For Whom the Telling Changed

"Whom the Telling Changed" is an exciting and intriguing work of Interactive Fiction. Aaron Reed, the author of this work, sets up a curious premise and allows the reader to go on a journey into the nature of storytelling.

In "Whom the Telling Changed" you are quite clueless as to your own identity. That is to say that you, as a reader/player, are not familiar with your gender or role in society. Your character is very aware, but it is up to you as the reader to make these connections and decisions based upon the information provided for you.

The story begins with the option of reading through instructions or just diving right in. If you take the instructional road, so to speak, you are told that you are able to type in any command you think is relevant to the story being told to you. If you are at a loss, or if there are certain words that will help you in your reading of the story, they will be highlighted for you if you so wish. 

After beginning the story you find that you are in a tent, surrounded by mystical objects with esoteric properties. You hear voices outside the tent, and your first decision is to go out and see what is happening. You know, through the narration, that this is the night of "The Telling" which is an ancient ritual practiced among your people wherein every member of your tribe gathers to hear a story told by "The Teller." It is a celebration, a learning experience, and a community bonding event. 

The first characters you meet are your lover, a warrior, and your arch enemy, who is also a warrior. They tell you of a nearby tribe that has set up camp on the other side of the hills. Your enemy believes that striking the other tribe, without knowing their intentions, is the only solution to their presence. Your lover is not quite sure, but offers little input.

When you arrive at the fire, where "The Telling" will be told, you greet your aunt, who is the tribe's current "Teller." When she begins "The Telling" she loses all identity and becomes something larger than life. She proceeds to tell a story from The Epic of Gilgamesh. 

This is the most interesting part of "For Whom the Telling Changed" as it is the most interactive part. As "The Teller" tells the story the crowd responds, in a "call and response" fashion, and you are invited to do so as well. As the story becomes more of an allegory for what should be done about the unknown tribe that your tribe is worried about, you are left to help sway the crowd in one direction or another. You have control over how the crowd will react, and you can choose a peaceful end or one that will bring about conflict.

As stated in class, I was not able to finish this game. I played for roughly 2 hours (possibly a little less) and was never able to get to a conclusion. From what I have read about the story, it takes about that amount of time to finish, but I was not able to get to it. It seems that the ending would follow suit with whatever decisions you have made in swaying the crowd, and that your tribe would come to a group decision on how the unknown tribe in the distance will be handled.

In playing and researching this IF text I came across Mr. Reed's website and his own data analysis of those who played his game in 2006 at the "Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition" in Utah. 

The statistics can be found HERE and some might remember that I used these statistics during my presentation in class.

All in all, "For Whom the Telling Changed" is an amazing example of Interactive Fiction and Digital Literature. It allows the reader to tell the story themselves, making decisions that influence every aspect of how the story pans out. It delves into the very nature of storytelling, the importance that our stories play in our lives, and the broader picture of humanity in relation to how we perceive our pasts and our futures. Mr. Reed is definitely a pioneer of the Digital Literature front and I feel incredibly inspired by his work. The program that he used to create his piece has been discontinued and removed from the internet, but I intend to research it more in order to see how he was able to build such a complex story. If I could make something half as complex for this class I would be very satisfied, by I know that this might not be an easily attainable goal. 

I strongly encourage anyone with a love of reading to invest time in "For Whom the Telling Changed." There is no "telling" what you might get out of it!