Don't Press That Button

Abstract

THE AUTHOR ARGUES THAT THERE IS PRESENTLY A VAST DIFFERENCE between what the interactive revolution promises and what, so far, it has delivered. In the interactive world, people are told to press that button , please —as if they were chickens mindlessly pecking seeds laid out in a trail. The author describes the seven levels of interactivity, from “click on everything” to “the quest for artificial intelligence,” and concludes that we are still at the nickelodeon stage of what could become a new art form. He calls on writers, artists, and programmers to provide—along with the magic—a creative philosophy and vision that will bring real emotional power to the current hodgepodge of clicking and virtual realities.