Coercive Narratives, Motivation and Role Playing in Virtual Worlds

Abstract : The leap from a constrained linear story line to a complete world where participants have free will is substantial with many associated possibilities and questions. The concept of interactive narrative has been explored for the past twenty years yet we seem no closer to formulating a cohesive grammar for such works. Open-ended virtual worlds are the most challenging of the new media in this respect Can constrained authorship and free-will experience coexist? How does personal motivation fit in with the story and the role that participants are expected to fill? At the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), I am exploring design techniques to create worlds that take advantage of expectations interest and natural world interactions to help structure a "narrative" both within and after participation in an open-ended Virtual Environment (VE). I intend to take advantage of a participants natural tendency to prefer interaction when possible resulting in worlds that form their meaning out of intention and interaction - of the author as well as the participant - in a mutual form of authorship I hope this work will expand the potential of experience within virtual worlds.