The Potential of Interactive Digital Narratives. Agency and Multiple Perspectives in Last Hijack Interactive

Enschot, Renske van; Boogaard, Iris; Koenitz, Hartmut; Roth, Christian

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-33894-7_17

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The agency in interactive narratives can affect both cognitive learning (Hammond et al, 2007;van Enschot et al, 2019;Zhou et al, 2020) and transformative learning (Murray, 2017;Roth, 2019). By facilitating agency in one shape or form, educational interactive narratives fall under the scope of active learning (Winskell et al, 2019).…”

Section: Agency and Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to help your depressed friend? The effects of interactive health narratives on cognitive and transformative learning

2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using narratives is an important communication strategy in mental health campaigns to empower readers to adequately help people suffering from depression. These narratives could be enhanced by giving readers agency to make choices on behalf of the main character that noticeably affect the narrative. Yet, few studies have explored the effects of these choices. This study investigated the effects of agency in an interactive digital narrative (IDN) about depression on cognitive and transformative learning. In two experimental, between-subjects design studies, the learning outcomes of a traditional (without agency) and interactive version (with agency) of a narrative about depression were compared. The mediating roles of identification, transportation and intrinsic motivation were also considered. In experiment 1 (N = 216), no effects of agency on cognitive learning, intrinsic motivation, identification or transportation were found. After better embedding learning content and increasing the choices' meaningfulness in the narrative of experiment 2 (N = 155), agency positively affected transformative learning but not cognitive learning. The effect on transformative learning was mediated by identification with the character. These results suggest that agency in educational narratives about depression increases identification with caretakers and reflection on how to approach people with depression sensibly. Implications of these results are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Agency and Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to help your depressed friend? The effects of interactive health narratives on cognitive and transformative learning

2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…five possible states, do not open up many choices: at most three, in a simple narrative with diverging branches (with no return to the other branches). 5 This limitation can certainly be overcome if we consider that the SSPs are only the tip of the iceberg: the data are very extensive, and refer to numerous scenarios developed by scientists. Moreover, these scenarios are derived from simulation models that can be used (in a simplified way) in the interactive narrative, to provide not discrete but continuous scenarios.…”

Section: Filling the Gapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We must however conclude this chapter by specifying that if interactivity can potentially improve the reception of SSPs in a significant way, some experiments [5,7] could not verify the hypotheses according to which it can greatly improve the comprehension of a given situation, the curiosity or the feeling of mastery, and thus of control, of the users. However, these same studies mention the fact that technical problems that occurred during the experimentation process, as well as excessive ergonomic or functional complexity, may have influenced the users in the same way as the interactivity of the tool that was the object of the experimentation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

The Future of the World: From Scientific Account to Interactive Storytelling

Varone

Szilas²

2022

Interactive Storytelling

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Starting from the observation that a cognitive distance prevents human beings from taking the measure of the current climate crisis and adopting adequate behaviors, this article asks the question to what extent a narrative approach could help to reduce it. First, it proposes a narratological analysis of some of the scenarios of the future of the world outlined by the scientific community, the Shared Socio-economic Pathways, which leads to the conclusion that, despite the terminology used in the associated commentaries, these scenarios have little narrative value. Continuing with a questioning of the difficulties and implications of the conception of a narrative about the future, it then shows how the approach of anticipation narratives, which consist in envisioning tomorrow on the basis of choices made today, naturally approaches that of interactive narrative. Finally, it argues that transforming the scientific scenario into a fully-fledged narrative cannot be done without adding fictional elements which, if they are coherent and plausible, can only enrich it and sharpen its didactic impact.

show abstract

“…However, currently, it is still not understood how to best use interactivity when the aim is to represent complexity. In regards to how informative a narrative is, previous research found that interactivity does not significantly improve objective learning in comparison to a non-interactive narrative (van Enschot et al, 2019). Therefore, it is of interest to understand how interactivity could be beneficial to the informational value of a narrative.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breaking immersion: A theoretical framework of alienated play to facilitate critical reflection on interactive media

Aeschbach

Opwis

Brühlmann

2022

Front. Virtual Real.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is a growing interest in understanding how to best represent complexity using IDNs. We conceptualize this as the aim to make players of such IDNs reflect critically on the complexity being represented. We argue that current understandings of player experience do not lend themselves to this aim. Research on interactive media has assumed immersion to be a universal positive for the player experience. However, in this article we argue that immersion into the Magic Circle of an IDN could be antagonistic to a critical experience. This is because immersion persuades players into suspending their disbelief, rather than facilitating critical reflection. Instead we propose, on the basis of the Epic Theater, an alternative form of play called alienated play. Meaning, a form of play in which the player is playing, while also observing themselves play. This form of play should allow for players to benefit from the enjoyable nature of play, while simultaneously remaining at a critical distance. To illustrate our theory we design two models, one for immersed play and one for alienated play. Furthermore, we present examples of the design for alienation in commercial video games, as well as hypotheses to test out theory in future research. Therefore, this work contributes an initial theoretical and practical informed form of play, specifically designed to facilitate critical reflection on IDNs representing complexity.

show abstract

The Potential of Interactive Digital Narratives. Agency and Multiple Perspectives in Last Hijack Interactive

Cited by 8 publications

References 18 publications

How to help your depressed friend? The effects of interactive health narratives on cognitive and transformative learning

How to help your depressed friend? The effects of interactive health narratives on cognitive and transformative learning

The Future of the World: From Scientific Account to Interactive Storytelling

Breaking immersion: A theoretical framework of alienated play to facilitate critical reflection on interactive media

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About