The Holodeck but is it fun Marc Cavazza

The Holodeck: but is it fun? Marc Cavazza

The Holodeck™. . . Images removed for Copyright

The Holodeck is AI + Graphics • … a Virtual Reality world (Graphics) • … populated by (realistic) Artificial Actors playing their own roles (Graphics, AI) • The user is at the centre of that world, acting as well as enjoying the story, interacting with the world and the actors through physical action and speech (HCI, AI) Hamlet on the holodeck: the future of narrative in cyberspace – Murray - 1998 Toward the Holodeck: Integrating Graphics, Sound, Character and Story – Swartout - 2001

Can we Build One? Is it fun?

(Research) Questions • We think more is better • . . . The Holodeck is the ultimate entertainment experience BUT • . . . Have no idea how users would engage • . . . And if it would be fun or not

Immersive Interactive Storytelling

Cave. UT™ Architecture

Wikimedia Commons The Narrative: Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary? Images removed for Copyright Marc Cavazza, Jean-Luc Lugrin, David Pizzi, Fred Charles: Madame bovary on the holodeck: immersive interactive storytelling. ACM Multimedia 2007: 651 -660

Interactive Storytelling

Emo. Emma (joint work with Univ. Augsburg) Reference: Cavazza, M. , Pizzi, D. , Charles, F. , Vogt, T. and André, E. , 2009. Emotional Input for Character-based Interactive Storytelling. In Proceedings of the 8 th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), Budapest, Hungary, May 2009, pp. 313 -320.

Interaction Paradigms Actor mode: plays as Rodolphe Ghost mode: free ride Lugrin, J. -L. , Cavazza, M. , Pizzi, D. , Vogt, T. , and Andre E. , 2010. Exploring the Usability of Immersive Interactive Storytelling. ACM Virtual Reality and Software Technology 2010, Hong-Kong, to appear.

User Interaction (speech)

User Interaction (physical)

Experiments • 38 subjects (20 males, 18 female) • av. Age 30. 6 • Session: av. 45 mn = 10 briefing, 10 VR practice, 6 + 6 experiements, 15 questionnaires filling • $30 high street voucher • NGA • 1 casualty

User Experience: what they do

Navigating stage and story

User Interactions

User Influence

User Experience (fun? ) ITC/SOPI

User Comments • 63. 2% of users contributed written comments after the experiments - of these 44. 7 % included explicit positive statement such as “I enjoyed the experiment a lot”, “I think the experiment was great”, ". . . It definitely was an interesting experiment. . . , "Absolutely fantastic- could have done that all day. " “I felt that I could really interact with Emma, which made the experience really interesting and pleasurable”, “I was able to ‘steal’ Emma's gift to Rodolphe, thus changing the outcome of the scene, I found it particularly enjoyable”. • Most of the 21% comments including negative aspects refer to disorientation, such as “I felt a little disoriented turning around while moving forward. ” • Some comments also expressed certain preferences towards one particular interaction paradigm: "I preferred the role of Rodolphe as I felt there was a definite purpose. As a ghost I didn't feel really involved", “I enjoyed the first part of the story where I took the role of a character as that made me more comfortable in the environment as I had a role".

Simulation Sickness. . .

Acknowledgements • Jean-Luc Lugrin, David Pizzi, Fred Charles (Teesside University) ; Jeffrey Jacobson (Univ. Pittsburgh) • Unreal Tournament™ is a trademark of Epic™ • Emo. Voice is developed by the University of Augsburg • Research supported by: – the DTI Technology Programme (in collaboration with Eidos Interactive plc) BARDS project – FP 6 IP CALLAS – FP 7 No. E IRIS

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