When discussing audience this week, I couldn’t help but think about media that actively asks for the audiences participation in order for the narrative to unfold. “Vote for what you want to happen next” experiments give the audience agency. They feel as if they are in control, even within the strict options set by the writer. One of the most memorable acts of audience participation for me would have to be Batman’s; A Death in the Family. Where readers were asked to call in to decide the fate of sidekick Robin.
What I’m reflecting on today is how we can use Audience Participation in Game Narratives. The idea of the audience being able to take control of the way a story unfolds without flipping back the page is something in interested in. Although games like ‘The Walking Dead’ are popular and use audience participation affectively, users still have the chance to replay the game whenever they want or watch other endings through youtube. I am looking into the idea of an absolute the ideas that audience participation actively shapes the rest of the liner story.

With todays use of kickstarting and crowd funding it’s not unrealistic to suggest that audience participation could be used with the main writers able to shape and form the main ideas. However is the idea of the choice being in our hands put us at direct fault when something eventually goes wrong? Is the wonder of what would have happened if I had voted the other way something to conflicting for fiction?

Overall I think this is where the problem lies, we don’t want to actively be responsible for drawing out the end of something we love but maybe there is something to audience being able to voice there ideas within the brainstorming stage because writers can see what’s at stake and whats interesting but it’s only something time will tell.
I’m also attaching a game I’ve played on  new-grounds game: ‘One Chance’ I think it employees an interesting mechanic when it comes to audience participation and story telling.

Play ‘One Chance’ here.