Models for Story Consistency andInterestingness in Single-Player

RPGsPetri Lankoski

Story

Petri Lankoski

Images from Mobygames.com

Research Question

• What are the game features that aect a player evaluation of story interestingness and consistency?

Petri Lankoski

Method

• Literature review isolating possible candidetes• Formal analysis, classifying games in terms of

certain features• Mixed effect ordinal regression

– combining formal analysis and questionnaire data about players evaluation of story

– Ad-hoc quotas– Iterative model selection using AIC

Petri Lankoski

Classification

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Story Consistency

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Story Consistency

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Story Consistency

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Story Interestingness

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Story Interestingness

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Story Interestingness

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Conclusions

Story Consistency

• Cut-scenes showing romance (positive)

• Pre-scripted character development (positive)

• Player-guided character development (positive)

• Appearance customization (negative)

Story Interestingness

• Cut-scenes showing romance (positive)

• Pre-scripted character development (positive)

• Support different play styles (positive)

• Moral choices (negative)

Petri Lankoski

Conclusions

Story Consistency

• Romance modeling (negative?)

Story Interestingness

• Interactive dialogue (positive?)

• Player controlled character development (negative?)

• Appearance customization (negative?)

Petri Lankoski

Thank you

Contact: petri.lankoski@sh.sepetrilankoski.wordpress.com

Petri Lankoski