Digital: A Love Story

Digital: A Love Story

Website: http://www.scoutshonour.com/digital/
Developer: Christine Love
Platform: Windows / Mac / Linux

Digital: A Love Story is an interactive story set in a fictional operating system of the DOS-era. It's instantly nostalgic for anyone who has used one of those old Apple systems or Windows 3.1. There's even the familiar sound of a dial-up modem when you need to use the internet.

The game is very heavily story-driven. That means reading chunks and chunks of text which would be a chore if the dialogue wasn't so well written. The messages on the BBS discuss technology, games, hacks, all within the context of the fictional world. There's even Star Trek fanboy banter and trolls annoying everyone with their presence, something that is all too familiar in the real world. There's a button to "reply" for every message but you'll only get a response for a few of them. You don't actually type a reply and the only way to figure out what you replied is from the response itself. It's a refreshing storytelling approach to have the player fill in the blanks as the narrative feels less literal and rigid.

That said, the narrative is a still a line from the beginning to the end. The player is expected to reply to certain messages or visit this and that BBS to advance the plot. Much like adventure games, there is a certain order to play the game and being stuck could be a very frustrating experience. In that case, why not tell the story through writing or a short film? Afterall, those are mediums that have already mastered the narrative while games are still tackling the problem of melding gameplay and narrative.

That's because the story works in the setting of a game. The player is immersed in the experience of using a piece of dated technology which is limited in many ways. Each time you access a different BBS, you have to repeat the same routine of dialing a 7-digit number and listening to the familiar drawl of the modem. It's not the intention of the game to frustrate or annoy the player. Rather, it transports them to an older time where there is little instant gratification. There's the allure of an underground culture where people create hacks to overcome limitations in software and to get out of paying for stuff. As you learn new dialer hacks and BBSs, it feels like opening up new places in your world, the same feeling you get from exploring a massive world in a game like Oblivion. It's a world where information isn't as accessible as it is now and the internet is a magical place of equal parts knowledge and mystery.

The narrative melds with gameplay, not as a story to dress up the gameplay. Rather, the gameplay is a narrative device used to tell the story more effectively. When the connection between the characters breaks down, it's interesting to see them trying to re-establish the connection by moving to a new BBS. The game shows people bonding over vast distances, the existence of a community in a virtual setting that is just as real as any in real life. There is perhaps an underlying commentary on our heavy reliance on technology. What if the internet breaks down? How much do we stand to lose from that?

Digital: A Love Story isn't for everyone but it's worth playing just to listen to that modem dial-up sound! It's not as tough to get into as a novel, if that's not your thing. And if books are your thing, it's a great read and a fantastic example of a story-driven approach to games that works well.

--Benjamin