Clicking some of the silly options: Exploring Player Motivation in Static and Dynamic Educational Interactive Narratives
This work addresses motivation in educational games for learners, but it is incremental as it builds on prior research on interactive narratives.
The study compared static and dynamic interactive narratives in an educational game about research ethics, finding that responsive content and varied choices enhance engagement but balancing pedagogical goals with dynamic elements is challenging.
Motivation is an important factor underlying successful learning. Previous research has demonstrated the positive effects that static interactive narrative games can have on motivation. Concurrently, advances in AI have made dynamic and adaptive approaches to interactive narrative increasingly accessible. However, limited work has explored the impact that dynamic narratives can have on learner motivation. In this paper, we compare two versions of Academical, a choice-based educational interactive narrative game about research ethics. One version employs a traditional hand-authored branching plot (i.e., static narrative) while the other dynamically sequences plots during play (i.e., dynamic narrative). Results highlight the importance of responsive content and a variety of choices for player engagement, while also illustrating the challenge of balancing pedagogical goals with the dynamic aspects of narrative. We also discuss design implications that arise from these findings. Ultimately, this work provides initial steps to illuminate the emerging potential of AI-driven dynamic narrative in educational games.