Connecting the Dots: Quantifying the Narrative Experience in Interactive Media

  • Hákon Jarl Hannesson
  • Thorbjørn Reimann-Andersen
  • Paolo Burelli
  • Luis Emilio Bruni
Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, volume 9445)

Abstract

In this paper we analyze narrative in interactive media with a special focus on emergent narrative. We detail the criteria for creation of an online questionnaire for the evaluation of emergent narrative as a subjective experience and present the result of a large scale survey in which it was applied. The survey was conducted during a three-week-period in May-June 2015, receiving answers from 14,259 people. Each participant answered based on one of the twenty games chosen for the investigation. The twenty games were chosen to meet one of three inclusion criteria’s. Firstly on the usage of descriptive narrative in their communities, which indicates a strong emergent narrative experience, secondly their emergent narrative potential and thirdly for their potential to be used as comparative or baseline measurements. The results strongly indicate that the Emergent Narrative questionnaire is effective for measuring the occurrence of an emergent narrative, when compared to the test-subjects’ self-reported experience.

Keywords

Emergent narrative Interactive narrative Computer games Narrative research Quantifying emergent narrative Experienced narrative Closure Immersion Narrative transport 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. 1.
    Adams, E., Rollings, A.: Fundamentals of Game Design. New Riders, Berkeley (2010)Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    Aylett, R.: Narrative in virtual environments-towards emergent narrative (1999)Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    Bruner, J.S.: Acts of Meaning. Harvard University Press, London (1990)Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Bruni, L.E., Baceviciute, S.: Narrative intelligibility and closure in interactive systems. In: Koenitz, H., Sezen, T.I., Ferri, G., Haahr, M., Sezen, D., C̨atak, G. (eds.) ICIDS 2013. LNCS, vol. 8230, pp. 13–24. Springer, Heidelberg (2013) CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Calleja, G.: Experiential narrative in game environments. In: DiGRA International Conference Proceedings. Digital Games Research Association (2009)Google Scholar
  6. 6.
    Calleja, G.: Narrative involvement in digital games. In: Conference proceedings from Foundations of Digital Games. Chania, Crete, Greece (2013)Google Scholar
  7. 7.
    Fisher, W.R.: Narration as a human communication paradigm: the case of public moral argument. Commun. Monogr. 51(1), 1–22 (1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Fullerton, T., Swain, C., Hoffman, S.: Game Design Workshop. Elsevier Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (2008) Google Scholar
  9. 9.
    Galyean, T.A.: Narrative guidance of interactivity. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1995)Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Jenkins, H.: Game design as narrative architecture the game design reader. In: Tekinbas, K.S., Zimmerman, E. (eds.) The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. MIT Press, Cambridge (2006)Google Scholar
  11. 11.
    Kriegel, M., Aylett, R.S.: Emergent narrative as a novel framework for massively collaborative authoring. In: Prendinger, H., Lester, J.C., Ishizuka, M. (eds.) IVA 2008. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 5208, pp. 73–80. Springer, Heidelberg (2008) CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Langellier, K.M.: Personal narratives: Perspectives on theory and research. Text Perform. Q. 9(4), 243–276 (1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Louchart, S., Aylett, R.: Emergent narrative, requirements and high-level architecture. In: Proceedings of the 3rd hellenic conference on artificial intelligence (setn 2004), pp. 298–308 (2004)Google Scholar
  14. 14.
    Louchart, S., Swartjes, I., Kriegel, M., Aylett, R.S.: Purposeful authoring for emergent narrative. In: Spierling, U., Szilas, N. (eds.) ICIDS 2008. LNCS, vol. 5334, pp. 273–284. Springer, Heidelberg (2008) CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Murray, J.: The last word on ludology v narratology in game studies. In: International DiGRA Conference, June 2005Google Scholar
  16. 16.
    Pearce, C.: First person: new media as story, performance, and game. First person: new media as story, performance, and game (Towards a game theory of game), 42–0713-42–0713 (2004)Google Scholar
  17. 17.
    Polkinghorne, D.: Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences. State University of New York Press, Albany (1988) Google Scholar
  18. 18.
    Rackham, H.: Aristotle, The nicomachean ethics, vol. 19. CUP Archive (1926)Google Scholar
  19. 19.
    Ryan, M.L.: Avatars of Story. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis (2006) Google Scholar
  20. 20.
    Schoenau-Fog, H., Bruni, L.E., Khalil, F.F., Faizi, J.: Authoring for engagement in interactive dramatic experiences for learning. Trans. Edutainment 7775(X), 1–19 (2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. 21.
    Walsh, R.: Emergent narrative in interactive media. Narrative 19(1), 72–85 (2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Hákon Jarl Hannesson
    • 1
  • Thorbjørn Reimann-Andersen
    • 1
  • Paolo Burelli
    • 1
  • Luis Emilio Bruni
    • 1
  1. 1.Aalborg University CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark

Personalised recommendations