The Motivational Appeal of Interactive Storytelling: Towards a Dimensional Model of the User Experience

Transcription

1 The Motivational Appeal of Interactive Storytelling: Towards a Dimensional Model of the User Experience Christian Roth 1, Peter Vorderer 1, and Christoph Klimmt 2 1 Center for Advanced Media Research Amsterdam (CAMeRA), VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2 Department of Communication, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Kleinmann-Weg 2, Mainz, Germany {Christian Roth, Peter Vorderer, Christoph Klimmt, pch.roth@fsw.vu.nl} Abstract. A conceptual account to the quality of the user experience that interactive storytelling intends to facilitate is introduced. Building on socialscientific research from old entertainment media, the experiential qualities of curiosity, suspense, aesthetic pleasantness, self-enhancement, and optimal task engagement ( flow ) are proposed as key elements of a theory of user experience in interactive storytelling. Perspectives for the evolution of the model, research and application are briefly discussed. Keywords: Interactive storytelling, user experience, enjoyment, entertainment Acknowledgment: This research was funded by the European Commission (Network of Excellence IRIS Integrating Research on Interactive Storytelling Project ID ). We thankfully acknowledge the Commission s support. 1 Introduction Interactive Storytelling applications strive for the intelligent synthesis of diverse computing technologies with inspiring narrative content [1]. By offering the opportunity to participate in, or even co-narrate a story, interactive storytelling applications promise radically new modes of user experiences. But how exactly does it feel to participate in an interactive story? Why should it be enjoyable? So far, only a few mostly qualitative studies have examined users experiential qualities in specific interactive storytelling settings (e.g., Façade : [2], or adventure video games: [3]). The present paper offers a theoretical contribution on the user experience at the more abstract level of social-scientific concepts. Mining existing theory in communication science, we attempt to improve the connectivity between interactive storytelling and old entertainment media. Such a theoretical analysis shall help designers to set clear

2 goals for how their application should function from a user perspective and to stay focused on specific experiential qualities in spite of possible alternatives. Moreover, explicating the dimensions of the user experience at the theoretical level is the base for evaluating prototypes and comparing different approaches to interactive storytelling in a systematic, empirical way. 2 Conceptual Building Blocks from Past Entertainment Media Research on the past generations of media entertainment such as literature, film, and video games, is useful to generate conceptual insight for interactive storytelling, because interactive storytelling combines different ingredients of conventional entertainment, such as cinematics, character development, and user agency (e.g., [1]). We briefly refer to five experiential dimensions that have been found central in research on old entertainment use, most of which have also been discussed already implicitly or explicitly with regard to interactive storytelling 2.1 Curiosity What will happen next? This question runs through the mind of users of conventional media entertainment very frequently. Reading a novel, for instance, generates knowledge on characters and situations, which allows readers to conclude about what may happen next, what should happen next, and what is likely to happen next. Good writers attract readers interest (e.g., [4]), which includes the motivation to learn about what will happen next. Being curious is thus common for users of conventional entertainment, and curiosity occurs in various modes. For instance, in video games, curiosity may refer to the progress of the story, but also to the action possibilities that players can try out ( What will happen if I do this? ). During movie consumption, curiosity may also refer to artistic or formal issues rather than the faith of the characters (e.g., How will the director visualize this? ). Because various genres of media entertainment build on curiosity so frequently, it is likely that curiosity is pleasant in itself and thus contributes to overall appreciation. Several theorists argue for a psychophysiological base of the pleasantness of curiosity [5] [6]. When curiosity occurs, users (viewers, players etc.) first perceive a state of uncertainty, which comes along with increased physiological activation. To the extent that this uncertainty is not too strong, most users seem to enjoy such (temporary) activation [5]. When uncertainty is reduced (e.g., readers turn the page and find out what actually happens next), users experience a sense of closure or completion, which renders the increased physiological activation a positive, pleasant experience. If the state of curiosity is followed by a surprise (i.e., something unexpected happens), these affective user responses often turn into exhilaration [7]. Entertainment media that generate circles of increased curiosity and resolved curiosity thus create a chain of pleasant affective dynamics. Such curiosity experiences are important for many interactive storytelling systems [8]. Users can be curious about multiple dimensions, including pre-scripted story progress ( What will happen next? ), interactive story progress ( What will happen if I decide

3 this way? ), system response ( How will this agent respond if I start cursing? ) or technological capacity of the system ( How will the system visualize my view into this tunnel? ). Because interactive storytelling systems unite elements from diverse conventional media, they may combine different mechanisms of curiosity, which should result in a high frequency and intensity of curiosity-based affective dynamics. 2.2 Suspense Will they survive? For some types of entertainment media, this question occurs in users very frequently, such as in thriller novels, action movies, and shooter games. Because users are left in a state of uncertainty, the related user experience is similar to the (rather pleasant) curiosity process. However, the experiential state typically referred to as suspense is also fueled by aversive emotional components, such as anxiety or empathic concern (e.g., a viewer fearing the defeat of a movie protagonist) [9]. Suspense thus differs from curiosity in the sense that users experiencing suspense have a strong interest in a specific outcome of a story episode, such as My character must win the fight. In contrast to curiosity, suspense is rooted in emotional involvement with characters. This emotional interest makes users long for specific outcomes and generates the concern that these specific outcomes may not occur. Therefore, suspense is a rather stressful mode of entertainment. However, if the desired outcomes occur, strong experiences of relief and satisfaction occur in most cases ( happy end ; [6]). Research in media psychology suggests that both the aversive stage of suspense and the rewarding relief contribute to user enjoyment (e.g., [9]). Suspense has been found to occur both in linear entertainment such as novels and in interactive media such as video games [10]. Therefore, interactive storytelling systems are likely to facilitate suspense as well. More precisely, interactive storytelling applications can establish emotional involvement with characters and situations [11], and they may simultaneously generate a perception of personal challenge in users. For example, an interactive crime drama may situate the user in the role of a police detective who is facing the climax confrontation with the villain. At this moment, suspense should be high for narrative reasons (as stakes are high in terms of plot development) and for interactivity reasons (as the user must make the right decisions to succeed in the confrontation). Therefore, interactive storytelling systems may also generate unique user experiences because they may facilitate high levels of cyclic suspense and relief experiences. 2.3 Aesthetic pleasantness Beautiful! is another typical user response to different content elements in conventional entertainment media. Such positive evaluations may relate to the physical appearance of characters, landscape imagery, or romantic episodes, for instance; they may also relate to attributes that constitute a media application as a piece of art. For example, movie experts may find the cinematic implementation of a special scene beautiful. In Oatley s [12] terms, aesthetic pleasantness may thus

4 occur in users entering the world of the story and in users who remain outside of the story (and rather analyze it as a piece of art). Aesthetic enjoyment has been found to depend on individual preconditions, such as expertise and absorption tendencies [13]. Given the importance of aesthetics in conventional entertainment [14], it is likely that interactive storytelling systems can have profound aesthetic impact on their users. The quality of this aesthetic experience may differ across applications: Some prototypes may facilitate affective responses through beautiful imagery (e.g., digital landscapes). Other applications may address users aesthetic perception with creative plot development, character attributes, dialogue evolution, or puzzle tasks (e.g., as in the Myst video games). Aesthetic pleasantness shares physiological roots with curiosity and suspense ([5]), yet it is shaped to a stronger degree by individual factors (biography, sense of taste, social status) and is not necessarily bound to uncertainty reduction. In many cases, aesthetic appreciation is linked to users recognizing citations (e.g., a melody from a famous old movie being cited in a contemporary movie). Consequently, there are many routes that interactive storytelling systems may take to generate aesthetic pleasantness in their users. Especially interactivity and sensory immersion may add to this capacity [1]. 2.4 Self-enhancement We are great! Entertainment media of various kinds have been shown to affect users self-perception and self-worth. Video games have been argued to increase players self-esteem by providing experiences of success [15] and reward [16]. Another mode of video games affecting player self-perception is identification [17]: Identifying with a game character allows to feel like somebody one desires to be, such as a hero, a rock musician, or a powerful decision maker. Fulfilling desires of being like one wants to be generates positive emotions, and this response of reduced selfdiscrepancy has been linked to video game enjoyment. To the extent that interactive storytelling systems facilitate identification with characters and/or provide experiences of competence and success, they are also likely to lift users self-esteem. The sense of active participation is a plausible mechanism that renders users self-enhancement an important dimension of the user experience in interactive storytelling: Because users are directly involved (or at least believe to be directly involved) in what happens in the story, they can attribute positive events to themselves (e.g., they make the hero save the world, [2]). Interactivity thus opens the pathway to users self-enhancement. If users leave an interactive story with the impression I have achieved something great!, their experience rests on competence and success. 2.5 Optimal task engagement ( Flow ) Don t disturb me! many video game players can be found strongly engaged in their activity and trying to block out any external input that could distract them. Such players are commonly described as being in the state of flow [18]. Users in the state

5 of flow find themselves resolving a sequence of tasks that is exactly as difficult as they can handle if they work with full dedication, and this experiential state (in the middle between boredom and anxiety) is found highly pleasant in many situations. Participating in an interactive story by making decisions and pushing a plot line forward can be construed as a task-type of activity, especially since most interactive storytelling applications set rules and limits to what users can decide on and do. Shaping a storyline while complying to such limitations may feel like resolving tasks just as playing adventure games requires users to solve puzzles to move the story forward. If the timing and difficulty of users participation in the development of the story is right, users may get lost in the activity of giving input, or, more generally speaking, in co-narrating the story. Flow (or similar concepts such as immersion) may thus turn out as an experiential dimension important to users of sophisticated wellstructured interactive storytelling systems that provide reasonable challenges and defined tasks to their audience [2] [3]. 3 Conclusions and research outlook The synopsis of potentially relevant theoretical accounts has revealed a broad range of experiential qualities that interactive storytelling can facilitate. Our approach that is based on entertainment theory converges nicely with the existing case studies on user responses in interactive storytelling that found qualitative evidence for diverse experiential dimensions [2] [3]. The reviewed concepts may turn out useful in further theorizing of what the envisioned synthesis of interactive user agency and (prestructured) narrative actually could mean (e.g. [1]). It seems already clear that user appreciation of interactive storytelling systems is a multi-level phenomenon: Users are likely to respond to story content (e.g., characters, events), artistic features (e.g., cinematographic aesthetics) and technological features (e.g., curiosity when trying out the interface) alike, either simultaneously or sequentially, which will result in a complex, multifactor explication of what users experience when they engage in an interactive storytelling system. Expert interviews and experiments with prototype systems for interactive storytelling are now needed to find out whether all of the reviewed five conceptual approaches are relevant and whether there are additional sources of user experience that should be elaborated on the way to a more elaborate model. This way, an advanced theoretical understanding of interactive storytelling from a user perspective will emerge that can support system designers in planning and optimizing their applications and system evaluators in comparing different systems. Standardized measures such as self-report scales should be developed (or adapted from entertainment studies) and tested in order to provide the methodological tools required for assessing the impact of (future) interactive storytelling systems on their users. For this endeavor, social-scientific research must be linked to technological work on prototypes. The present paper marks an attempt to build such disciplinary bridges and provide insight into the social science of media entertainment as a new starting point for user-centered research on interactive storytelling.

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