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A presentation I gave at an autumn school on serious games and contemporary AI. I address how playing games is more than just abiding by the rules: the complete interaction with the system is important for the experience.
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Jeroen Linssen | PhD studentHuman Media Interaction
University of Twente
Meta Matters inStories and
Games
2014-10-04
Meta Matters
Intelligent board games (cont.)
■ Different players, different games, different styles
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The game & the experience
Experience}Bla?Bla!
*(@#*&(!!!#@$@
Game
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The Interactive Storyteller
■ http://vimeo.com/68865491
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Analysing play
■ Red skips to the beach.■ Granny bursts out in tears.■ Child playing Granny: Because you are leaving me!
■ Hello, says Wolf to Red.■ Child 1: You have to give him the cake!■ Child 2: It has to be poisoned first.■ Child 1: (...) I will do that, alright?
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Perspective × Reference
Reference
Story Game Reality
Character In-character utterances and imitations
In-character about game elements
In-character about events outside play
Player Action suggestions referring to story
Communication about game aspects
Including real-life events or objects in play
Person Observations about events in story
Observations about interface, opinions about game
Communication about events or objects outside play
Per
spec
tive
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Findings
■ First:■ Discuss system mechanics■ Complain about interface
■ Later:■ Planning in story■ Less about system mechanics
■ Playing is more than just the game itself!
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Meta-game thinking
■ “– 100 XP!”
■ Mass Effect 3 controversy:mismatched expectations
■ People contain multitudes...
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The Virtual Storyteller
■ ...so what about virtual agents?
■ In-character vs. out-of-character
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Plot control
■ Out-of-character thinking about the plot■ Doing ‘interesting’ actions■ Limiting actions per story phase
Exposition
Rising action
Climax
Falling action
Denouement
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Late commitment
■ http://vimeo.com/11836534
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Perceptions & assumptions
■ Omniscient characters: no deception, no betrayals
■ Limit characters’ perception...■ ...but how can they plan towards goals?■ Using assumptions
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FearNot!
■ Agents with emotions
■ Double appraisal
■ Serious ‘game’: player helps character cope
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Serious games: reflection
■ “All games revolve around learning.” (Erik van der Spek)
■ “Learning starts when the game stops.”
■ Lemniscate Model
Game Learning
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LOITER: Interaction with virtual characters
■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tOCnd8ZHG8■ Improving social awareness■ Interaction with virtual agents■ Cognitive model for social interaction
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Learning goals & feedback
■ Goals? Meta-goals!
■ Learning goals based on theories from social psychology■ Examples: recognise stance and adopt a stance
■ Feedback for reflection■ Explainable AI■ Supports the learning goals
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Meta-techniques
■ (Nordic) live action role play
■ Meta-technique: communicatingout-of-character information
■ Examples: inner monologue,flashbacks/forwards
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Meta-technique:‘Inner monologue’
■ Provide insight into characters’ minds
■ Inspiration: thought bubblesfrom comics, games
■ Not very intrusive to story flow,still play/reflect cycle
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Meta-technique:‘Act break’
■ Complexity levels of interaction/learning goals■ Feedback through discussion: explainable AI
■ More intrusive play & reflect cycle
Part 1 Act break Part 2 Act
break
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Integrating the meta
■ Tutor agents
■ Breaking the 4th wall
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■ Replayability & adaptive difficulty
AI Director22/25
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Reflections
■ A game is more than its rules
■ Humans are agents too
■ Design for the whole experience!
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Take Home Message
Be μετά
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And they learned happily ever after...
mail [email protected]
blog jmlin.eu/phd
Virtual Storyteller virtualstoryteller.info
IUALL.nl
Thanks for listening!
Let’s discuss...
Thanks for listening!
Let’s discuss...
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Publications
■ Theune, M., Linssen, J.M., & Alofs, T. (2013). Acting, Playing or Talking about the Story: Children’s Communication during Interactive Digital Storytelling. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling.
■ Bruijnes, M., Linssen, J.M., op den Akker, H.J.A., Theune, M., Wapperom, S., Broekema, C., & Heylen, D.K.J. (2014). Social Behaviour in Police Interviews: Relating Data to Theories, in Poggi, I., Vincze, L., & Vinciarelli, A. (eds.) Conflict and Negotiation: Social Research and Machine Intelligence, Springer, Berlin.
■ Linssen, J.M., Theune, M., & de Groot, T.F. (2013). What Is at Play? Meta-techniques in Serious Games and Their Effects on Social Believability and Learning. In Proceedings of the Social Believability in Games Workshop.
■ Linssen, J.M., de Groot, T.F., & Theune, M. (2014). Beyond Simulations: Serious Games for Training Interpersonal Skills in Law Enforcement. In Proceedings of the International Conference of the European Social Simulation Association.
■ van Oostendorp, H., van der Spek, E.D., & Linssen, J.M. (2014). Adapting the Complexity Level of a Serious Game to the Proficiency of Players. EAI Endorsed Transactions on Serious Games, 14(2).
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References (1/2)
■ Murray, J. H. (1997). Hamlet on the holodeck: The future of narrative in cyberspace. Simon and Schuster, New York, NY.
■ Belarbi, S., Bergström, K., Ebbehøj, S. L., Hansen, E. E., Fatland, E., Giæver, O. P., … Westlund, A. (2010). Nordic larp. (J. Stenros & M. Montola, Eds.).
■ Swartjes, I. M. T. (2010). Whose story is it anyway? How improv informs agency and authorship of emergent narrative. Centre for Telematics and Information Technology University of Twente.
■ XKCD.com, comic 1089
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References (2/2)
■ Aylett, R., Louchart, S., Dias, J., Paiva, A., & Vala, M. (2005). FearNot! An experiment in emergent narrative. In Intelligent Virtual Agents (pp. 305–316).
■ Koops, M., & Hoevenaar, M. (2012). Conceptual Change During a Serious Game: Using a Lemniscate Model to Compare Strategies in a Physics Game. Simulation & Gaming, 44(4), 544–561.
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Virtual Storyteller credits
■ Mariët Theune, coordinator (2002 – now)■ Hans ten Brinke, perceptions and assumptions (2014)■ Thijs Alofs, Interactive Storyteller (2012)■ Ivo Swartjes, lead designer (2006 – 2010)■ Pjotter Tommassen, plot control (2009)■ Nanda Slabbers, language generation (2006)■ Sander Rensen (2003)■ Sander Faas (2002)
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Sources
■ D&D picture: http://www.blastr.com/2010/06/easy_version_of_dd_create.php
■ Community screenshot: http://io9.com/5810498/did-you-hear-about-the-time-nbc-tried-to-kill-communitys-dd-episode
■ Monopoly: http://chnetwork.org/2013/08/parable-of-the-game-by-marcus-grodi/
■ Little Red Riding Hood lithograph: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11592/11592-h/11592-h.htm
■ Larp picture: Ralf Hüls■ Left 4 Dead AI director: http://
www.valvesoftware.com/publications/2009/ai_systems_of_l4d_mike_booth.pdf
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