The Fiction Factory
by Garf Collins
One day on the radio Rocco Stein heard Hideo Kojima – the world wide guru of gaming –
describing his vision for the entertainment industry. He was firmly of the opinion that games,
films and books would merge. Why not actually fight some of the battles in Star Wars and
come back to the story later? Or perhaps stop and read about the characters or the location of
a film. The proportion of each element could vary depending on creative needs. A book could
be supplemented by video. A game could allow a player to stop competing and enjoy her
well earned status. A film could turn into a game.
Rocco had made a lot of money in the software business and he was desperately looking for
his next big thing. The revolution Mr Kojima was describing grabbed Rocco’s imagination.
He took over an ailing film studio, hired some teenagers with game programming skills and
recruited creative staff whom he said ‘got it.’ He named this new establishment the Fiction
Factory and called his products ‘Entergames.’
The thought of consumers of this new art form having complete freedom worried Rocco so
he decided to limit the highways and byways within the Entergames according to his
customer’s preferences and attitudes. Each person was asked to grade themselves. An extract
from the questionnaire is as follows;
Please grade yourself on a ten point scale according to the following attributes/opinions;
Pessimist 1 to
Hate violence 1 to
Don’t like explicit sex 1 to
I don’t like depressing endings 1 to
Can’t stand video games 1 to
Like to explore 1 to
Optimist 10
Love blood and gore 10
graphic sex is OK by me 10
they all live happily after 10
I’m a games addict 10
Must get on with the story 10
It was a very detailed questionnaire and the action was tailored dynamically according to the
profile of the participant.
Rocco used his programming background to structure the scripts using an ‘IF THEN ELSE’
structure. So, for example, in a story about Geoffrey who has hit hard times, the script would
be structured as follows;
{Film about Geoffrey’s fall from grace. He’s sleeping rough on the embankment. Discovered
by a former colleague who gives him a phone number to ring to fix something up}
IF endings preference is <5 THEN {Geoffrey rings up using his almost dead phone, gets a
job and recovers his life} ELSE if >or= 5 {He realises his phone is dead and he has no
means of contacting his would be saviour. He gives in to despair and commits suicide in the
Thames}
Just a small example. En route to this juncture there were alternative views of Geoffrey’s sex
life and the amount of violence in his failed marriage.
It was a complex business and the scripts required a level of checking far beyond any normal
film or book but nearer the structure of a game. This and the increasing scale of the business
took a toll on Rocco which he eased by drinking and increasingly by many romantic affairs.
After all he told himself with all these attractive women around it would be a sin to waste the
opportunity. Rocco’s wife Juliet was blissfully unaware of this for several years. Rocco
always had a plausible explanation for his many absences. Many distant conferences were
apparently necessary for marketing the business. But one day she received a call from his
secretary. She had been a recipient of Rocco’s flattering attention for a while but had been
dropped in favour of the studio’s latest young actress. Juliet was treated to a detailed account
of Rocco’s amours. After the call ended she sat slumped in her chair for a long while. She
noticed a script on the coffee table which she idly picked up and scanned a few pages.
Inspired by this she took a piece of paper and wrote;
Rocco you lying bastard. You have been deceiving me for years. You certainly named
your business well when you called it the Fiction Factory.
IF you stop all your gallivanting and act like a husband should
THEN we can go on as we are for the sake of the children
ELSE you can piss off and I’ll see you in court and you’ll have to sell the business to
meet my financial demands.