Interactive Storytelling : 15th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2022, Santa Cruz, CA, USA, December 4–7, 2022, Proceedings

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2022, held in Santa Cruz, CA, USA, in December 2022. The 30 full papers and 10 short papers, presented together with 17 posters and demos, were carefully reviewed and selected from 79 submissions. Preface ARDIN, The Association for Research in Interactive Digital Narratives Organization Contents Applications and Case Studies Using Storytelling to Teach Children Biodiversity 1 Introduction 2 Technological Approaches to Biodiversity Education 3 Goal and Hypotheses 4 Research Methods 4.1 Sample 4.2 Procedure 4.3 Application 4.4 Tailor Information and Species Replay 4.5 Measures 5 Data Analysis 6 Results 6.1 H1 - Storytelling 6.2 H2 - Agent Embodiment 6.3 H3 - Biodiversity Familiarity 6.4 H4 - Previous Experience 6.5 Pre and Post-questionnaires 6.6 Children's Assessment of the Virtual Agent (Robot and Narrator) 6.7 Correlations 7 Discussion 8 Conclusion References Button Portraits: Embodying Queer History with Interactive Wearable Artifacts 1 Introduction 2 Related Work 2.1 Tangible Narrative and Embodiment 2.2 Historical Artifacts and Tangible Narrative 2.3 Queer Interactive Narrative and Archives 3 Methods 3.1 Design Research Methods 3.2 Queer Methods 4 Narrative and Artifact Design 4.1 Engaging the Archive 4.2 The Artifacts and Oral Histories 4.3 Designing the Experience 5 Discussion and Implications: Queering Tangible Narrative 5.1 Beyond Narrative Binaries 5.2 Beyond Narrative: Queering, Contextualizing, and Embodying the Experience 5.3 Queer Methods for Queer Archives 5.4 Limitations and Future Work 6 Conclusion References Interactive Digital Storytelling in Cultural Heritage: The Transformative Role of Agency 1 Introduction 2 Background 2.1 Interactivity and Agency 2.2 Evaluating IDN Experiences 2.3 Agency and Transformative Learning 3 Research Objectives and Method 3.1 Research Questions and Study Design 3.2 Questionnaire 3.3 The IDN Experience 3.4 Participants 4 Analysis and Results 4.1 RQ1: IDN and Visitor Experience 4.2 RQ2: The Effect of User Perceived Agency on Immersion and Transformation 5 Discussion and Conclusions References Interactive Cartographic Storytelling with Complex Spatio-Temporal Structures and Social Connections 1 Introduction 2 Related Work 3 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre and Its Legacy 4 Interactive Narrative Design 4.1 Google Earth 4.2 Locations 4.3 Time 4.4 Characters and Their Legacies 5 Conclusion and Future Work References Carambola: Enforcing Relationships Between Values in Value-Sensitive Agent Design 1 Introduction 2 Theoretical Background 3 Related Work 4 Game Design 4.1 Action Design 4.2 Advisor Design 5 Future Work 5.1 Evaluation of the Character Model 5.2 Extending the Character Model 5.3 Refining the User Interface References A Demonstration of Loose Ends, A Mixed-Initiative Narrative Instrument 1 Introduction 2 System Description 2.1 Storytelling Goals Tracker 2.2 Action Suggestion Generator 3 Interaction Examples 4 Conclusion References Social and Cultural Contexts Teaching Literary Interactive Digital Narratives in Secondary Education: A French Study 1 Theoretical Background 1.1 The Stakes Involved in the Teaching of Digital Literature 1.2 Digital Literature 1.3 Teaching Digital Works: The State of the Art 1.4 Introducing a New Object for Study into the Classroom: Defining a Pedagogical Process 2 Presentation of Our Research 2.1 A Design-Oriented Research Group 2.2 Presentation of the Sequences: Works Selected and Levels 2.3 Presentation of Data and Research Questions 3 Analysis 3.1 The Introduction of Digital Works 3.2 What is Taught Through the Reading of Digital Works? 3.3 Text Analysis: Questions Around the Choice of Pedagogical Methods and Progressivity in Pupils’ Appropriation of the Text 3.4 The Writing Practices Developed in the Sequences References Communication Features Facilitating Appreciation of Cultural Heritage Values for IDN 1 Introduction 2 Importance of Values in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Communication 3 Analysis of Case Studies 4 Identifying the Communication Features Facilitating Appreciation of CH Values 5 Conclusion References Writing with (Digital) Scissors: Designing a Text Editing Tool for Assisted Storytelling Using Crowd-Generated Content 1 Introduction 2 Related Work 3 Co-design Workshop on Assisted Storytelling 3.1 Method 3.2 Participants 3.3 Analysis 4 Diffractive Reflections on the Participants Storytelling Process 4.1 Participant 1 (P1) 4.2 Participant 2 (P2) 4.3 Participant 3 (P3) 4.4 Participant 4 (P4) 4.5 Participant 5 (P5) 4.6 Findings 5 Design and Implementation 6 Conclusion and Future Work References Planner Systems for Historical Justice? A Case Study of a People’s History of Lebanon 1 Historical Justice in Digital Media Projects 2 Early Influential Projects 3 We Are History: A People’s History of Lebanon 3.1 Description 3.2 Context of Conversations About History in Lebanon 3.3 Description of Planner System 3.4 Discussion of Planner System in Relation to Historical Justice 4 A Theory of Dialogue Aesthetics 5 Conclusion References Embodied Locative Storytelling of African American Histories 1 Introduction 1.1 Problem Area: History of the Site 1.2 Related Work 1.3 Approach 1.4 Cultural Probe 2 Oakland Project Design 2.1 Locative Narrative Design 2.2 Designing the Dress 2.3 Designing the Props and Narrative Integration 3 Evaluation 3.1 Study Design 3.2 Study Results 3.3 Discussion 4 Outlook References Towards a Decolonial Framework for IDN 1 Introduction 2 Decolonial Thinking Workshop 3 Applying Decolonial Thinking in IDN Design: Use Cases 3.1 Case 1. Living Colors: A Game About Afro-Identity 3.2 Case 2. When the Rivers Were Trails 3.3 Case 3. Holy Fire 4 Towards a Decolonial Framework 4.1 Researchers Positionality/Self Disclosure Statement 5 Conclusion References Applying Black Feminist Technopractice in Digital Storytelling at Cultural Sites 1 Introduction 2 Black Feminist Technopractice 3 Historic Research 4 Agency 4.1 Cultural Shifts Impact on Agency 5 Conclusion References Interactive Narrative Design Dramatic Situations for Emergent Narrative System Authorship 1 Authoring Heuristics for Emergent Narrative Systems 2 Dramatic Situations for Emergent Narrative 2.1 Sequence-Independent/Sequence-Productive 2.2 Character-Independent/Character-Productive 2.3 Tellable and Eventful 3 Implementation and Documentation Methodology 4 Emergent Stories 4.1 Valentel Lanuit, Rowdy Drunkard and Master Manipulator 4.2 Ocith Leverre, Who Could not Live up to His MOTHEr’s Reputation 4.3 Noëlalis Froidmerde, She Who Lives by the Sword... 5 Discussion 6 Conclusion References “It’s Fun not to Know”: The Role of Uncertainty in Text-Based Online Collaborative Storytelling 1 Introduction 2 Related Work 2.1 Improvisation and Coordination 2.2 Computer-Mediated Collaborative Storytelling 3 Research Problem 4 Method 4.1 Materials 4.2 Protocol 4.3 Data Collection and Analysis 5 Results 5.1 Implicit Coordination Without the Backchannel 5.2 Use of the Backchannel for Coordination 5.3 Varying Degrees of Cognitive Consensus 6 Discussion 7 Conclusion References What Inspires Retellings - A Study of the Game Genshin Impact 1 Introduction 2 Background 2.1 Retellings and Fandom 2.2 Fanwork Popularity Across Different Games 2.3 Genshin Impact 3 The Study 3.1 The Questionnaire 3.2 Results from Questionnaire 3.3 The Interviews 3.4 Ethical Aspects 3.5 Making Sense of What Was Said in the Interviews 4 Discussion 5 Conclusion References Supporting Spatial Thinking in Augmented Reality Narrative: A Field Study 1 Introduction 2 Background 2.1 Spatial Analysis 2.2 Locative Media Tools 2.3 Spatial Analysis and AR/VR 3 Story CreatAR Workflow and Features 3.1 Workflow 3.2 Features 4 Methodology 4.1 Population 4.2 Study Design 4.3 Data Collection and Analysis 5 Results 5.1 Events 5.2 Space and Placement 6 Discussion 6.1 Spatial Analysis Insights 6.2 Limitations 7 Conclusion References Select the Unexpected: A Statistical Heuristic for Story Sifting 1 Introduction 2 Background 2.1 Story Sifting 2.2 Toward Sifting Heuristics 3 Pattern-Based Story Sifting 4 Our Heuristic: Prefer Matches with Unusual Properties 5 Evaluation 5.1 Comparison with Random Baseline 5.2 Cherry-Picked Successes 5.3 Generalizing Arson-Revenge 6 Discussion 6.1 Considerations for Sifting Heuristic Design 6.2 Limitations and Future Work 7 Conclusion References An Investigation on the Usability of Socio-cultural Features for the Authoring Support During the Development of Interactive Discourse Environments (IDE) 1 Introduction 2 Related Work 2.1 Agency 2.2 Belief Systems 2.3 Discourse Psychology 2.4 Authoring and Tools 3 Approach 3.1 Prototype 3.2 Experiment Structure 4 Results 4.1 Participant Demographics 4.2 Data Analysis Methods 4.3 General Analysis 4.4 Political Analysis 4.5 Resource Media Type Analysis 4.6 Complexity Analysis 4.7 Qualitative Open-Ended Questions Analysis 4.8 Combination Analysis 5 Discussion 6 Conclusion and Future Work References When Information, Narrative, and Interactivity Join Forces: Designing and Co-designing Interactive Digital Narratives for Complex Issues 1 Introduction 2 State of the Art in IDNs for CIC 3 Designing IDNs for CIC 3.1 Design Elements of IDNs 3.2 In Search of a Design Methodology for IDNs for CIC 3.3 Terminology of the Proposed Design Methodology 3.4 Proposal of a Design Methodology for IDNs for CIC 3.5 Application Example of the Design Methodology 4 Co-designing Balanced IDNs for CIC 4.1 Problems with Current IDNs for CIC and Their Solution 4.2 Co-designing Through the Complex Systems Perspective 4.3 Adjusting the Design Methodology to Facilitate Co-design 4.4 Proposal of a Co-design Methodology for Balanced IDNs for CIC 4.5 Application Example of the Co-design Methodology 4.6 Co-design Workflows and Roles of the Actors 5 Discussion References The Future of the World: From Scientific Account to Interactive Storytelling 1 Introduction 2 The Scientific Account of the Future of the World 3 Shared Socio-economic Pathways, Terminology and Degree of Narrativity 3.1 Terminological Considerations 3.2 The Degree of Narrativity of the SSPs 4 Telling the Future, What Difficulties, What Implications? 5 From Multiple Scenarios to Interactive Storytelling 6 Filling the Gaps 7 Conclusion References Intersubjective Pivots in Interactive Digital Narrative Design Learning 1 Introduction 1.1 On Intersubjectivity 2 Research Questions and Methodology 2.1 Data Collection and Database 2.2 The Authoring-Other Exchange Workshop 2.3 Participants 2.4 Database 3 Measures and Analyses 3.1 Player Experience Reflection Analysis 3.2 IDN Literary Analysis 3.3 IDN Tree Structure Complexity 3.4 Statistical Analyses 4 Results 4.1 The Typology of Player Reflections 5 IDN Design Analysis 5.1 Relationships Between IDN Literary Analysis and the TCM 5.2 Relationships Between Player Reflections and the TCM 5.3 Relationship Between Player Reflections and IDN Elements 6 Discussion and Implications References Integrating Brechtian Concepts in the Design of a Tangible Narrative: The Case of “The Non-myth of the Noble Red” 1 Introduction 2 Epic Theatre and Its Implications for Interactive Narratives 3 The Non-myth of the Noble Red 3.1 Epic Theatre and The Non-myth of The Noble Red 3.2 Artefact and Narrative in the Non-myth of the Noble Red 4 Discussion 5 Conclusions References Exploring Classical Music Narratives Through Multimodality in AR/VR Experiences 1 Introduction 2 Related Work: Dramatic Progression in Holst’s the Planets 3 Experiment #1: Mood Evocation in Brahms’ Intermezzo 4 Experiment #2: Archetypes in Scriabin’s Sonata 5 Conclusions and Future Work References Interactive Storytelling and the Paradox of Democracy 1 Introduction 2 Interaction and Democratic Surrounds 3 Are Social Media Democratic? 4 Is Interactive Digital Narrative Democratic? 5 Institutions of Democracy and the Paradox of System Design 6 Design Challenge: Agency with Accountability 7 Conclusions References RichCast - A Voice-Driven Interactive Digital Narrative Authoring System 1 Introduction and Background 2 RichCast 2.1 Conversational Storytelling 2.2 `Effortless' IDN Authoring 3 Conclusion References Theory, History and Foundations When You Hear the Chime: Movable Books and the Dramaturgical Functions of Sound in Mixed Reality Interactive Narrative Design 1 Introduction 2 A History of Intermedial Storytelling with Sound 2.1 Synthetic Sound and Automation 2.2 Recorded Sound 2.3 Computational Fusion: Synthesized and Recorded Sound Together 3 The Sounds of Simmer: Entangled Audio Affect 3.1 Resisting Presence Through Affective Audio Design 3.2 Complex Codex Forms and Digital Interfaces 3.3 Dollhouse: Drawing Connections and Domestic Redistribution 3.4 Confessional Monologues 3.5 Historical Intermediality and Transformative Change 4 Conclusions References Approaches Towards Novel Phenomena. a Reflection on Issues in IDN Research, Teaching and Practice 1 Introduction 2 Approaches Toward Novel Phenomena 2.1 Limitations of Existing Approaches 2.2 Aspects of the Scholarly Profession 3 Further Examples of Problematic Approaches 3.1 Static Representations of Dynamic Artifacts 3.2 Evaluation Methods for Non-interactive Forms 3.3 The Limits of Mechanical Thinking in Design 4 Measures for Improvement 4.1 Encourage Meta-Level Scholarly Work 4.2 Iterating on Theory and Method 4.3 Education for Critical Thinking, Not Assimilation 4.4 Multi-method Analysis 4.5 Dynamic Representations and Analyses 5 Conclusion References Constructing a Catbox: Story Volume Poetics in Umineko no Naku Koro ni 1 Introduction 2 Related Works 3 What is Umineko no Naku Koro ni? 4 How Does Umineko Illuminate Story Volume Poetics? 4.1 A Diegetic Story Volume 4.2 The Cat Box and the Game Board 4.3 Probability and the Shape of the Story Volume 4.4 Logical Quantifiers 4.5 Storygameness and Story Volumes 4.6 PCG Poetics 4.7 Theatricality 5 Summing It All Up: The Heart of the Story Volume 6 Conclusion References Narrative Mode of the Third Kind 1 Drawing the Line 2 Interactive Narrative as Life-Bringing 3 Representational Issues in the Demiurgic Mode 4 Historical Perspective as Conclusion References Tools and Systems Locative Authoring: Evaluating the StoryPlaces Authoring Tool 1 Introduction 2 Background 2.1 Locative Narrative and IDN Authoring Tool Research 2.2 GREEN’s Principles 3 Methodology 4 Analysis and Findings 4.1 The StoryPlaces User Experience 4.2 The Impact of Patterns on the User Experience 4.3 The Storyplaces User Experience Against Green’s Principles 5 Conclusion References Adventures in TwineSpace: An Augmented Reality Story Format for Twine 1 Introduction 1.1 Augmented Reality for Casual Creators 2 Building Interactive Digital Narratives in AR 2.1 Twine and the Geolocation API 2.2 The Argon Browser 2.3 A-Frame and Twine 2.4 Proprietary Solutions 3 TwineSpace Overview 3.1 Macros 3.2 Embedding Passages 4 Re-imagining Casual AR with TwineSpace 4.1 User Cases 4.2 Technical Limitations 4.3 Built on Open Source 4.4 Making New Space for Casual Augmented Reality Storytelling 5 Conclusion References Resources for Comparative Analysis of IDN Authoring Tools 1 Introduction 2 Reflection on Authoring Tools Research 2.1 History and Past Work 2.2 Shortage of Meta Analysis 3 Aim, Perspective and Definitions 3.1 Aim and Perspective 3.2 Defining Authoring Tools 4 Descriptive Framework 4.1 Methodology and Process 4.2 Descriptor Listing and Clusters 4.3 Descriptor Values 5 Online Resource and Proof of Concept Meta-Analysis 6 Conclusion and Future Plans References Computational Support for Trope Analysis of Textual Narratives 1 Introduction 1.1 Tropes in Media Studies 1.2 Tropes in Interactive Narrative Research 2 Dataset Introduction and Analysis Framework 2.1 Data Sources 2.2 Data Preparation 2.3 Feature Extraction 3 Experiments 3.1 Trope Prediction Entire Script 3.2 Trope Prediction with Progressive Dialog Sequence 4 Limitations and Threats to Validity 5 Conclusion References Bronco: A Universal Authoring Language for Controllable Text Generation 1 Introduction 2 Literature Review and Background 2.1 Baseline Formalism: Context Free Grammars 2.2 Grammar-Based Procedural Text Generators 2.3 Problem Statement: The Motivation for Bronco 3 Bronco 3.1 Design Considerations and Qualitative Rationale 3.2 A Formal View of Bronco 3.3 Authoring in Bronco 4 Assessment 4.1 Expressiveness 5 Future Work 6 Conclusion References Exploring the Design Space of Social Physics Engines in Games 1 Introduction 2 Related Work 3 Drawing Inspiration from Physics Engines 4 Sampling Social Simulation Projects 5 The Design Space 6 Characters and Relationships 6.1 Characters 6.2 Relationships 7 Social Dynamics 8 Social Interaction 8.1 Models from Sociology and Social Psychology 8.2 Designer-Constructed Models of Desired Experience 8.3 Action Selection 9 Discussion 9.1 Limitations of the ``physics Engine" Analogy 9.2 Accounting for Time and Space 9.3 Comparing Social Physics Engines 9.4 Feasibility and Challenges of Implementing Systems in Practical Settings 10 Conclusion References Twine Screen Reader: A Browser Extension for Improving the Accessibility of Twine Stories for People with Visual Impairments 1 Introduction 2 Background 2.1 Screen Readers 2.2 Twine Games and Accessibility 3 Screen Reader Design and Implementation 3.1 Screen Reader Performance on Twine Games 3.2 Interactive Fiction Accessibility Guidelines 3.3 Screen Reader Design and Implementation 4 User Evaluation 4.1 Evaluation of Screen Reader Clarity 4.2 Evaluation of the IF Screen Reader Experience 5 Discussion and Future Work 6 Conclusion References Storygraphia: The Constrained Tool for IDN Authoring Education 1 Introduction 2 The Editor Storygraphia 2.1 The Graph Structure 2.2 Engine Constraints 2.3 Interface and Functioning 3 Testing the Editor in an Interactive Storytelling Course 4 Related Tools 5 Conclusions References Virtual Worlds, Performance, Games and Play Identification and IDNs in the Metaverse: Who Would We Like to Be? 1 Introduction 2 Background 2.1 Identity and Narrative Identity 2.2 Identification 2.3 Identity Shift 2.4 Identification in VR 3 Conceptual Model 4 Case Studies 5 Guidelines 6 Conclusion References The Impacts of Design Elements in Interactive Storytelling in VR on Emotion, Mood, and Self-reflection 1 Introduction 2 Affect and Storytelling 2.1 Emotional Responses in Immersive Environments 2.2 Physiological Connection and Presence 2.3 Compassion Based Interventions 2.4 Using Music, Colour, Shape and Light in Design to Affect 3 The Journey and Evaluation 3.1 The Virtual Reality Experience 3.2 Measurements Protocol 4 Results and Discussion 4.1 Experiment 4.2 Results 5 Conclusion References Myth, Diegesis and Storytelling in Perennial Games 1 Related Work 1.1 Mythology 1.2 Myth in Games 2 The Layers of Myth in Perennial Games 3 How Myth Helps Perennial Games 3.1 The Author/Player Split 3.2 Why We Play 3.3 Real-not-real 3.4 Repetition 4 Conclusion References Bringing Stories to Life in 1001 Nights: A Co-creative Text Adventure Game Using a Story Generation Model 1 Introduction 2 Related Work 2.1 Natural Language Processing 2.2 Game Interactions Using NLP 2.3 Natural Language Generation in Stories 2.4 Dynamic Feedback Beyond Text 3 Game Design 3.1 Game Art 3.2 Battle System 3.3 AI Development 4 Evaluation Study 4.1 Experimental Setup 4.2 Opening and Tutorial 5 Results and Findings 5.1 Analysis 5.2 Comments from Winners 6 Discussion 7 Limitations 8 Conclusion and Future Work References A New Research Agenda: Writing for Virtual Reality Interactive Narratives 1 Introduction 1.1 Building upon Cinematic and Linear Virtual Reality 1.2 The Systems-Process-Product Model as a Research Agenda Framework 2 Insights and Challenges 2.1 Scripting the Body 2.2 Embodiment and Movement 2.3 Acknowledgement 2.4 Guiding the Interactor’s Gaze 2.5 Environmental Storytelling 3 The Research Agenda 3.1 The Systems-Process-Product Model References Visionary Virtual Worlds 1 Introduction 2 The Semiotics of Digital Games Architecture 3 NaissanceE 4 Visionary Architecture 4.1 Giovanni Battista Piranesi 4.2 Étienne-Louis Boullée 4.3 Blame! 5 NaissanceE’s Narrative Design 6 Conclusions References Build Your World – Meaningful Choices in a Hybrid Stage Play 1 Introduction 2 Related Work 3 ALIENATION 3.1 Audience Interaction 3.2 Development 4 Conclusion References Author Index