What is interactivity to you?
I think interactivity consists of some experience where outcomes or narrative arcs are contingent on choices made by people experiencing or interacting with the experience. I don’t think is interactivity synonymous with the spatial turn in gaming.
Chris Crawford defines interactivity in terms of actors. Kate Compton, I think, defines interactivity in terms of “reflection-in-action”, or the “grokloop”.
Lev Manovich writes well. Chris Crawford’s writing contains so little depth and foresight in comparison. I haven’t finished The Language of New Media but I have skimmed it a couple times.
I do think that interactivity is a myth. I love that Manovich talks about interactivity in broad and coarse strokes - literature that requires users to fill in the missing information, or - in my opinion- piece together the information presented into a narrative, can be considered interactive.
I consider Zork interactive. GTA V is also interactive.
Art installations are interactive. YouTube videos are not interactive.
Does it add or detract to artmaking/storytelling - or when doesn’t and when does it?
Don’t try to explain everything with something interactive. Use interactivity only when interactivity works best, otherwise, supplement it with text & images.
How did the interactivity in Gone Home contribute to or change the effect of the story?
I don’t know, honestly.