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Agency informing techniques in interactive narratives
Thesis   Open access

Agency informing techniques in interactive narratives

Timothy J. Day
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Sep 2018
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/D8FM2D
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Abstract

Digital media Video games Autonomy (Psychology) Interactive multimedia--Design Interactive multimedia--Technique Computer Science
Within interactive narrative research, agency is commonly focused on the player's autonomy within a game. However agency can be divided into two central components. A player's autonomy, defined as theoretical agency, is the first component. Agency also covers the feeling of satisfaction from seeing the results an action; this is known as perceived agency. Currently, researchers frequently investigate methods for increasing theoretical agency as the primary method of increasing perceived agency. Yet games often employ many techniques that affect perceived agency without affecting theoretical agency. We define such a technique as an Agency Informing Technique (AIT). Our research presents a taxonomy of AITs based on contemporary narrative games and perceived agency related research. This taxonomy allows for better understanding of how game mechanics affect a player's perceived agency over time. We use this taxonomy to investigate a new experimental interactive narrative that shows how AITs can be used when designing a narrative. This experimental game focuses on informing players of possible future outcomes while they are making a decision. We find that our taxonomy of AITs can help explain how players can understand potential future outcomes in an interactive narrative when combined with strong environmental and narrative cues.

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