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Who Am I that Acts? The Use of Voice in Virtual Reality Interactive Narratives

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Interactive Storytelling (ICIDS 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 13138))

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Abstract

Self-identification is a key factor for the immersion of the VR interactive narrative player. Diegetic non-protagonist narrators, touched-up heterodiegetic narrations with internal focalization, and casting the player in a ‘virtual sidekick’ role are suggested by the literature to support self-identification. This paper analyses the use of second-person voice and level of interactivity in two VR productions. In one, minimal use of the second person to address the player and negligible agency results in limited telepresence in a 360-video VR tour of a concentration camp accompanying a Holocaust survivor. In the second, use of a touched-up heterodiegetic narration with internal focalization heightens immersion levels but self-identification of the player as sidekick suffers as the narrative’s forward drive shifts between narrator, protagonist and antagonist. Future empirical work should explore the impact of second-person voice and interaction on the resultant self-identification and immersion.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9DDoeeQq6g.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saint Martin’s Institute of Higher Education, Hamrun, Malta

    Jonathan Barbara

  2. School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Jonathan Barbara & Mads Haahr

Authors
  1. Jonathan Barbara
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  2. Mads Haahr
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Correspondence to Jonathan Barbara .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Alex Mitchell

  2. Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Mirjam Vosmeer

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Barbara, J., Haahr, M. (2021). Who Am I that Acts? The Use of Voice in Virtual Reality Interactive Narratives. In: Mitchell, A., Vosmeer, M. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13138. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92300-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92300-6_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-92299-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-92300-6

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