Abstract. Creating believable agents with personality is a popular research area in game studies but academic research in this area usually focuses on one facet of personality -for example, only on moods or character traits. The present study proposes a motivational framework to predict goal-directed behaviour of virtual agents in a computer game and explores the opportunities of using personality inventories based on the same motivational framework to design virtual agents with personality. This article claims that motivation to reach a goal is influenced by psychological needs which are represented with an equation that determines the strength of a character's motivational force. The framework represented by this study takes into account psychological needs and their interrelations for analyzing choices of virtual agents in a computer game.

In this article, we define interactive storytelling as a gaming experience where the form and content of the game is customized in real time and tailored to the preferences and needs of the player to maximixe enjoyment. The primary focus of interactive storytelling should not be on the attributes of the technology or characteristics of the medium, such as the AI techniques, planning formalisms, story representations, etc. but on different interaction levels provided by computer games and basic components of player enjoyment such as difficulty levels and gaming rewards. In conducting an analysis of interactive storytelling systems, we propose a user-centered approach to interactive storytelling by defining different customization levels for an optimum gaming experience.

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The focus of interactive storytelling should not only be on the attributes of the technology or characteristics of the medium, such as the AI techniques, planning formalisms, story representations, etc. but also on the computer-mediated communication processes, such as the relatedness of transmitted messages with previous exchanges of information, the number of attributes to be manipulated by the player, or the level of player control on the messages. It is argued that an approach to maximize player enjoyment in a computer game is to customize/personalize the gaming experience and the associated computer-mediated communication processes. To this aim and to provide answers to “how” and “what” should be customized, the article first explores the problematic notions of interactivity and then frame the discussion in the context of interactive storytelling systems. Secondly, it analyses table-top role-playing games RPGs - the live counterpart of computerized interactive storytelling systems – in an attempt to find “what” to customize. In particular, it focuses on the Dungeon Master whose role in co-ordinating human-to-human communication process of interactive storytelling provides valuable insights into how to handle the human-to-machine/game communication process. Finally, the article proposes a framework to explain “how” to customize for maximum player enjoyment and optimal game experience within an interactive storytelling system.

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Virtual worlds are computer-based simulations intended to give its users the impression of being in another place. Presence, or the sense of "being there," is a major design requirement for virtual environments where users inhabit an artificial reality in the form of two or three-dimensional graphical representations. Promoting this subjective experience has always been one of the major concerns of designers, but this complex and difficult task requires the awareness of other design requirements and their effects on presence. This article aims to define various psychological and technological aspects of presence based on virtual environment design requirements defined by Stuart [2001].Previous research tried to define hypothesized factors of presence by using subjective user responses obtained from questionnaires. This study incorporates a different approach to define potential components of presence, specifying the individual design requirements for virtual worlds based on the conceptual framework designed by Stuart. This framework has not been applied to the analysis of the concept of presence before, and it defines possible factors that contribute to a sense of presence, some of which have not been included in previous work. In order to decompose presence into its components, researchers should also be aware of the design requirements delineated in this framework.Detailed analysis of design requirements will focus on a computer role-playing game (RPG), giving examples from one of the best titles in the genre. Since role-playing games are social and interactive worlds where players assume the role of a virtual character that can be subjectively defined as a second-self, they are highly relevant to presence research. Thus, selected design requirements will be discussed from a computer-gaming perspective by defining how each relevant requirement is addressed on the selected RPG, and how they should be addressed by game designers.

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