A preliminary poetics for interactive drama and games

Interactive drama has been discussed for a number of years as a new AI-based interactive experience. While there has been substantial technical progress in building believable agents and some technical progress in interactive plot, no work has yet been completed that combines plot and character into a full-fledged dramatic experience. Part of the difficulty in achieving interactive drama is due to the lack of a theoretical framework guiding the exploration of the technological and design issues surrounding it. This paper proposes a theory of interactive drama integrating Laurel's Aristotelian structural model with Murray's concept of agency. The resulting theory illuminates the general conditions under which a user will experience agency in any interactive experience and provides design and technology guidance for the particular case of building interactive dramatic worlds.