Storytelling is a communication process that takes place between a centralized source–novelist, painter, sculptor, theater troupe, movie/television crew, comedian, performance artist and, of course, videogame designers–and an audience. It is mostly a one-way communication, allowing little to no input or feedback from the audience.
But as anyone who has done theater can tell you, an audience can dramatically impact a performance, changing its pacing and tone. This is even more true in the case of less formal theater, such as improvisational comedy shows such as Comedy Olympics. These performances rely on audience participation to guide the show and incorporate simple game design principles, turning theater into a competition. The audience’s feedback in these cases, however, is tightly contained and guided by central creative force on the stage.
Participatory Storytelling takes this process and works to provide the audience with even more opportunities to direct the flow of communication. Participatory storytelling is an important tool, as it allows a storyteller to create story experiences with even greater personal meaning to the audience. Storytelling is only a truly meaningful endeavor when the story resonates with the audience. Traditional methods of storytelling can be very hit or miss. Participatory Storytelling works to maximize the opportunities for an audience to find that resonance within the experience.
Corvus Elrod, co-owner of Zakelro Story Studio and the mind behind PJ’s Attic, has developed the participatory storytelling concept over many years, utilizing traditional tabletop RPGs and full immersion improvisational theater to test his theories and refine his process. Now he’s working to develop a formalized language to help other storytellers find the power within their own mediums to reach a broader audience. An early attempt to classify the process can be found in his Games and Storytelling white paper. Storytelling is a commonly explored theme on Corvus’ blog, Man Bytes Blog, and further refinements to the theory will be collected here at PJ’s Attic.