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Summary Interactive Storytelling
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Summary of all the classes of Interactive Storytelling
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Interactive storytellingLecture 1: defining storytelling and narratives.
Storyworld: includes all the props, characters, scenes, and events set up by the designer for
the interactor.
Props are inanimate objects which can be used in the storyworld.
Events cause change launched by fulfilling some criteria.
Characters combine props and events: they are both objects and agents of change.
Scenes are the surroundings which affects the props and characters inhabit.
Events have three functions in a story: they can set a scene, reveal a character, or be a part
of the plot. If the event is dramatically significant, we call it a plot event. This means
that the event creates or releases the dramatic tension and that it is related (causally or by
subject matter) to the other experienced events. The plot is advancing when the interactor
is experiencing more plot events. The plot is stalled when this process ceases. If the
interactor deliberately stalls the plot, we call this obstruction.
A plot line is the manifestation of the plot. If the plot is predefined by the designer, we call
this a predefined plot. If the story can be different in each play, we call this a manifold story.
Interaction: a cyclic process between two or more agents in which each agent alternatively
listens, speaks, and thinks. I.o. the user’s ability to interact with any software.
The interactive range (or freedom) of a software – such as an interactive storytelling system
– is the collection of choices made available to the user.
Interactivity should not be confused with agency: the agent’s ability to influence the system.
Crawford lists three factors that affect the degree of interactivity:
1. Speed: the faster the turnaround, the better the possibilities for interaction. Faster
turnaround means that the communicating parties can react faster and see the result of
their action faster (e.g., instant messaging has a faster turnaround than sending a letter).
2. Depth: the human-likeness of the interaction. The deeper, the more humanlike. This
refers to a higher level of social reasoning: the ability to draw inferences about someone’s
intentions, dispositions, and actions (e.g., be able to see what the mood of someone is). It’s
the ultimate goal but really hard to program.
3. Choice: is twofold. Firstly, it’s about how well the choices satisfy the user’s wants and
desires. Secondly, it refers to the number of choices the interactor can imagine (perceived
completeness). That doesn’t mean more is always better, it depends on the context. This
also refers to agency: the ability to take meaningful action.
Historical context
Aristotle’s poetica: recognizes 6 elements of tragedy.
1. Plot: describes the incidents of the tragedy and their order: it comprehends the
whole action being represented. The plot is a coherent and causal construction. If one
incident is removed or replaced in order, the unity of the whole work changes. If it doesn’t
change, the incident is not an integral part of the whole and should be discarded.
2. Character: the moral choices the character makes, which get revealed in the
character’s actions.
, 3. Thought: the character’s reasoning or rationality.
4. Language: the selection and arrangement of words and the use of language.
5. Melody: relates to the language, rhythm, and melody of speech.
6. Spectacle: comprehends the whole appearance (costumes, props, etc.)
He also describes two narrative forms: epic and dramatic.
Epic: events are represented through verbal narration (diegesis). The story focuses
on the exploits of a solitary hero and the story can be endlessly expanded.
Dramatic: the events are represented through the imitation of action (mimesis). The
focus is on evolving human relations. Events follow the structure of the dramatic arc. It has a
clear beginning/middle/end.
Epistemic form: not recognized by Aristotle. The story resembles detective stories:
events that took place in the past and investigation that leads to their discovery. This kind of
story is driven by the desire to know.
For Aristotle change is an elemental part of any tragedy. It’s the difference between the
initial situation and the outcome. Within this framework, the plot can change due to
recognition and reversal.
- recognition: a change from not-knowing to knowing.
- reversal: a turning-point in the plot.
Gustav Freytag elaborates on this dramatic structure. This structure consists of 5 elements:
initial situation, rise, climax, fall, and catastrophe. After the initial situation Freytag explains
there is an exciting force that leads to the rise. This force is necessary in Freytag’s opinion.
Between the climax and the fall there is usually a counteraction (or tragic force) and
between the fall and catastrophe there is a final suspense (or force of the final suspense).
The latter two are optional according to Freytag.
, Exposition < inciting incident < rising action < crisis < climax > falling action > denouement
(the end, everything is okay).
Vladimir Propp’s morphology
Russian formalism divides the story into three layers:
1. Fabula: logically and chronologically related series of events caused or experienced by the
characters in the storyworld.
2. Sjuzet: the finished arrangement (the plot) of the narrated events as they are presented
to the reader.
3. Media/text: the surface of the story expressed in language signs.
Propp also lists the following character roles:
Villain: who struggles against the hero. Has to be defeated by the hero.
Donor: prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object. Someone who is a helper,
but also gives the hero something that he can use to make a success of his mission. Giving
advice/objects to help.
Helper: helps the hero in his/her quest/defeat.
Princess: who gives the task to the hero and is often sought for during the narration. Not
really in the spotlight, someone who needs saving/rescue. Doesn’t need to be a real
princess. Could also be a boy who needs help or is really ill and needs a cure.
Dispatcher: who makes the lack known and sends the hero off. Someone who sends the
hero on his/her mission.
Hero: who departs on a search, meets the donor, and returns home. key person that the
whole story revolves around. Needs to defeat the evil.
False hero: someone who takes credit for the hero’s actions. someone who seems to be on
the good side but turns out the be a helper of the villain.
Seymour Chatman separates narrative content into two groups:
1. Kernels: the essential content of the story that is repeated when it is experienced again.
The kernels form the identity of the story: if we change a kernel, we destroy the narrative
logic of the story and end up with a completely different story.
2. Satellites: content that could be omitted or altered without changing the identity of the
story.
For example, it wouldn’t matter if Cinderella has two or one stepsister or if she would do the
dishes instead of peeling potatoes. However, it would be a different story if not her father,
but her mother had remarried, and her father had died.
Joseph Campbell proposes the monomyth, which is the idea that all mythic narratives are
variations of a single great story. This story tells the journey of an archetypal hero shared by
world mythologies.
The journey has three phases of which the first one is initiated by a separation from the
world of childhood when an adventure calls the hero. The hero initially refuses to embark
but with the help of a mentor the hero finally leaves and faces the threshold of the known
and unknown world. The hero is unprepared for this unknown world and is caught ‘in the
belly of a whale’ marking the separation from the known world, which is when the second
phase starts. The second phase will take the hero through trials. The meeting with the
goddess tempts the hero and threatens the progress. After overcoming the goddess, the
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