Comments on: every bot needs an agent http://writerresponsetheory.org/wordpress/2005/02/17/every-bot-needs-an-agent/ a blog and podcast dedicated to discussing text arts forms Wed, 16 May 2012 23:22:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 en Writer Response Theory 2004-2005 wrt@writerresponsetheory.org (Writer Response Theory) wrt@writerresponsetheory.org Talk Radio Comment-cast: every bot needs an agent Comment-cast: every bot needs an agent Writer Response Theory Writer Response Theory wrt@writerresponsetheory.org http://writerresponsetheory.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/iTWRT.JPG WRT: Writer Response Theory http://writerresponsetheory.org/wordpress 144 144 by: Jeremy Douglass http://writerresponsetheory.org/wordpress/2005/02/17/every-bot-needs-an-agent/#comment-7 Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://writerresponsetheory.org/wordpress/2005/02/17/every-bot-needs-an-agent/#comment-7 While anything that smacks of mercenary self-promotion leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many, this book strikes me as a good thing. I don't have the perspective to answer your historical question except to suggest that perhaps there is a spectrum - people who primarily used their own techniques, but showed them off (Blake) and people who primarily distributed their techniques, but also used them (Edison). Media pioneers of all stripes are often stakeholders and true believers, and if they have the energy to capitalize their own creations I wish them well - better the creators than the vast third parties that trawl the deep for new ideas to feed on.<br /> <br /> My mental short-list includes <a href="http://www.eastgate.com/">Eastgate Systems, Inc.</a> (StorySpace, Tinderbox) and <a href="http://www.nightkitchen.com/">Night Kitchen, Inc.</a> (tk3) for hypertext. For IF, there is <a href="http://www.adrift.org.uk">Adrift</a>. It is high time bots caught up!<br /> <br /> That said, authorware is notoriously difficult and thankless to write and market - especially in areas of art where the constraints on the tools will limit the kinds of interesting formal features the artist can use. Storyspace and Adrift both lock their authors into a fairly narrow set of possibilities within "hypertext" or "IF" - and thus, rightly or wrongly, Adrift creators in particular are mocked and stigmatized by authors working in development languages closer to the machine - or rolling their own. While anything that smacks of mercenary self-promotion leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many, this book strikes me as a good thing. I don’t have the perspective to answer your historical question except to suggest that perhaps there is a spectrum - people who primarily used their own techniques, but showed them off (Blake) and people who primarily distributed their techniques, but also used them (Edison). Media pioneers of all stripes are often stakeholders and true believers, and if they have the energy to capitalize their own creations I wish them well - better the creators than the vast third parties that trawl the deep for new ideas to feed on.

My mental short-list includes Eastgate Systems, Inc. (StorySpace, Tinderbox) and Night Kitchen, Inc. (tk3) for hypertext. For IF, there is Adrift. It is high time bots caught up!

That said, authorware is notoriously difficult and thankless to write and market - especially in areas of art where the constraints on the tools will limit the kinds of interesting formal features the artist can use. Storyspace and Adrift both lock their authors into a fairly narrow set of possibilities within “hypertext” or “IF” - and thus, rightly or wrongly, Adrift creators in particular are mocked and stigmatized by authors working in development languages closer to the machine - or rolling their own.

]]> Jeremy Douglass While anything that smacks of mercenary self-promotion leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many, this book strikes me ... While anything that smacks of mercenary self-promotion leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many, this book strikes me ...