Hamlet On The Holodeck / quote 16 of 23
First hypertext systems: the spot
The hypertext formats of the 1990s support many kinds of narrative writing, from voyeuristic soap operas aimed at advertising revenues to postmodernist experimental fiction for university students. The first widely successful hypertext narrative is "The Spot", a sexually titillating soap opera about a group of West Coast yuppies living in a beach house who post their diary entries regularly on the Web. Readers can hop through the various diaries to compare different versions of the same event; can search through past events to catch up on the plot; and can even participate in the story by posting opinions, advice, or their own stories to a bulletin board in which the simulated characters participate along with fans. [...] The dramatic action is not in the canned story created by the writers alone but in the spontaneously improvised exchanges between the simulated characters and the participating fans.