INDCOR white paper 3: Interactive Digital Narratives and Interaction

TL;DR

This white paper explores the complex nature of interaction in Interactive Digital Narratives (IDNs), providing practitioners with insights to manage complexity in design, implementation, and audience perception.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive overview of interaction complexities in IDNs, guiding designers on incorporating complexity thinking throughout the development process.

Findings

Highlights the diverse interaction modes in IDNs

Emphasizes the importance of complexity thinking in design

Addresses authoring, delivery, and audience perception challenges

Abstract

The nature of interaction within Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN) is inherently complex. This is due, in part, to the wide range of potential interaction modes through which IDNs can be conceptualised, produced and deployed and the complex dynamics this might entail. The purpose of this whitepaper is to provide IDN practitioners with the essential knowledge on the nature of interaction in IDNs and allow them to make informed design decisions that lead to the incorporation of complexity thinking throughout the design pipeline, the implementation of the work, and the ways its audience perceives it. This white paper is concerned with the complexities of authoring, delivering and processing dynamic interactive contents from the perspectives of both creators and audiences. This white paper is part of a series of publications by the INDCOR COST Action 18230 (Interactive Narrative Design for Complexity Representations), which all clarify how IDNs representing complexity can be understood and applied (INDCOR WP 0 - 5, 2023).