Auriea read this book. It was interesting enough but is very dated by now. We remember sharing many of the same dreams back in the nineties. The future was quite different then.
Hamlet on the Holodeck (Janet Murray)
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Posted on June 20, 2006 at 12:04 am
At it’s core, I don’t find it dated; much of what it looks forward to hasn’t been accomplished yet. It’s emphasis on agency makes it a critical text still highly relevant today. What I’d call HOH’s predecessor, Computers as Theater by Brenda Laurel, also remains relevant, IMO.
Also, Cybertext by Aarseth is an important read, published the same time as HOH.
Posted on June 20, 2006 at 1:11 am
I have just started Computers as Theatre. Very interesting so far (but I’m a Brenda Laurel fanboy 😉 ). I’ll get to Hamlet on the Holodeck myself one day. I’ll look into Cybertext as well. Thanks. 🙂
Posted on June 20, 2006 at 11:29 am
It seems dated because the hopes she had for what interactive narratives could become seem impossible now. The grand direction many of the projects in the book were going in have been largely abandonned. How could she have known about the popularity of shooters in just a few years time, killing practically every genre that isn’t action/competition related… or the economic component attached to games or the public’s refusal to make popluar any interactive entertainment that is NOT a game. It seems like she has a wonderful dream of what stories could become in this new medium but now looking back it is still just a dream.
I also didn’t particularly like her pop-culture comparisons, perhaps they were only there to give the reader (at that time) something to relate to. But now no one is familiar with most of the tv shows, movies etc that she’s referring to. Might have been better if she had stuck to Hamlet. 😉