iTales

Ever wonder “what if?” What if I would have turned right instead of left? What if had I listened to “the little voice?” What if Hansel & Gretel had not eaten from the candy house? Life is full of choices—small and large, insignificant and soul-saving. Storytelling can be too—full of choices. So can movies.

I’ve been developing this concept for eight years now, a gift dropped in my lap—from listening and obliging “the little voice.”

Several years ago, in a hurry with deadlines to meet and work overflowing, and after loading my two daughters (6 and 8 at the time) into my Ford Ranger in a Walmart-like store (Meijers) parking lot, I was just going to leave my shopping cart right there next to my truck—in the middle of the parking lot. About to climb into the Ranger cab, that little voice quietly suggested I put the cart where it belongs. Now I could have ignore the voice and what would really have been my sin? Leaving a cart in the parking lot? With dozens of others? Big deal! Hey I was in a hurry! I had things to do. I was getting to be big time. But I oblidged the little voice and pushed the cart back to the building.

No sooner did I let go of the cart I heard what sounded like a car backfiring. A glance in the general direction revealed no moving vehicles, but I did spy a policeman halfway across the parking lot, gun draw, quickly and cautiously moving across the lot. I scan across and see a young man firing a rifle toward the main road. My instinct was to jump in the truck and get my kids out of there. Quick. No telling what was going on: a hold up, a gang fight?

Come to find out on the news, some guy—at the perceived end of his rope—had lured the cops with a false accident report. When I seen him firing, he was blowing a cop’s head off, then put the gun to himself.

Now, had I NOT obeyed that little voice, I would have been driving past this incident as it happened! Would he have shot us? Probably not. He had lured the cops. But! How would it have effected my six and eight year old daughters seeing someone’s head blown off? Or me? How would I have taken that?

My sin wouldn’t have been leaving a cart in the parking lot. It would have been disobeying God. My own actions would have wrought my punishment. Tragically. A small, simple, unthinkable sin could have wrought huge consequences! Saving my children from witnessing this act is the obvious reward. Not so obvious is the fact that this caused me to contemplate about “what if.” Synthesizing “what if” with the interactivity I was doing with websites and CDs, I was literally given interactive storytelling—as a gift.

The question I’d like to throw out for discussion is: Does anyone share a similar story—where the Little Voice spoke, and you did or did not listen? What happened then? Did you contemplate the alternative scenario? Given a second chance, would you have turned right instead of left?

Thanks folks,
John Gnotek
www.CyberAlley.com/iTales/

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 10th, 2006 at 2:02 am and is filed under Interactive Storytelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.