Hi folks! I’m the library staff member who’s organising this panel and I just wanted to drop in, say hi, and explain a little more about what it will be.
So a little about me: I’m an advocate for play in culture, and… meh, it’s at my site if you are actually interested. The key thing YOU need to know is that as part of that broader mission I have the goal of seeing all forms of narrative play recognised as valid literature.
The panel is intended as an introduction to interactive storytelling for a general audience - the assumption is that most attendees will have some interest in literature generally but be unfamiliar with interactive options. (Though feel free to turn up en masse and demonstrate the size of the existing audience for these forms! It will help in some of my other work, actually getting these media into libraries.)
This means we’re covering not just IF, but tabletop roleplaying and LARP. The reason the panel is planned to be so long is that we’ll be asking the panellists from each medium to give a 10-minute intro to (also, plug for) their particular form of storytelling, then diving into the actual panel part.
The plan for the panel is to talk about the different ways in which each engages literary skill and storytelling tradition, as well as the larger question of how interactivity affects audience engagement with story.
I’ll be moderating the panel and I’m aiming to have 2 reps from each of the above forms. I’ve been published in some Pathfinder supplements, and Wade Dyer will be the other tabletop rep as he’s a local who as successfully crowdfunded and self-published his own game (Fragged Empire). For LARP, I’m talking to folks from Swordcraft and the local freeform community. And in addition to inviting Felicity, I’m also looking for a local parser IF author to talk about that particular aspect of IF. (If anyone has any suggestions for Melbourne-based parser IF folks…)
I’m also hoping to come along to the meetup to pick your brains about libraries and IF, if that won’t be seen as intrusive. I am not especially active in the IF scene, but I am interested (and played a bunch of it back in the Infocom days… not to show my age or anything) and have kept enough of an eye on the scene to find this board. However, work obligations may prevent me attending.
Hope this sounds interesting! Please let me know what you think
Cheers
Phil Minchin