Storytelling, The Final Frontier: A Live, Interactive Let's Play! Breaking Boundaries with Video Games 2025 Keynote Talk April 25, 2025

For as revolutionary as the written word and moving pictures have been in our ability to communicate and tell stories, they are not the final frontier of storytelling. Video games present an opportunity to grow our artistic and narrative abilities beyond passive means, by bringing the audience into the story itself. In this talk, to highlight some of the ways video games are breaking boundaries in storytelling, we'll play The Stanley Parable: a single player, indie, narrative-driven game about an office worker and his Narrator. Together, we'll discuss how video games are different storytellers, how those stories connect with audiences, and if, as Jane McGonigal says, "video games can make a better world."