DeepFUN | The Future of S&V

The Future of S&V

Subj: A penny for your thoughts...Date: 96-05-29 01:55:19 EDT

To: De Koven

Dear Major FUN...Without going into too much adoring detail, I've been moved by so many of your letters. And, after I zombie-walked through E3 a few weeks ago, and then read your perfectly on point critique of that horrific show, I realized it was time for me to write again. My father and you and I all shared the same opinions on E3, which might indicate something about middle aged men being out of touch, except for the fact that I'm 21 (and "in the demo" as they say). So maybe we're right? I'm currently working on a thesis about the future of the film industry. I'm not as concerned with special effects and media conglomerates as I am about the changing audience over the next decade. Changing as the internet develops. Changing as we isolate ourselves further from our fellow human beings. Changing as we sap stories out of our lives. And so, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject. What do you see awaiting us as a nation if we head down our current entertainment paths? Where do you see us headed? This is a big question, so approach it anyway you feel comfortable. I look forward to hearing any thoughts you'd care to share. Hope all is well. Sincerely, Jeffrey Shore

Dear Jeffrey, Thanks for the virtual penny, and for using it to ask such a big question. Right now, as you know, I am spending much of my professional fun time consulting for Mattel Media. And from my current perspective as a big-time commercial multimedia player, I must admit that the future looks definitely interactive, entertainment-wise. I think the reason we saw so much sex and violence at E3 is that, interactivity-wise, those are the things that most of us need to interact with first. Before we can really accept the extent of our virtual powers, we apparently need to test them out on the basest of our fantasies. We need to know we can virtually kill each other before we feel safe enough to build something together. Some of us, even us Generation-Xers, especially some of us kids, us pre-schoolers, us girls, have fantasies that are based on kinder, gentler needs. We don't need to interact with sex and violence (S&V) as much as we need to interact with intelligence and imagination and each other. It will be more than five years before there are enough of us to become the mass that drives the market. In the mean time, S&V will continue to be the big money-makers. They will characterize the entertainment that we interact with and through in theater and in the family room, in the privacy of our own homes. Higher bandwidth, more vividly detailed fantasies of S&V. And at the same time, for the less massive markets, the arts of entertainment will become more and more powerfully imaginative, more and more profoundly participative. Virtual museums where artists devote their arts to celebrating our own artistry. Theaters where the plays are also improvisational, the participation also virtual, and the audience also actors. So, probably because I and my family are personally current profiting from all this, I am at this time optimistic about the relationship between interactivity and entertainment. I frankly for the time being believe that there will be some beautiful and new mini-mass-market entertainments that result from all this, despite the current and apparently growing profitably of digitally simulated S&V, especially if I have anything to say about it. Major Fun