Certain videogames seem to do this well. A recent roleplaying game like Mass Effect 2 for example is designed to give the player choices for which directions to take the story allowing for replayability of experiencing it in different ways. Some videogame series that create a long following expand the story to comic books and novels. Because so much goes into creating the videogame world, a good story becomes an integral part of making the game work well.

I applaud your reticence to apply transmedia storytelling to any or all entertainment properties. It’s not appropriate for every property.

A good starting point for determining whether transmedia storytelling makes sense is whether you are creating a world or creating a story.

Transmedia storytelling is about a collection of stories in a shared world told across different mediums. If the story you are telling does not need to share its world with other stories or be split across mediums, well, then you’re probably not working on a property that would benefit from a transmedial approach. Story first, always.

The concept of providing layers of depth for consumers to choose from (much like the stratification alternate reality game designers observe: passive, active, hard-core) is also key to this. Nice point.

And I would encourage an “and” approach instead of an “or” mentality when testing the transmedia waters. Just as not all properties should be made transmedial, not all transmedia properties will look the same. Some will encourage fan interaction, others will limit it. Some will incorporate improvisational elements, others will be more traditionally scripted. Again, it was refreshing to hear you state this.

Finally, it was great to hear you mention the Amanda project as an example. Having the usual suspects of transmedia storytelling (Star Wars, Matrix and Heroes) trotted out time and again is beginning to limit the fruitfulness of these conversations.

While transmedia storytelling is quite old as a practice, we’re just now heavily investigating it, figuring out how much it can scale and where it breaks down. It’s going to be an interesting time…thanks for contributing some insightful comments to the conversation.

@theresa — I am of the firm conviction that the medium must serve the story, not the other way around. And while an author might write a “book”, the story might be better told in a different manner. That being said, I am not convinced transmedia is the proper approach for a vast majority of stories. I don’t see it as an either/or choice; I see it as opportunity to tell the story in the best way possible.

@diana — The gaming community has been at the forefront of my mind as I’ve been thinking about this type of storytelling these past few years. We know that people get deep into games due to the immersive nature of the story, and that is a great model for book publishers.

@kat — Heroes (which started out awesome and then this season, sigh, lost even me, the most loyal of viewers) did great stuff in this regard early on. I loved the comic books starring Hiro. Perfect use of story and technology. NBC then decided to over-brand the series, and that left a bad taste in my mouth. I was always aware of the corporate parent pulling strings, which changed my relationship with the extended story.

I do love that the fans took the story in their own directions, and think that loss of control is critical.

One project I forgot to mention is Marble Hornets. It reminds of William Gibson’s book “Pattern Recognition”, but that’s a good thing, to my mind!