Improvisation and Performance as Models for Interacting with Stories

摘要

One common metaphor for Interactive Storytelling has been the notion of Interactive Dramas, in which players assume the first-person role of the main character in a digitally mediated narrative. In this paper we explore the model of improvisation as a means of understanding the relationship between the author/designer and the reader/player of such narratives. This model allows for a new formulation of the notion of agency, by shifting the concept of the reader from a player-centric model to a performer-centric model. We also show how we can conceive of interactions between performers and authors as being governed by the same rules that are in play between multiple performers in a piece of improvisational theatre. We connect this idea to a phenomenological theory of human computer interaction and cognition which foregrounds the role of communication and commitment between interactors.