are these algorithms beneficial only to video game plot-lining?

i wonder if novels or even poems could be fasten following some of these more intricate and abstract progressions. one thing common to all of the kinds of plot interfaces, i noticed, is the progression of time. while some may not have an 'ending' in a strict realist sense, all (from what i read) moved forward linearly in time. that's not to say you couldn't have a story in which a character has a flashback, or remembers a scence from his or her past - but such an instance i think has its most notable impact on the present of a character.

it would be interesting to see some algorithms freed from linear time constraints. that's where all the zany postmodern stuff would begin im sure...

my fav plot: the braided one

i guess im a sucker for soft-determinism because i really like the idea of events linking the "destinies" of characters.

the only plot that comes to mind that follows this structure is Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow." scores of character's lives are entertwined via famous and not-so-famous events during and after WWII.

The movie "Go" was not the greatest movie I've seen, but seemed to have what you're talking about. I think it was like 4 characters living their lives separately, all making decisions that somehow affected the other characters indirectly. Kind of interesting when all the stories came together in the end.