Hamlet on the Holodeck. The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace

Stories define how we think, play, and understand our lives. In this comprehensive and readable book—already a classic statement of the aesthetics of digital media, acclaimed by practitioners and theorists alike—Janet Murray shows how the computer is reshaping the stories we live by. Murray discusses the unique properties and pleasures of digital environments and connects them with the traditional satisfactions of narrative.
She analyzes the dramatic satisfaction of participatory stories and considers what would be necessary to move interactive fiction from the formats of childish games and confusing labyrinths into a mature and compelling art form. She also introduces the reader to landscapes populated by witty automated characters and role-playing interactors, who together make up a new kind of commedia dell'arte. Through a blend of imagination and techno-wizardry, Murray provides both readers and writers with a guide to the storytelling of the future.