The participants, Gonzalo Frasca:

The Possession of Christian Shaw
During the last few weeks, I played/read the piece 3 different times for an average time of 30 minutes each. In every one of them, I was able to discover different, unexpected aspects, even though a few times I got stuck in places that I am pretty sure I had been able to move forward from in earlier visits.
Overall, this is a disturbing, compelling piece ("disturbing" should be taken as a great compliment) that succeeds in many different levels. However, I will focus on this review on the aspects that I think were somehow problematic.
 
Interface

-

Personally, I wouldn't mind making the interface more explicit and less integrated. I know that it is likely that the non-explicit interface is being used for aesthetical reasons, but even considering that, I felt several times frustrated by pixel-hunting for hotspots. I think that the black little crosses work fine for jumping from one scene to the other, but I wouldn't mind including some extra visible interface cues. For examples, a few times, the objects can not only click and rolled over on, but also dragged. I discovered this by accident very late on one of my readings and, to be sincere, I felt like I lost part of the experience but it was not enough to encourage me to go through the piece again from scratch while trying to drag other objects.
- I really liked the use of roll-overs, they are very subtle and engaging aesthetically. It was definitively one of my favorite features. It turns the space into a small lab for discovery and experimentation and that is one of the aspects that I enjoy the best in interactive art pieces.
- Even if it is clear that the piece tries to break away with some of the conventions of traditional interactive storytelling, the paradox is that the reader expectations are based on those same conventions. On the one hand, this works by enhancing the enjoyment of the work, but on the other hand, by not following those conventions it can slowly add up to the user's frustration.
Story
- I am quite positive that I did not reach the end of the story (even though, personally, I do not think that it was essential, since I enjoyed the piece as such). The first two times I did not see the introductory photo album, so my reading was quite different when I finally found it (again, this is not necessarily a problem).
- I think one of the major achievements of this piece is that it successes where others have failed: it fragments the experience of the possession through different angles (not just camera angles, but also angles of interaction if I may say). It allows the player to fill-in the blanks about the story itself, but encourages him/her to make connections between what is happening within the character's body and mind (soul?) and the environment, especially natural elements such as plants. All those un-written, but suggested connections, link the story on a far more interesting level than the usual "branching-story" where the actions are the center of the story. Here it works less on the level of the plot and more on the level of the tropes.
Sound
- The use of sound is overall very well implemented. However, several parts of the piece are totally silent and I felt that background music would be an effective way of reinforcing the images.
The use of sound is also effective when used to reinforce the feedback of the rollover on the animations. However, maybe it could also be used in order to avoid the "pixel-hunt" problem that haunts the project sometime. I suggest exploring a sound interface when a sound hint gets louder (or higher) as the cursor gets closer to the hotspot.
February, 2004.