Experiencing Interactive Storytelling PhD Thesis Christian Roth VU University Amsterdam, 2015 This work is partially funded by the FP7 Programme of the European Commission in the context of the Network of Excellence IRIS — Integrating Research on Interac- tive Storytelling — project under Grant Agreement FP7-ICT-231824, and by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Germany. Graduation Committee: Prof. Dr. E. Tan Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. Dr. J. Jansz Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Prof. Dr. P. Petta Austrian Research Institute for AI Dr. T. Hartmann Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Dr. M. Vosmeer Hogeschool van Amsterdam Copyright © 2015 by Christian Roth. ISBN 978-94-6259-972-7 Cover design by Ayşe Kongur ([email protected]). Printed by Ipskamp Drukkers. VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT Experiencing Interactive Storytelling ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr. V. Subramaniam, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen op vrijdag 15 januari 2016 om 11.45 uur in de aula van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Peter Christian Herbert Roth geboren te Würzburg, Duitsland promotor: prof.dr. P. Kerkhof copromotor: dr. I.E. Vermeulen “Interactivity is the sum and substance of the entire revolution that has been shaking our society for the last few decades.” Chris Crawford ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Once upon a time, a young media psychologist went on a great journey to obtain his PhD in the Netherlands. He had to overcome many challenges, travelled around the world, made new friends and learned a lot about life. Long story short, as you read these lines, this journey has come to a good ending! I want to thank those that accompanied my journey and supported me during this great adventure. First and foremost, I’d like to thank my promoter Peter Kerkhof and my supervisor Ivar Vermeulen for making this dissertation possible. Thank you, Ivar, for your inspiring guidance and valuable input. I hope we can have more discussions beyond academia in the future, as I have always enjoyed them. Next, I want to thank all members of my PhD thesis committee – Ed Tan, Mirjam Vosmeer, Jeroen Jansz, Paolo Petta, and Tilo Hartmann – for evaluating my work and for their valuable comments. I am especially thankful for the extensive and insightful comments of Tilo, also on earlier versions of the thesis. Thank you, Christoph Klimmt, Peter Vorderer, and the whole IRIS team for our inspiring meetings and the great work we accomplished together. I’m very happy that you, Peter, invited me to Amsterdam and smoothed my PhD! In this context, I’d like to thank the Friedrich Ebert Foundation for their support of my dissertation. I’m very grateful to my social circle at the department; you lived with me through the ups and downs of this journey. Misha, Annika, Celine, Hande, Chei, Ewa, Xanthe, Bob, Jolanda, Jolien, Priscilla, and Dimitrina! I could not have wished for better friends, office mates and colleagues! Special thanks to you, Bob, for your work on one of my posters (we even got an award!) and the countless foosball matches. Thank you, Pris and Stijn, for your amicable support over all the years and for our motivating work meetings! Thanks Pris, for your feedback on early chapters and thanks Stijn for showing me a world of technology that one can only dream of. Speaking of technology, thank you Rik, for adding mobile music tech to my journey! Thank you, Misha and Lianne, for your loyal friendship, the awesome walks in the beautiful Dutch nature and the interesting talks and gaming sessions. These helped vii viii | ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS a lot to free my mind once in a while from the tenacious work on my dissertation. And of course, thank you for the Dutch translation of the summary! Eventually a significant chapter of my journey started at the infamous Django place. Here, I met my dear friends Dirk, Albana, Cristiano, Laura, Kaveh, Hani, Stefano, Steve, André, Jailan, Ismail, and Andrei. I will be forever thankful for the great times we had together, including a diversity of adventures, ultimately culminating in a big showdown that we mastered together. While Zuidas changed a lot around us, we always stayed ‘partners in crime’. Thank you for making Django a true home. I will miss it a lot. Special thanks go to Cristiano and Kaveh for helping me with the occasional trouble of typesetting and life in general. You are very kind! Thank you, dear friends outside of the Netherlands for your patience with me and this endeavor. I’m very happy about the regular visits, your support and true friendship: Andreas, Joachim, Matthias, Steve H., Ulrich, Eva, Marah, Martin, Steffi and Ayşe! I will never forget our adventures in Amsterdam and Germany! Hopefully, we will find enough time for many more. Huge thanks to Andreas for proof reading the entire dissertation, this was invaluable support! A big thank you to Ayşe for the awesome work on the cover of this book! I want to dedicate this dissertation to my loving parents, who always believed in me and encouraged me to keep going but were wise enough to advise me to take a rest when I felt overwhelmed by the challenges. I could not wish for better parents and you and your support means a lot to me. Thank you so much! Thank you, my dear brother Peter and my dear sister Marianne for your encouragement and for bearing with me having so limited time over all these years. Finally, I want to express my gratitude to Martina, Julian, Nick & Jonas who constantly showed me the light at the end of the tunnel! I’m very grateful for the many side quests we shared that made my life and this PhD journey much more en- joyable: thank you so much for your emotional support and the thrilling times we had! Without all of you, this dissertation would not have been possible. Christian Roth Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 2015 CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii Contents ix List of Figures xiii List of Tables xv 1 General Introduction 1 1.1 Background of this Dissertation . .3 1.2 Outline of the Dissertation . .4 1.3 List of Publications Related to this Dissertation . .6 2 The Concept of Interactive Storytelling 9 2.1 Introduction . .9 2.2 A Brief History of Interactive Narratives . 11 2.3 Fahrenheit . 13 2.4 Façade . 15 2.5 Definition of Interactive Storytelling . 16 2.6 Definition of Interactive Storytelling Used in this Dissertation . 18 2.7 Serious Applications of Interactive Storytelling . 27 2.7.1 Interactive Storytelling, Art and Culture . 27 2.7.2 Interactive Storytelling and Learning . 28 2.7.3 Interactive Storytelling and Clinical Use . 29 2.8 Conclusion . 29 3 Conceptualization and Measurement of User Experiences 31 3.1 Introduction . 31 3.2 Existing User Studies in Interactive Storytelling . 33 3.3 Experiential Qualities of Entertainment Media: Entertainment Theory 35 3.3.1 Escapism Hypothesis . 37 3.3.2 Mood Management Theory . 37 ix x | Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3.3.3 Affective Disposition Theory . 38 3.3.4 Parasocial Relationships . 39 3.3.5 Self-Determination Theory . 40 3.4 User Experience Dimensions from Vorderer et al.’s Entertainment Framework . 43 3.4.1 Enjoyment . 44 3.4.2 Curiosity . 46 3.4.3 Suspense . 48 3.4.4 Aesthetic pleasantness and Eudaimonic Appreciation . 51 3.4.5 Presence . 55 3.4.6 Emotional State (Affect) . 58 3.4.7 System Usability . 60 3.4.8 Satisfaction of User Expectations . 63 3.5 Interaction Experiences . 65 3.5.1 Optimal Task Engagement (Flow) . 65 3.5.2 Autonomy . 69 3.5.3 Effectance . 71 3.6 Meaningful Narrative Experience: Believable Characters and Identifi- cation . 74 3.6.1 Character Believability . 74 3.6.2 Identification . 77 3.7 Chapter Conclusion . 79 4 The Role of Interaction 81 4.1 Introduction . 81 4.2 Expected Effects of Interactivity on User Experiences of Narratives . 82 4.2.1 (Semi-) Interactive Storytelling Platforms: Fahrenheit and Façade . 88 4.3 Study 1: Interactivity Manipulation in Fahrenheit . 90 4.3.1 Research Design . 91 4.3.2 Results . 92 4.3.3 Discussion . 97 4.4 Study 2: Interactivity Manipulation in Façade . 98 4.4.1 Research Design . 98 4.4.2 Results . 100 4.4.3 Discussion . 102 4.5 Conclusion . 103 4.5.1 Limitations . 105 4.5.2 Implications for Future Research . 106 5 Perceived Agency and Replay Value 107 5.1 Introduction . 107 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Contents | xi 5.2 Prior Research on Repeated Exposure to Media . 108 5.3 Effects of Repeated Exposure on User Experiences . 108 5.4 Research Design . 111 5.4.1 Content Analysis of User Input and System Response . 112 5.5 Results . 114 5.5.1 Results of the Content Analysis . 116 5.6 Discussion . 118 5.6.1 Limitations of Study . 122 5.7 Conclusion . 123 6 Global Agency as a Key User Experience 127 6.1 Introduction . 127 6.2 Study 1: Manipulation of User Roles in Emo Emma . 130 6.2.1 Results . 132 6.2.2 Discussion . 134 6.3 Study 2: Global Agency manipulation in Dinner Date . 135 6.3.1 Manipulation Check . 137 6.3.2 Results . 138 6.3.3 Exploratory Analyses . 139 6.3.4 Discussion . 142 6.4 Conclusion . 144 7 Additional Analysis and Limitations of Methodology 147 7.1 Using Self-report: Limitations and Possible Alternatives . 147 7.1.1 Implicit Measurements . 148 7.1.2 Physiological Measurements . 149 7.2 Measurements . 151 7.2.1 External Validity of the Developed User Experience Measure- ment Battery .