This could be a huge game changer. Netflix‘s first effort at interactive TV episodes launched today. The new interactive episodes will allow users to make decisions throughout the episode, ultimately creating unique stories depending on the viewer.
The first episodes will be focused on children’s programming, first launching with Puss in Boots: Trapped in an Epic Tale. If this format is successful, you could see the interactive story lines pop up in your favourite regular Netflix shows.
The concept is fairly simple. At certain points in the program, the user will have the opportunity to make a choice which will then unlock subsequent content and alternate story lines based on the original choice selection. Essentially, the concept is a digital version of a Choose Your Own Adventure book. While we think this will be a home run for kids’ programming, it might be difficult to get adults to fall in line. An article from the Verge points out that, “kids think everything is interactive” because of their adoption of touch screen since birth. Many children touch any screen they see; they think everything is interactive, so why not make TV shows and programming that match this?
For adults, we watch shows for different reasons, while there will be some diehards that want to see alternate endings of movies, most of us just want to sit there, veg out and not have to make decisions with our brains (tough, we know).
So the question we ask our dear readers is: is this a good idea or bad idea?