Like many others of my generation, interactive entertainment and cinema have been a constant presence in my life for as long as I can remember. Cinema offered me glimpses into worlds ranging from the normal to the fantastic, while interactive entertainment allowed me unparalleled access to virtual worlds.
Though I was born after the original alien wonder that the debut of the interactive process brought, I have been a devoted follower ever since the Nintendo renaissance in the mid-1980s. This devotion grew to encompass every console system I could get my hands on and eventually the world of computer gaming as well. Over the years, thanks to advancements in computer emulation, I have also been able to re-examine the interactive entertainment classics that existed before my time. In a similar fashion, home video allowed me to plumb the depths of cinematic history. Despite the fact that the two media remain permanent fixtures in my life, I never connected the two in any meaningful way up until college.
While studying film in college, I was hired as a research assistant for a book project on the evolution and origins of silent film, specifically the cinematic language used in those films. My research for the book traced the organic growth of cinema from the arts that existed at the time of its birth. While this work certainly made me revise my understanding of cinema, the effect it had on my understanding of interactive entertainment was far greater. My experience with interactive entertainment had always been one of diversion. Games could offer thought-provoking ideas, but they primarily functioned as a means of escape. While someone may one day write about the philosophical implications in John Madden Football, for me it was simply a game to play. However, after my research assistantship on the book on Silent Film, I saw things differently.
In descriptions of interactive entertainment, the word "cinematic” is used frequently to refer to "cut-scenes," or sequences that resemble scenes in a film. I had thought of these sequences as a simple way to narrate a story in a technologically constrained medium—that is, a device to tell the story to the player. What I came to realize, instead, is that just as silent film incorporated aspects of other arts, interactive entertainment synthesizes but exceeds preexisting media. Moreover, that synthesis is not simply a sum of the parts but a new creation altogether.
This prompted me to research and study the critical writings about interactive entertainment. To my surprise, I found that the structure of the interactive entertainment experience was not discussed, or it was simply mentioned as a minor part of the overall experience. With many new games continually being released, all using identical structures, it was a matter of analytical observation that led me to realize that the ignored structure was worthy of a closer examination.
The core of the interactive entertainment experience is the structure. Good cut-scenes and immersive gameplay can contribute positively, but it is the relationship between the two that creates a successful experience. This relationship is the foundation of what I call Interactive Cinema.
In Chapter 1, I reveal the "interactive" and the "cinematic" components in interactive entertainment, and I present my definition of "Interactive Cinema" as the most accurate term to describe the structure that proliferates in interactive entertainment.
Chapter 2 examines the evolution of the interactive apparatus and the organic growth of the applications of interactivity. I consider how mechanical interactivity started a tradition of utility and how, even after the ethic of play was introduced to the interactive apparatus, the interactive playgrounds were still divided between the opposing tensions of play and utility. An examination of these tensions reveals how they facilitated the production of the Interactive Cinematic structure.
While the present is discussed in Chapter 1 and the past is traced in Chapter 2, the future is considered in Chapter 3. Beginning with a look at the popular trends in Interactive Cinema, I study the actual components of Interactive Cinema and how each affects the other as well as the user. I draw upon theories ranging from cinema to simulation to understand how the interactive cinematic experience manages to resemble its preceding media while at the same time departing significantly from them. These conclusions support the development of a new language in which Interactive Cinema can be analyzed.
Interactive Cinema currently exists at a momentous point of transition. The industry can either continue to produce experiences using tools it doesn't truly understand, or it can learn what it is dealing with and reevaluate its approach. The former will continue to generate massive amounts of money, but the latter offers something much more enticing in the potential of Interactive Cinema.
A number of films were made in the early silent era, but it was not until theorists and filmmakers examined and tried to understand the tools they used that cinema came into its own. The result has been a century of magic that both entertained and instructed. Interactive Cinema can go down a similar path. All that needs to happen is for the designers to realize what it is they have created, and the users to recognize what is at work in their immersion in Interactive Cinema.
