The emerging technologies were still undefined. The horizon seemed limitless. Hopes for the World Wide Web were indeed more romantic than real. It was a time of first love; we could fill in between the fuzzy lines with whatever dreamscape we desired. Despite the dystopian scenarios spun by sci-fi authors like Phillip K. Dick, my fuzzy lines were generally dusted with heat lightning out of a prairie storm mixed with pixie dust [1].
For me (Color Plate D), it was the Amiga 1200 computer (1992). While the graphics were a triumph of imagination over gritty pixels, the fully populated RAM made interaction with humans fast enough to keep attention from fading. The Amiga computer with its Mandela software made interactive narratives possible. I created stories with multiple endings that depended on choices made by the participant earlier on the decision tree. I emphasized the power of...