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Thoughts on a Discipline for the Study of Interactive Digital Narratives

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Interactive Storytelling (ICIDS 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 11318))

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Abstract

This paper presents arguments for the creation of an academic discipline concerned with the analysis and design of interactive digital narratives, akin to game studies. I analyse the status quo as the result of foundational aspects and the effects of the historical development of games studies before identifying a range of problems that have their root cause in the lack of an academic home and the support structures that come with it. In particular, the lack of a legitimizing framework translates into difficulties with academic recognition, reduced opportunities for grants and scholarships, scarcity of academic positions, and discontinuity of research which amounts to academic memory loss. In order to understand where the field stands, I apply three perspectives on requirements for an academic discipline from outside the field and come to the conclusion that while much progress has been made, there are areas in need of further attention, in particular when it comes to formal programs of study. Conversely, I identify the development of degree programs as an area needing particular attention in order to create an academic discipline.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.riders-project.net.

  2. 2.

    The defunct EUCROMA program (European Cross Media Academy), a collaboration between seven European institutions (DADIU (Denmark), the National Film School of Denmark, the University of Abertay Dundee, Cologne Game Lab, The Animation Workshop, the University of Malta and the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design), funded by the EU’s MEDIA program and realized in 2013 can be seen as a predecessor with its focus on storyworld building.

  3. 3.

    https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/game-design.

  4. 4.

    Rochester Institute of Technology, Game Design and Development BS degree.

  5. 5.

    NYU, Game Design BFA.

  6. 6.

    http://www.his.se/en/Prospective-student/education/Masters-Studies/Computer-Game-Development/.

  7. 7.

    http://www.tft.ucla.edu/programs/professional-programs/video-game-writing/.

  8. 8.

    https://extendedlearning.ubc.ca/programs/game-writing-academy.

  9. 9.

    The group blog Grand Text Auto (by Mary Flanagan, Michael Mateas, Nick Montfort, Scott Rettberg, Andrew Stern, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin) can be seen as a model for how a small group of scholars can organize the discourse amongst them. The blog served in this capacity for a number of years until its demise in 2013. However, the defunct status of this forum (available at https://wayback.archive-it.org/788/*/http://grandtextauto.org/) alerts us to the danger of discontinuity of volunteer efforts without institutional support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, Nieuwekade 1, 3511 RV, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Hartmut Koenitz

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  1. Hartmut Koenitz
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Correspondence to Hartmut Koenitz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA

    Rebecca Rouse

  2. University of the Arts Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Hartmut Koenitz

  3. Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Mads Haahr

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Koenitz, H. (2018). Thoughts on a Discipline for the Study of Interactive Digital Narratives. In: Rouse, R., Koenitz, H., Haahr, M. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11318. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04028-4_3

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