3 Principles for Interactive Narrative

The role of an author of an interactive story or system is to create a narrative that will engage the participant and produce opportunities that allows the participant to take charge of some aspects of the story. In addition, the author is responsible to organize the information in a way that will give the story meaning and will stimulate the participant’s imagination. According to the book “Pause and Effect” by Mark Stephen Meadows there are three principles of interaction which are; input/output, inside/outside, and open/closed.   The first principle “input/output” is based on the concept that every input should create and output and vice versa. Therefore in an interactive narrative, the participant should be able to take part in a way that his interaction with the system will promote some sort of change. An action inflicted by the participant has to cause a reaction in the narrative system. Meadows refers to the second principle of interaction as “inside/outside” or “inside-the-skull” and “outside-the-skull”. The author Meadows explains that “inside” deals with experiences that occur inside the readers subconscious such as imagination. The “outside” is the experiences that can be physically felt by the participant such as sound, tactile, and so forth. In the third principle “open/closed” Meadows states that an interactive system should get better the more the system is used. A “closed” system is a predictable system or narrative where the participant knows exactly what will happen next. On the other hand, an open system is unpredictable, and the participant cannot foresee the result of his actions.