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. 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?
7/13/2019

3. 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
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4. Introduction to Narrative
What is narrative?
Recounting of a sequence of events
Continuant subject
What is story?
Narrative plus something else
Point
Structured plot
Dramatic arc
Focus on plot level for interactive systems
tension
time
Exposition
Rising action
Crisis
Falling action
Dénouement
Climax
Inciting incident
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5. Emergent Narrative Narrative Psychology Emergent narrative “systems”:
Bruner: “Construction of reality”
Gerrig, Green: Transportation theory and the active audience
Emergent narrative “systems”:
Everyday life
Simulation
Sims, MMORPGs, Second Life
However…
Story doesn’t always emerge
Life and simulations don’t always invoke narrative thought
7/13/2019

6. Guided Narrative Analogous to story telling Constraint of emergence
Audience perspective: emerging story
Teller perspective: carefully pre-meditated sequence of events designed to invoke narrative thought
Guided narrative “systems”:
Movies, novels, plays
Most video games
However…
Guidance precludes interactivity (?)
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7. Narrative and Pedagogy
Emergent narrative  constructivist learning
Guided narrative  guided teaching
Distinction between discovery learning and discovery teaching
Clark, Mayer: Discovery learning is not always appropriate
Potential benefits:
Engagement and motivation
Situated learning through dramatic role-playing
Memory and “well-structured” narrative
Durative belief change
Transfer of tacit knowledge
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8. From Narrative to “Interactive Narrative”
Sternberg: Expertise from experience and reflection
Leadership; Teamwork; Decision-making; Situation awareness; Social awareness; Cultural awareness
Narrative as a way of transferring knowledge from experts to novices
Narrative paradox
Narrative has pedagogical value
Trainee agency
Solution: Intelligent experience guidance
From emergent narrative to guided narrative
Balance between emergence and guidance
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9. Intelligent Experience Guidance
Interactive Storytelling
Computer tells a story
User is interactive participant
User actions incorporated into narrative and can change the direction and/or outcome of the story
Emergence vs. Guidance
Common approach: Branching
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10. Interactive Narrative for Training
Hypothesis: Expertise through narrative-mediated experience
Leadership; Teamwork; Decision-making; Situation awareness; Social awareness; Cultural awareness
Relevant learning situations
Goal: A system that uses story to control a trainee’s experiences in a training simulation
Emergence and guidance
Requirements:
Constructive simulation  emergence
Relevant learning situations  guidance
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11. IN-TALE Proof-of-Concept
Interactive Narrative – Tacit Adaptive Leader Experience
Narrative-based training simulation
Trainee is role-player
Simulation populated by virtual humans
Story describes expected sequence of relevant learning situations
Story adapted dynamically to trainee’s actions
Branching generated dynamically
Overcome authoring limitations
Potentially higher degree of branching
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12. Relevant learning situations
Example Story
Back story
The marketplace
The characters: Saleh, Hassan
The scenario
Hassan (Shi’a) sets himself up in favorable light
Saleh (Sunni) is demonstrates anti-American sentiment
Hassan sneaks off to a nearby Mosque and acquires a bomb from an insurgent conspirator
Hassan 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 …
Mixed-simulation control
Simulation – virtual world with autonomous, reactive agents
Story – expected trainee experience
Manage the tension between simulation and story
Relevant learning situations
7/13/2019

13. Automated Story Director
Automated Story Director/Generator
Automated Director is bridge between simulation and story
Directs character agents
Monitors progress of trainee through story
Dynamically adapts story 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
Maintains user perception of self-agency
Directives
Directives
Agent1
Agent2
Updates
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14. Automated Story Generator
Story represented as a partially-ordered plan
Complete story specification
Causal analysis
Plan repair
Initial State
not (detained Has.)
Player causes: (detained Has.)
1: Acquire (Has., bomb1)
(has Has. bomb1)
not (detained Has.)
2: Plant-Bomb (Has., bomb1)
Player causes: NOT (armed bomb1)
(armed bomb1)
(planted bomb1)
3: Dud (bomb1)
(chaos market)
Outcome
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15. 5: Agitate (Con, crowd, Has.)
1: Acquire (Has., bomb1)
Intermediate State
2: Plant (Has., bomb1)
3: Dud (bomb1)
Outcome
(detained Has.)
(has Has. bomb1)
(armed bomb1)
(planted bomb1)
(detained Has.)
4: Release (Has.)
(criminal Has.)
Initial State
(detained Has.)
(detained Has.)
(armed bomb1)
(detained Has.)
(armed bomb1)
(criminal Has.)
(detained Has.)
1: Acquire (Has., bomb1)
(has Has. bomb1)
2: Plant (Has., 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, Has.)
6: Riot-Protest (crowd, Has.)
Outcome
(detained Con.)
(agitated crowd)
Intermediate State
(detained Has.)
(detained Con.)
(armed bomb2)
(detained Con.)
(agitated crowd)
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16. Automated Story Direction
Hassan sets himself up in favorable
light
Hassan
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Hassan sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Hassan secretly plants bomb in
Saleh’s area
Bomb goes off as a dud
Hassan al-Sagheer
7/13/2019

17. Automated Story Direction
Mohammed sets himself up in favorable
light
Hassan
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Hassan sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Hassan secretly plants bomb in
Saleh’s area
Bomb goes off as a dud
7/13/2019

18. Automated Story Direction
Hassan sets himself up in favorable
light
Hassan
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Hassan sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Hassan secretly plants bomb in
Saleh’s area
Bomb goes off as a dud
7/13/2019

19. Automated Story Adaptation
Hassan sets himself up in favorable
light
Hassan
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Hassan sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Trainee catches Hassan with bomb
Hassan is taken to detention
Hassan’s insurgent conspirator
plants a bomb
Bomb goes off as a dud
Hassan secretly plants bomb in
Saleh’s area
Bomb goes off as a dud
7/13/2019

20. Automated Story Adaptation
Hassan sets himself up in favorable
light
Hassan
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Hassan sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Trainee catches Hassan with bomb
Hassan is taken to detention
Hassan’s insurgent conspirator
plants a bomb
Bomb goes off as a dud
7/13/2019

21. Automated Story Adaptation
Hassan sets himself up in favorable
light
Hassan
Saleh
Saleh demonstrates anti-American
sentiment
Hassan sneaks to Mosque to
acquire bomb from insurgent conspirator
Trainee catches Hassan with bomb
Hassan is taken to detention
Hassan’s insurgent conspirator
plants a bomb
Bomb goes off as a dud
7/13/2019

22. Instruction and Interactive Narrative
Role of Automated Story Director in education:
Coerce the trainee into situations where learning can and should occur
Does not guarantee that trainee will learn
Interactive storytelling should be part of a larger program
Scenario and instruction are separate but complimentary
Intelligent tutoring systems (ITS)
Models and monitors student
Remediates when it detects buggy reasoning/knowledge
Keeping scenario and instruction separate is useful:
When lead-up to a relevant learning situation is just as important to experience as the relevant learning situations itself, and
When stringing multiple relevant learning situations together.
7/13/2019

23. 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
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24. 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
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25. Conclusions AI technologies for interactive storytelling systems:
Automated narrative direction of virtual humans
Automated story generation
Expertise through experience
Storytelling and interactivity
Narrative and pedagogy
Narrative thought and constructivist learning  sense-making
Pedagogy and guided narrative focuses sense-making
Future work…
7/13/2019

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