Scribblers take note! Karim has just released a cool new hyperfiction site that makes it easy — and, dare I say, fun — to create collaborative online stories. It’s called StoryStream, and it’s open to everyone.
Getting started is easy: you just register, then go in and write a scene. Conceptually, a scene is a fragment of a story, but beyond that it’s whatever you want it to be: besides text, it can contain images, Flash animations, and — eventually — music. You create a story by stringing together a bunch of scenes to make a narrative; you create variations on a story by forking those scenes into one or more substreams. This allows the action to diverge based on the whim of the author, or of any readers who decide they would like to take it in an entirely different direction. Everyone can contribute to everything. It’s free love, baby.
But it’s more than that. StoryStream has a built-in ratings system that not only allows readers to tell the various authors what they think of their stuff, but also makes it possible for the software to call out the most popular streams, and the most popular paths through those streams. Which means that StoryStream, once it gets a critical mass of users, essentially runs itself: a dynamic, self-organizing library/trove that relies on its patrons to tell each other what’s good.
There are already hyperfiction sites out there, certainly; but, since they’re open to anyone and everyone, their stories quickly disintegrate into mangled multifarious jumbles of varying quality. StoryStream solves this problem, in true Internet fashion, not by limiting participation, but by judging it — or, rather, by allowing the community to judge it. The jumble will always be there if you’re interested, but the software sorts wheat from chaff so that casual readers who just want to enjoy a good yarn can call up the “best” path through a popular stream and read it, start to finish. It’s a strict meritocracy, and everyone can participate.
As I said, ultra-cool. But don’t take my word for it. Check it out for yourself.
2 comments ↓
Alas, this wonderful site is still inaccessible /rant hijack/
to me, as is karimspot. Not sure why. Its been that way for weeks. No error message — it just refuses to load. So does an updated version of my blog, come to think of it. I call it up and it is routinely 3 days out of date (obviously this is not a problem for my readers, who are able to comment in a timely fashion). Curse you, government server!
/end rant hijack/
It IS pretty fascinating, I’ll admit. I stumbled across Chyoo, Literotica’s hyperfiction experiment, but overall I find StoryStream to be a more professional, attractive site. Though not as raunchy! ;)
I’m installing the StoryStream software on my site so I can play with it. Hyperfiction is nifty!
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