A Neo-Aristotelian Theory of Interactive Drama

Interactive drama has been discussed for a number of years as a new form of AI-based interactive entertainment (Laurel 1986, Bates 1992). While there has been substantial technical progress in building believable agents (Bates, Loyall and Reilly 1992, Blumberg 1996, HayesRoth, van Gent and Huber 1996), and some technical progress in interactive plot (Weyhrauch 1997), no work has yet been completed which combines plot and character into a full-fledged dramatic experience. The game industry has been producing plot-based interactive experiences (adventure games) since the beginning of the industry, but only a few of them (such as The Last Express) begin to approach the status of interactive drama. Part of the difficulty in achieving true interactive drama is due to the lack of a theoretical framework guiding the exploration of the technological and design issues surrounding interactive drama. This paper proposes a theory of interactive drama based on Aristotle's dramatic theory (Aristotle 330 BC) but modified to address the interactivity added by player agency. It is hoped that this theory will both provide design guidance for interactive dramatic experiences (answering the question "What should I build?") and technical direction for the AI work necessary to build the system (answering the question "How should I build it?"). This Neo-Aristotelian theory borrows from Laurel's treatment of Aristotle in an interactive context (Laurel 1986, Laurel 1991), but extends it by situating user agency within the model; the new model provides specific design guidelines for maximizing user agency. First I will briefly describe what I mean by interactive drama, and how drama differs from narrative. Then I will briefly describe Murray's (Murray 1998) three categories for analyzing interactive story experiences. For our purposes, agency will be the most important of these three categories. Next I will describe Aristotle's theory of drama and the integration of user agency into this theory. Finally I will draw some design and technology guidelines from the new theory.