Contrary to popular belief, we [most likely] will never do ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ type stories at Spellbound. I think about it a lot and my big concern is that most people conflate immersion with interaction. We don’t aim for a highly interactive story, we aim for an immersive story. I am sure I will go into more detail about this in the coming months, especially on the exec channel, but I believe immersion is much more than a sensory experience. True immersion comes about as a result of permanence and influence. It’s a cyclical. In other words the reason why our world feels so real isnt necessarily because of our senses, though those help. It’s is because the impact we make on this world is lasting.
When I chop a tree down in my back yard, there is no going back, I have changed this world forever. When I make a choice in my life, the choice is made. There is permanence to this world. Choices matter. Think about it, if you play a game, every choice you make can be reset. Even if the game doesn’t allow you to reset, in the back of your mind, you still know, all you have to do is re-install. The choices don’t matter when you can reset, restart, re-install, and reboot.
I don’t want that type of unsettling ephemeral feeling to be at the subconscious core of our stories. I think the reason why our stories will feel real is because they will be real. They will have a life cycle, the choices will be permanent, the audience will directly impact the journey. When the story is done, it’s done. There is no do over.
There is a risk there, that after the story has been played out, it won’t attract a new audience. I’m sure there is some truth there because the draw is that our story is ‘happening’. It’s much less immersive after it’s ‘happened’. However just because that story is over doesn’t mean the _ story world_ is over. A world must have multiple simultaneous stories to be considered a true word in the context of how we will build them. This is what is great, we won’t be focused on trying to ensure our story is re-watchable for some demographic that might passively come in later, we need to be focused on making our current stories incredible for the audience we have right now.
I believe there is a key in here for our business in the future. It’s much less about the commodity than it is about the experience. It’s much less about the building assets than it is about building relationships. It’s much less about what has happened, or even what will happen, then it is about what is happening.
