1. Emergent and Guided Narrative for Training and Education in Virtual Worlds
Mark Riedl
Research Scientist Institute for Creative Technologies University of Southern California

2. 11/18/2018

3. Storytelling
Storytelling is a pervasive part of our world and our culture
Stories in entertainment:
Movies; Novels; Games
Stories for training and education:
Motivation; Illustration; Case studies
Can story be applied to interactive learning system?
11/18/2018

4. Story in Interactive Training?
Interactive case study
Evaluate and analyze  direct experience
Interactivity means trainee can do things differently from original story
How to ensure relevance of experience plus trainee agency?
Hypothesis: We can use story to manage the interactive experience of the trainee
Not using story to teach
Story establishes relevant learning situations
Separation of scenario from instruction
11/18/2018

5. Introduction to narrative
tension
time
Exposition
Rising action
Crisis
Falling action
Dénouement
Climax
Inciting incident
What is story?
Recounting of a sequence of events
Considered to have plot which is structured
Narrative has 3 levels of interpretation
Text/Media
Sjužet
Fabula
Focus on fabula for interactive systems
Aristotle’s arc is not actually an arc. Call it a function or something like that. Say that Aristotle’s arc is an abstract view.
Narratologists break narrative down into 3 levels of interpretation
Text/Media
Sjužet
Fabula
11/18/2018

6. Narrative and Pedagogy
Emergent narrative
Narrative psychology
“Construction of reality”
Guided narrative
Telling a story
Constraining the world or user agency
Correlation between narrative and pedagogy
Emergent narrative  constructivist learning
Guided narrative  guided teaching
Why structure learner’s experience as narrative?
Situated learning through dramatic role-playing
Memory and “well-structured” narrative
Durative belief change
Transfer of tacit knowledge
11/18/2018

7. Intelligent Experience Guidance
Drama management
Control vs. Coherence
Common approach: Branching
11/18/2018

8. Interactive Narrative for Training
Goal: A system that uses story to control a trainee’s experiences in a training simulation
Interactive Narrative:
Tell a story in which user is an active participant
User decisions and actions can affect the direction and outcome of plot
User engages in role-playing
Virtual world populated by NPCs
Requirements:
Constructive simulation  emergence
Narrative coherence  relevant learning situations
[narrative generation to adapt, preserving control and coherence]
11/18/2018

9. Relevant learning situations
Example
Back story
Peacekeeping in the marketplace
The characters: Saleh, Mohammed
The scenario:
Mohammed (Shi’a) sets himself up in favorable light
Saleh (Sunni) is demonstrates anti-American sentiment
Mohammed sneaks off to a nearby Mosque and acquires a bomb from an insurgent conspirator
Mohammed secretly plants the bomb in Saleh’s area
Bomb goes off but is a dud – no one gets hurt
Player manages ensuing chaos and attempts to assess blame …
Relevant learning situations
11/18/2018

10. Experience Management
Automated Story Director/Generator
Mixed-simulation control
Simulation – autonomous, interactive agents
Story – expected trainee experience
Manage the tension between simulation and story
Believable agents
Automated Story Director
Updates
Directives
Directives
Agent1
Agent2
11/18/2018

11. Automated Story Director
Automated Director is a bridge between simulation and scenario
Directs agents and monitors progress of trainee through scenario
Dynamically adapts scenario to keep trainee progressing towards relevant situations
Trainee may inadvertently avoid the relevant situations
Trainee may make it impossible to progress towards the relevant situations
At no point should trainee feel as if decision-making ability is taken away
11/18/2018

12. Story Plans and Plan Repair
Story represented as a partially-ordered plan
Complete story specification
Causal analysis
Plan repair
Initial State
not (detained Mo.)
Player causes: (detained Mo.)
1: Acquire (Mo, bomb1)
(has Mo. bomb1)
not (detained Mo.)
2: Plant-Bomb (Mo, bomb1)
Player causes: NOT (armed bomb1)
(armed bomb1)
(planted bomb1)
3: Dud (bomb1)
(chaos market)
Outcome
11/18/2018

13. 6: Riot-Protest (crowd, H.)
1: Acquire (H., bomb1)
Intermediate State
2: Plant (H., bomb1)
3: Dud (bomb1)
Outcome
(detained H.)
(has H. bomb1)
(armed bomb1)
(planted bomb1)
(detained H.)
4: Release (Hassan)
(criminal H.)
Initial State
(detained H.)
(detained H.)
(armed bomb1)
(detained H.)
(armed bomb1)
(criminal H.)
(detained H.)
1: Acquire (H., bomb1)
(has H. bomb1)
2: Plant (H., bomb1)
(armed bomb1)
(planted bomb1)
3: Dud (bomb1)
Outcome
Intermediate State
4: Plant (Con, bomb2)
5: Dud (bomb2)
Outcome
(detained Con)
(armed bomb2)
(planted bomb2)
5: Agitate (Con, crowd, H.)
6: Riot-Protest (crowd, H.)
Outcome
(detained Con)
(agitated crowd)
Intermediate State
(detained H.)
(detained Con)
(armed bomb2)
(detained Con)
(agitated crowd)
11/18/2018

14. Proof-of-Concept System
IN-TALE: Interactive Narrative – Tacit Adaptive Leader Experience
Built on commercial game engine
Agent controlled avatars
High-level story direction
11/18/2018

15. Automated Story Direction
Mohammed sets himself up in favorable
light
Mohammed
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Mohammed sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Mohammed secretly plants bomb in
Saleh’s area
Bomb goes off as a dud
11/18/2018

16. Automated Story Direction
Mohammed sets himself up in favorable
light
Mohammed
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Mohammed sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Mohammed secretly plants bomb in
Saleh’s area
Bomb goes off as a dud
11/18/2018

17. Automated Story Direction
Mohammed sets himself up in favorable
light
Mohammed
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Mohammed sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Mohammed secretly plants bomb in
Saleh’s area
Bomb goes off as a dud
11/18/2018

18. Automated Story Adaptation
Mohammed sets himself up in favorable
light
Mohammed
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Mohammed sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Trainee catches Mohammed with bomb
Mohammed is taken to detention
Mohammed’s insurgent conspirator
plants a bomb
Bomb goes off as a dud
Mohammed secretly plants bomb in
Saleh’s area
Bomb goes off as a dud
11/18/2018

19. Automated Story Adaptation
Mohammed sets himself up in favorable
light
Mohammed
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Mohammed sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Trainee catches Mohammed with bomb
Mohammed is taken to detention
Mohammed’s insurgent conspirator
plants a bomb
Bomb goes off as a dud
11/18/2018

20. Automated Story Adaptation
Mohammed sets himself up in favorable
light
Mohammed
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Mohammed sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Trainee catches Mohammed with bomb
Mohammed is taken to detention
Mohammed’s insurgent conspirator
plants a bomb
Bomb goes off as a dud
11/18/2018

21. Intelligent Tutoring in Simulations
Inter-session
“Tutoring”:
setting
parameters
Pre-practice
Tutoring:
preparation
& prevention
Post-practice
Tutoring:
reflection &
improvement
STORY ENGINE
Pre-practice, preventive phase.
establish background and prep student
Real-time
during problem solving sessions in simulation
focus of this talk
After-action/Reflective phase
to review, identify good/bad, learn how to improve
Intersession tutor: (no student interactions)
analyze all performance, set stage for next game such that specific learning goals are addressed
On-line
Tutoring:
support during
practice
11/18/2018

22. Intelligent Tutoring in Interactive Narrative
On-line tutoring
Diegetic or extra-diegetic tutor presence
Request story adaptations – add practice
Post-practice tutoring
Explanation of unobserved events and 2nd and 3rd order effects
Explainable AI
Inter-session tutoring
Request Story Director generate new scenarios
Tutor and Story Director: Separate but equal?
11/18/2018

23. Summary and Conclusions
Narrative psychology  “construction of reality”
Emergent narrative
Guided narrative
Structure learner’s experience as narrative
Facilitate constructivist learning
Guided teaching
Experience management to establish relevant learning situations
Future work: Tutor to scaffold situations
11/18/2018

24. And they all lived happily ever after…
The end.