Notes on the Use of Plan Structures in the Creation of Interactive Plot
R. Michael Young · 1999
nd measurably indistinguishable from real world images." (Greenberg 1999)(pg. 45). The interface to a virtual space presents an abstracted, artificial representation of a world and the activities within it; it is the mimetic character of the space, together with our understanding that we are interacting with a mimetic artificat, that allows us as users to bring to bear all our knowledge of narrative understanding during our interaction (Brannigan 1992). When a user enters into a such a virtual space, it is as if a narrative contract is established between the user and the system's authors. 1 The contract establishes 1 See a compelling and much more extensive discussion by Kendal Walton on the role of mimesis and its relationship the expectation that the system will obey certain narrative conventions. In this way, the contract is beneficial to both designer and user. It facilitates the user's comprehension by licensing interpretation of experience