From linear story generation to branching story graphs

Narrative intelligence refers to the ability - human or computer - to organize experience into narrative. Recently, researchers have applied narrative intelligence to create interactive narrative systems, virtual worlds in which a story unfolds and the user is considered a character in the story, able to interact with elements and other characters in the virtual world. The standard approach to incorporating storytelling into a computer system is to script a story at design time. However, this approach limits the computer system´s ability to adapt to the user´s preferences and abilities. The alternative approach is to generate stories dynamically or on a per-session basis (one story per time the system is engaged). Narrative generation is a process that involves the selection, ordering, and presentation through discourse of narrative content. A system that can generate stories can adapt narrative to the user´s preferences and abilities, has expanded replay value, and can interact with users in ways that system designers didn´t initially envision