FEB. 21, 2011 • SIM City luminary Will Wright launched a television program on cable channel Current TV. Bar Karma is “light-hearted sci-fi” where the viewers decide development of the plot much like controlling characters in The Sims. Fans of the show can access a StoryMaker storyboard utility accessible online or through smart-phone apps program that was created by Wright. New characters, dialogue, music and set decorations can be suggested. All suggestions are charted, and then voted on by participants who then vote for their favorites. The results are then refined by the show’s writing staff. The time between voting and airing an episode is four to five weeks.
Impact: It’s a testament to how fully video game storytelling has seeped into the general consciousness comfort zone that a TV program such as this would even be attempted. Games by their very nature feature multiple and divergent plot lines, and often variable endings. That’s anathema to traditional storytelling featuring a beginning an end, and three acts in between. What this tells us is that games are changing what consumers are expecting from their entertainment. Wright’s experiment of today, might soon be common place tomorrow.
