A good story makes you feel something. Having ownership over the story makes those emotions stronger. Telling fiction with NFTs can be a powerful way to tell stories: both old and new. Projects have been exploring this intersection the past few months. There is a tendency, however, for projects to take a more top-down approach while NFTs can & should explore bottom-up storytelling as a new medium. Top-down fiction is what’s being told to us. It’s when you go watch Star Wars in the cinema or play a new role-playing game from Bethesda. Bottom-Up fiction is what we invent stories about the fictional world on our own. It’s when you’ve bought the lightsaber and you are running around in your yard making fuzzy whoosh noises, force throwing tennis balls at your dog. It’s when you roleplay in World of Warcraft at the local tavern outside Stormwind. In this article, I want to share what this looks like in practice with NFTs and where I see this going into the future.

James P. Carse describe finite and infinite games as:

"A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, and infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."

In the same vein: finite stories are written for the purpose of it beginning & ending. Infinite stories is written for the purpose of continuing the story.

I was recently introduced to the narrative structure called Kishotenketsu. It's a narrative structure that doesn't rely on conflict/tension in the story. Rather, it thrives on creating tension/conflict in the reader.