Interactivity in new media is a given. Human-computer interfaces are by definition interactive. This section explores how interactivity adheres to Manovich's principles of new media. The interactivity to which I refer, is the kind that may occur in screen-based context where the mouse is the primary input device. Manovich defines five principles that new media objects obey. Those principles are: Numerical Representation, Modularity, Automation, Variability, and Transcoding. "Not every new media object obeys these principles. They should be considered not as absolute laws but rather as general tendencies of a culture undergoing computerization" (Manovich 2001: 27). Since numerical representation is such a fundamental principle to new media (works like Puppet Motel could not exist without it), the first principle will not be discussed at length. The interactivity I am discussing does not exist without numerical representation.

In order to understand the interactivity in Puppet Motel I will examine each of the four remaining principles. In each case I first discuss, in general, how each principle manifests itself in interactivity. After sketching the landscape of possibilities, I examine which features of that landscape are present in Puppet Motel.