A while back I thought up a cool idea for a project. I have my hands full with Nation Building for now but I’ll share this concept and hope to work on it next.

The high concept is using a multi-party video chat (like Meetings.io or Google Hangouts) to facilitate acting or improv. A few ways this might work in practice:

  • A script is chosen ahead of time and the participants are assigned characters. The lines appear on the screen of the relevant actor and the actors “on stage” are the only ones whose video feeds are visible at a time.
  • A series of improv games, played over video chat. Different prompts can occur at the beginning of each round. There might be points / voting by participants and viewers. This might feel like a “Whose Line” that anyone can play.
  • An interactive story in which some lines are scripted but there is plenty of room for players to ad lib. There might be key decisions that the players can make and which impact the story overall. Somewhat of a collaborative choose your own adventure.

Let me know what you think and feel free to make suggestions. As I said above, I won’t start this until I finish nation building but I am looking forward to this challenge!