Storytelling and VR: Inducing emotions through AI characters

Conference theme: Use of new and emerging technologies in Digital Art, Data, Scientific and Creative Visualisation, Digitally Enhanced Reality and Everyware, 2D and 3D Imaging, Display and Printing, Mobile Applications, Museums and Collections, Music, Performing arts, and Technologies, Open Source and Technologies, Preservation of Digital Visual Culture, Virtual Cultural Heritage, Ethical Issues, Historical Issues, Digital Culture, Artificial Intelligence, NFTs

Conference date: 4–8 July 2022

Keywords: VR, Storytelling, AI, Emotions, Immersion, Affective computing

Bookmark

Abstract

Recent forms of virtual reality (VR) have changed the way people interact with moving images in the entertainment and the games industry, as well as the way the content is created. Technological advances in VR have given an opportunity to create simulated environments that users can immerse themselves in, and sense almost as a real experience by combining film techniques and interactive media approaches. Storytelling in VR presents various challenges due to the spatial properties of the medium. Research suggests that engaging Non-Player Characters (NPCs) enhance storytelling and can do so by communicating emotions. Most VR war experiences use the concept of morale and emotions applied to a group of soldiers or individual characters. To address the need for more believable AI characters in VR, this project will investigate how emotions can be communicated more effectively in a VR war application. VR companies are increasingly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies to develop a stronger ecosystem for NPCs. However, there are still significant number of limitations in terms of technology and immersive storytelling for VR with characters and props paying significant role for creating convincing VR experiences. This project will therefore aim to enhance storytelling in VR by inducing emotions through AI characters in a war environment inspired by realistic events from WWII.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Gabriela Maria Pyjas

Jonathan Weinel

Martyn Broadhead

Conference

Publication date: July 2022

Publication date (Print): July 2022

Pages: 198-204

Affiliations

[0001]University of Greenwich

London, UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2022.37

SO-VID: 43fafcef-8724-4a81-b497-cd8ad5ccd004

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of EVA London 2022

Conference acronym: EVA 2022

Conference number:

Conference location: London

Conference date: 4–8 July 2022

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2022.37

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

E. Begue (2019) Panda BT Free [Online]. Unity Assets Store. Available at: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/ai/pand a-bt-free-33057 (Accessed: 03 December 2021).
J. Bucher (2017) Storytelling for Virtual Reality. Methods and Principles for Crafting Immersive Narratives (1st ed.). Routledge
G. Calleja (2011) In-Game from Immersion to Incorporation. The MIT Press.
A. R. Damasio (1996) The somatic marker hypothesis and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, vol.351, pp.1413–20.
Electronic Arts (2020) Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond [Online]. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1402320/Med al_of_Honor_Above_and_Beyond/ (Accessed: 01 December 2021).
S. C. MichalskiA. SzpakD. SaredakisJ., T. RossM. Billinghurst and T. Loetscher (2019) Getting your game on: Using virtual reality to improve real table tennis skills. [Online] PLOS ONE. Available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371 /journal.pone.0222351 (Accessed: 21 November 2021).
M. Mozgovoy and I. Umarov (2012) Believable and Effective AI Agents in Virtual Worlds: Current State and Future Perspectives. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations (IJGCMS) 4(2).
Playabl Studios (2012) IMMERSE. [Online] Available at: https://www.playablstudios.com/social-skills-ai-darpa (Accessed: 01 December 2021).
J. Rasmussen (2016) Are Behaviour Trees a Thing of the Past? [Online]. Game Developer. Available at: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/programming/are-behavior-trees-a-thing-of-the-past- (Accessed: 01 December 2021).
Royal British Legion (2022) Remembering Dunkirk. [Online] Royal British Legion. Available at: https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/stories/rememberin g-dunkirk-we-were-still-soldiers-by-god (Accessed: 02 March 2022).
Transitional Forms (2020) Agence. [Online] Available at: https://www.agence.ai (Accessed: 01 December 2021).
P. Ward (2017) The Many Challenges of Storytelling in Virtual Reality. [Online] The Culture Trip. Available at: https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/themany-challenges-ofstorytelling-in-virtual-reality/ (Accessed: 27 October 2021).
G. N. Yannakakis and A. Paiva (2014) Emotions in Games. Handbook of Affective Computing. USC Institute for Creative Technologies.
G. N. Yannakakis and J. Togelius (2016) Artificial Intelligence and Games. Springer.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] E. Begue (2019) Panda BT Free [Online]. Unity Assets Store. Available at: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/ai/pand a-bt-free-33057 (Accessed: 03 December 2021).

[2] J. Bucher (2017) Storytelling for Virtual Reality. Methods and Principles for Crafting Immersive Narratives (1st ed.). Routledge

[3] G. Calleja (2011) In-Game from Immersion to Incorporation. The MIT Press.

[4] A. R. Damasio (1996) The somatic marker hypothesis and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, vol.351, pp.1413–20.

[5] Electronic Arts (2020) Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond [Online]. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1402320/Med al_of_Honor_Above_and_Beyond/ (Accessed: 01 December 2021).

[6] S. C. MichalskiA. SzpakD. SaredakisJ., T. RossM. Billinghurst and T. Loetscher (2019) Getting your game on: Using virtual reality to improve real table tennis skills. [Online] PLOS ONE. Available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371 /journal.pone.0222351 (Accessed: 21 November 2021).

[7] M. Mozgovoy and I. Umarov (2012) Believable and Effective AI Agents in Virtual Worlds: Current State and Future Perspectives. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations (IJGCMS) 4(2).

[8] Playabl Studios (2012) IMMERSE. [Online] Available at: https://www.playablstudios.com/social-skills-ai-darpa (Accessed: 01 December 2021).

[9] J. Rasmussen (2016) Are Behaviour Trees a Thing of the Past? [Online]. Game Developer. Available at: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/programming/are-behavior-trees-a-thing-of-the-past- (Accessed: 01 December 2021).

[10] Royal British Legion (2022) Remembering Dunkirk. [Online] Royal British Legion. Available at: https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/stories/rememberin g-dunkirk-we-were-still-soldiers-by-god (Accessed: 02 March 2022).

[11] Transitional Forms (2020) Agence. [Online] Available at: https://www.agence.ai (Accessed: 01 December 2021).

[12] P. Ward (2017) The Many Challenges of Storytelling in Virtual Reality. [Online] The Culture Trip. Available at: https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/themany-challenges-ofstorytelling-in-virtual-reality/ (Accessed: 27 October 2021).

[13] G. N. Yannakakis and A. Paiva (2014) Emotions in Games. Handbook of Affective Computing. USC Institute for Creative Technologies.

[14] G. N. Yannakakis and J. Togelius (2016) Artificial Intelligence and Games. Springer.

Celebrating 65 years of The Computer Journal - free-to-read perspectives - bcs.org/tcj65