Abstract
Interactive television dramas have long promised to deliver entertaining experiences. In practice, however, successful interactive television dramas are rare. This paper suggests that the fault lies in attempts to abandon narrative structure in favour of interactive freedom and hypothesized that a model of interactive drama which encases interactivity within a strong narrative structure would be successful. This hypothesis can be seen as part of a larger research goal of which this paper represents the first step. This paper attempted to establish that the addition of interactivity to a narrative could enhance audience enjoyment. In order to test this hypothesis a research experiment was conducted which directly compared an interactive television programme to its linear counterpart. The research tested 180 participants and attempted to ascertain the differences in the viewer experience. The research found overall significantly higher averages in entertainment, appetite, immersion, and empathy among those who viewed the interactive television drama.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aarseth, E.: Genre Trouble: Narrativism and the Art of Simulation. In: Wardrip-Fruin, N., Harrigan, P. (eds.) First Person: New Media as Story, Performance and Game, MIT Press, Cambridge (2004)
Crawford, G.: Digital Gaming, Sport and Gender. Leisure Studies 24(3), 259 (2005)
Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Australian Government, Meeting the Digital Challenge: Reforming Australia’s media in the digital age [electronic version] (2006), Retrieved April 2006, from DCITA website http://www.dcita.gov.au
Eastman, S., Newton, G.: Delineating Grazing: Observations of Remote Control Use. Journal of Communication 45, 78–96 (1995)
Frisby, C.: Building Theoretical Insights to Explain Differences in Remote Control Use Between Males and Females: A meta-analysis. Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising 21, 59–76 (1999)
Garrand, T.: Scripting narrative for interactive multimedia. Journal of Film and Video 49(1-2) (1997)
Gaylean, T.: Narrative Guidance of Interactivity. Unpublished PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1995), Retrieved: 4/09/2005 from http://ic.media.mit.edu/
Green, M., Brock, T.: In the Mind’s Eye. In: Green, M.C., Strange, J.J., Brock, T.C. (eds.) Narrative Impact: Social and Cognitive Foundations, Lawrence Erlbraum Associates, New Jersey (2002)
Kim, P., Sawhney, H.: A Machine-like new Medium: Theoretical examination of Interactive TV. Media Culture and Society 24(2) (2002)
Lastovicka, J.L.: Relevance, Confusion, and Entertainment. In: Bearden, W., Netemeyer, R. (eds.) Handbook of Marketing Scales, 2nd edn., Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks (1999)
Lee, S., Heeter, C., LaRose, R.: Viewer Responses to Interactive Narrative: A comparison of interactive versus linear viewership in alone and group settings. Presented at the Communication Technology Division of the International Communication Association Conference, New York (2005)
Meadows, S.: Pause & Effect: the art of interactive narrative. New Riders, Indiana (2003)
McCarty, J., Shrum, L.: The role of personal values and demographics in predicting television viewing. Journal of Advertising 22(4), 77 (1993)
Neubauer, A.C.: Speed of Information Processing in the Hick Paradigm and Response Latencies in a Psychometric Intelligence Test. Personality and Individual Differences 11(2) (1990)
Oliver, M., Weaver, J., Sargent, S.: An Examination of Factors Related to Sex Differences in Enjoyment of Sad Films. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media (Spring 2000)
True Crime: Streets of LA, developed by LUXOFLUX, copyright: Activision
Vorderer, P., Knobloch, S., Schramm, H.: Does Entertainment Suffer From Interactivity? The Impact of Watching an Interactive TV Movie on Viewers’ Experience of Entertainment. Media Psychology 3(4), 343–363 (2001)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Hand, S., Varan, D. (2007). Exploring the Effects of Interactivity in Television Drama. In: Cesar, P., Chorianopoulos, K., Jensen, J.F. (eds) Interactive TV: a Shared Experience. EuroITV 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4471. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-72559-6_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-72559-6_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-72558-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-72559-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)