True story: dynamically generated, contextually linked quests in persistent systems

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) typically use a handful of static conventions for involving players in stories, such as predefined quest or story paths (a quest or story path is one in which the user experiences a sequence of related quests that must be accomplished in a particular order). Beyond the work done in MMORPGs there has been strong research in designing adaptive approaches to interactive fiction/drama that dynamically author content for users of the interactions [10] [18]. The system architecture presented in this paper, TRUE STORY, is designed to address issues concerning dynamically generated quest or story paths in persistent worlds, such as MMORPGs, for users to engage in more enhanced, interactive and personal experiences. TRUE STORY empowers persistent world designers by offering a truly modular approach for dynamically generating and presenting compelling content that results in user experiences worth telling a story about. The current implementation is set in a game model to demonstrate a dynamic quest generation system built to present users with unique and compelling experiences linked by context to past quests and/or experiences. This is achieved by utilizing history and relationships developed through interaction between world objects and actions.

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