Mr. Glassner needs to try LARPing (Score 1)

These are the kinds of questions that a good LARP tries to answer, whether in a one-shot game or an ongoing chronicle. There are a lot of answers that can come from the LARP experience that might translate well into other styles of storytelling. There is a style of LARP known as "interactive literature" (IL), which is distinct and different from most live-combat LARP. IL focuses on the story, on characters and plots, and on creating an immersive environment.

Glassner's strongly held opinion, which he argues quite coherently, is that a great story is the product of one (or a few) expert storytellers presenting a strong, consistent vision to you, the consumer. The fabled holy grail of gaming is letting the player do whatever they want -- full interactivity. And this is to a point fundamentally incompatible with telling a great story.

A decent LARP can demonstrate the folly of this statement. IL LARPers are a notoriously creative group of players. Games that allow the players to push the boundaries of the writers' story ideas and plots can turn into amazing events. Conjunction (at Intercon 11.5) and Tabula Rasa II are prime examples of games that just blew everybody away when they were done, including the authors.

I would love to get Mr. Glassner to an Intercon just to see what kinds of experiences are already out there. Interactive storytelling could learn a lot of lessons from the art of LARP writing.

For those who want to learn the secrets, there are occasionally Build Your Own Game seminars at Intercons and elsewhere. LARP authors get together to teach others how to write a good LARP by doing so collaboratively in 24 hours. (Intercon MidAtlantic is the next example I know of.) These games are not necessarily trivial, either. There have been some pretty amazing games as a result.