RIDERS: Research In Interactive Drama Environments, Role-Play and Story-telling

The development of interactive graphical environments, mobile platforms, augmented reality and pervasive environments offers new technology resources for the creation of interactive drama, role-play and story-telling whether for entertainment, education, therapy or art. But what is the scientific and theoretical basis for these new media? How is it possible to reconcile the free interaction users expect in such environments with the satisfying narrative structures authors would like to design up front? Researchers have been trying to answer these questions in a range of often disparate disciplines: Computer Science and AI (e.g. planning, HCI, affective computing, digital gaming); Humanities (e.g narratology, digital media studies); Arts (e.g interactive installations, interactive drama); and Psychology (e.g user engagement, auto-biographical memory). Industrially, computer games companies have tried to find pragmatic and implementable solutions too in order to attract a wider range of gamers and move to more complex emotional engagement than the tension and adrenaline of shooting baddies. This network will bring together researchers in the many different disciplines involved so as to breach the current barriers between them, reduce fragmentation and create a synergy between technology development, theoretical analysis and practitioner applications. It will reach out to the creative industries in which new experiences and artefacts are being produced on a significant economic scale and to practitioners in relevant areas such as live and board-based role-play. It thus aligns with the objectives of the EPSRC Digital Economy programme.

Story permeates human culture and society. Common stories about the past - history - bind nations, regions and local communities and form a collective memory. Meanwhile newspapers tell the stories of significant events and relay the gossipy stories of celebrities, while at the individual level, personal experience is often encoded as stories of self, forming an autobiographic memory fundamental to self-identity. Drama and story link the individual to wider social groups, forming a powerful mechanism for learning - role-play - and making to possible to engage the deprived and excluded (as for example, theatre in prisons). Authoring and performing can produce empowerment and enhance self-expression and confidence. Interactivity is in turn fundamental to the economic performance of the UK computer games industry. Combining story more successfully with interaction would give this important industry a significant competitive edge, laying the basis for new game genres and increasing their sales base outside of the still largely young-male demographic. Through the development of new genres of Serious Games, new forms of health therapy and health education could be developed, using the affective engagement of story to help change attitudes and behaviour. Educational role-play - used as a means of teaching and training in areas where behaviour and attitudes are more important than simple knowledge - could be extended and enriched by the addition of graphical characters and technology-supported narrative events. New forms of narratively-rich art installations would extend the repertoire of artists and the engagement of the public.