Bandersnatch makes YOU, the viewer, in control of all the important choices that the main character Stefan Butler makes. It even gets to the point where you break through the fourth wall and interact with the character. Some people have related the feeling of playing along with the film to feeling like they're playing God. Interactive fiction is such a hit, and Netflix was absolutely onto something when they made an interactive film with one of their weirdest series' to date.
Compare the feeling of controlling what happens throughout the story, to watching the same movie over and over again. You have the possibility to get so many different story endings when it comes to interactive fiction. I haven't even reached all of the endings on the Bandersnatch film. From what I have read there are five endings that are easy to come by, and a fifth that is very difficult to reach. Having an interactive option in the content you produce makes it that much more entertaining for the reader/player/viewer.
Lets say that the Slenderman was a chose your own adventure type of fiction, you'd have so many more options! You wouldn't have to re-read the same story over and over again as the main character runs up the stairs and meets her beaten down fate. You could run, you could hide, you could even fight! I would prefer an interactive fiction of most of my fiction. I think it's more fun and entertaining that way!