Lets start with how we define Simulation. A simulation is something that represents something else — it isn’t the real thing. At times you might perform a simulation as practice for real life, such as a flight simulation that’s used to train pilots (vocabulary.com). Now we will try to understand how simulation plays a major role in digital media interactivity. There are many mobile apps, video games, educational websites which make use of simulation to keep the viewer hooked to the content. It thrives on user interaction and is effectively being used for different age groups to impart different kinds of information. One good example will be Lumo Play for kids, which is essentially an interactive projector which converts a child’s living room floor/wall into a learning space.
Another interesting digital narrative which I came across is depressionquest.com. As mentioned on the website, Depression Quest is an interactive fiction game where you play as someone living with depression. You are given a series of everyday life events and have to attempt to manage your illness, relationships, job, and possible treatment. This game aims to show other sufferers of depression that they are not alone in their feelings, and to illustrate to people who may not understand the illness the depths of what it can do to people. It tells you a fiction story in which you are the main character and allows you to choose your behaviour and decisions in the ongoing story. The visual and audio of the content changes to become gloomier to suggest higher levels of depression. It also provides for links which direct you to help line to seek help from experts.
Evans and Sabry (2002) points out, all forms of computer-initiated interactivity can be described in terms of this model. For example, a navigation or pacing interaction has the three actions:
- 1.Present button or control to learner (computer initiation).
- 2.Student presses button or uses control (learner response).
- 3.Present new information to learner (computer feedback).
Now that we know the basic process, one wants to know how to create an interactive medium online. One good example I came across online is Inklewriter. I allows writers to write and publish interactive stories. It lets you branch out your story into multiple consequences. After trying the process I highly recommend you make up a basic flowchart before hand, but that is because I still like using my paper and pen. For those, who like to plan and write in the same place, Inklewriter provides for a note making feature, where you can store or extract content now and then. It is a great tool and quite easy to use. Many good examples like Sorcery and others can be found on http://www.inklestudios.com
(C. Evans, K. Sabre, Evaluation of the interactivity of web-based learning systems: principles and process, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 40 (1) (2002), pp. 89–99)
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