We examined several key issues around audience autonomy in VR theatre. Informed by a literature review and a qualitative user study (grounded theory), we developed a conceptual model that enables a quantifiable evaluation of audience experience in VR theatre. A second user study inspired by the ‘narrative paradox’, investigates the relationship between spatial exploration and narrative comprehension in two VR performances. Our results show that although navigation distracted the participants from following the full story, they were more engaged, attached and had a better overall experience as a result of their freedom to move and interact

Freeman, Jonathan

Jiang, Xiaotian

Pan, Xueni

English

Goldsmiths Research Online

Jiang, Xiaotian; Pan, Xueni and Freeman, Jonathan. 2022. ’Rereading the Narrative Paradoxfor Virtual Reality Theatre’. In: 2022 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User InterfacesAbstracts and Workshops (VRW). Christchurch, New Zealand 12-16 March 2022. [Conference orWorkshop Item]https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/31903/The version presented here may differ from the published, performed or presented work. Pleasego to the persistent GRO record above for more information.If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contactthe Repository Team at Goldsmiths, University of London via the following email address:gro@gold.ac.uk.The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. Formore information, please contact the GRO team: gro@gold.ac.uk  Rereading the Narrative Paradox for Virtual Reality Theatre Figure 1 Left: The conceptual model of VR theatre forms. Right: Study 2 VR Theatre (Sedate Group = S1, S2;  Active Group = A1, A2) ABSTRACT We examined several key issues around audience autonomy in VR theatre. Informed by a literature review and a qualitative user study (grounded theory), we developed a conceptual model that enables a quantifiable evaluation of audience experience in VR theatre. A second user study inspired by the ‘narrative paradox', investigates the relationship between spatial exploration and narrative comprehension in two VR performances. Our results show that although navigation distracted the participants from following the full story, they were more engaged, attached and had a better overall experience as a result of their freedom to move and interact. Keywords: Virtual Reality, Theatre, Immersion, Narrative Index Terms:	 H.5.1 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: Multimedia Information Systems—Artificial, Augmented, and Virtual Realities; J.4 [Computer Applications]: Social and Behavioural Sciences—Psychology  1. INTRODUCTION In recent years, VR experiences within the theatre and performance context have flourished (e.g., The National Theatre: All Kinds of Limbo, Draw Me Close; Tenderclaws: The Tempest), making it imperative to understand how existing technical and design features can support impactful experiences. In this work, we are interested in the audiences’ experience of VR theatre. Specifically, how VR’s spatial and interactive characteristics impact the audiences’ experience of meaning-making in a virtual theatre show.  Many key concepts in VR theatre are borrowed from related fields of game studies, theatre studies, and telecommunication. Depending on the field, immersion can either mean an objective set of technical properties [1], an affective experience [2] or a scale measuring involvement [3]. Presence is loosely defined as ‘the sense of being there’ (in an environment different from one’s current physical surroundings) [4]. In gaming the two terms (i.e. immersion and presence) are often used interchangeably due to their experiential similarities [5][6]. Furthermore, subtypes of immersion in games and VR studies are also different [5][10]. Future studies need to acknowledge the potential mixed used of terminology surrounding VR theatre and establish which definitions best suit the purpose. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of VR theatre, the behaviour of its audience may sit between that of a conventional theatre audience, an immersive theatre participant and a video gamer. In those experiences, the ‘narrative paradox’, the conflict between the creator’s control over the narrative and the audience’s autonomy, often occurs [8]. To understand whether VR’s interactive nature works against its storytelling capability, we used Biocca’s 3 pole model to navigate a hypothetical VR theatre audience’s spatial presence [9]. We extrapolate that if one has to actively navigate and interact within a virtual space, it is likely they will be worse able to engage with the script of the performance, due to a competition of attention resources.   2.DEVELOPING A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF VR THEATRE FORMS Our first aim is to identify what audiences were most concerned with when theatrical performances move from a physical space to a virtual one. We interviewed 12 participants (including creatives and theatregoers) about their habits around theatergoing, the audience-performer dynamics in physical/virtual shows, and their experience of the technology and narrative during performances. Over half the participants noted differences in the ways audiences engage with physical and virtual, particularly in relation to the mental preparation for the performance. Compared to virtual ones, physical theatre audiences put in more effort to learn about the performance beforehand. They also expressed a clear desire to understand the performance and reflect on their experience. This need to intellectually prepare or ‘see the bigger picture’ was less often mentioned in relation to VR performances. For VR shows, audiences have a strong demand for connection and interaction in the performance. They also express more awareness of their individual presence and other audience members during a show. From our interview findings and the literature review, we created a conceptual model of theatre forms based on three axes (interactability, scriptedness and spatial representation) sitting on a 4-Likert scale, where 0 is the lowest score and 3 the highest (Fig. 1(Left)). Interactivity (I) refers to the degree of impactful interactions the audience/participant has, how much their choices and actions may influence the narrative of the performance. Scriptedness (S) refers to the level of structure within the narrative and with how much autonomy the audience can influence the story’s narrative. Spatial representation (SR) points to the 3D environment which the audience is immersed in, specifically how much the audience/participant can navigate freely and interact with the environment.  The purpose of the conceptual model is to provide a quantifiable method to discuss and compare different theatre productions, since they are usually described subjectively, making them difficult to measure or compare at scale. Xiaotian Jiang Department of Computing Goldsmiths, University of London Xueni Pan Department of Computing Goldsmiths, University of London Jonathan Freeman Department of Psychology Goldsmiths, University of London   * sashajiangxt@gmail.com, j.freeman@gold.ac.uk, x.pan@gold.ac.uk    3.USER STUDY: THE NARRATIVE PARADOX We invited participants to experience one of the two specially-designed short theatre performances in AltspaceVR. Participants joined the performance either on a 6DoF VR headset or a desktop computer. In the Sedate Group participants were instructed to find a fixed position upon arrival and stay in place for the duration of the performance. The performers performed in front of the participants in a designated area, resembling a conventional theatre format. In the Active Group participants were encouraged to explore the performance space freely and engage with the performers. The performers delivered their lines in different spaces within the virtual environment, which required the participants to move along to hear the entire conversation. Our first purpose is to confirm the effectiveness of the model developed in Section 2. We predict that (H1) the Sedated Group will rate the show as I-1, S-3, SR-1, and the Active Group I-2, S-2, SR-2 (0: low, 3: high). Our second purpose is to investigate how spatial exploration and interaction affects the narrative reflection process. Here, we hypothesize that the audience in the active group will show a lower score on narrative engagement (H2), measured by three questions (obtaining less information from the script, making more effort to keep up with the story and having more difficulty understanding the story). We also use the AIM (Audience Impact Metric, 7-Likert Scale with 0 indicating the lowest) to measure audience impact, capturing epistemic immersion, emotional intensity, engagement, cultural value, and quality of experience (See https://www.i2mediaresearch.com/i2-metrics). 3.1. Participants and Procedure  Eleven participants (7 females, age range 22-61) attended our study. All had prior experience with VR and reported regularly actively attending theatre or music shows. Participants were asked to join one performance at a given time via their own device. Five participants joined the Active group performance and six joined the Sedate group. The two performers in both groups were the same. After the performance, a questionnaire was sent to all the participants, followed by semi-structured interviews.  3.2. Results We represent the average of each group, and the p value using t test for between group comparison. When asked to rate the performance based on our framework (Fig. 1(Left)), the participants’ scores for both shows closely match our predicted score (Mean score: Sedated: I-1, S-2.4, SR-1.4; Active: I-2.3, S-1.7, SR-3), with the Active group receiving a significantly high score on I and SR, but not S (I: p = 0.006; S:  p= 0.122; SR: p = 0.02), validating the preliminary reliability of the framework (H1). When it comes to H2, contrary to our prediction, no difference was observed in their narrative engagement (Sedate: 4.5±1.0; Active: 4.4±0.61; p = 0.77). For AIM, the Active group scored higher in each category (Fig. 2), with significant result on Engagement (p=0.03) and borderline difference on Emotional intensity (p=0.07), but not on Epistemic Immersion (p=0.21), Cultural Value (p=0.41), or Quality of Experience (p=0.17).  In the interview, participants from both groups expressed that their storyworld immersion was the highest when the actors interacted with them, and this immersion level dropped if the interaction ceases. Two out of 6 in the Active group explicitly expressed that having to navigate and follow the actors distracted them from the story. Almost all in the Active group spoke about their role as an audience in the performance, whereas this is almost not mentioned in the Sedate group.  4. Conclusion In this work we reviewed and clarified the terminology surrounding VR theatre. The analysis of Biocca’s 3 pole model and the ‘narrative paradox’ identifies the issue of competing sources of attentional focus in VR theatre. We captured some key concerns from the perspective of audiences and creators, providing a reference point to further research. We presented a conceptual model of VR theatre forms that offers a quantitative measurement of virtual theatrical experiences. We also presented a user study investigating the relationship between spatial exploration and narrative comprehension. The findings suggest that while spatial agency distracts the audience from extracting more spoken information from the story, it enhances other aspects of the performance such as emotional engagement and generates a higher sense of general engagement and belonging in the experience. REFERENCES [1] Slater, M. and Wilbur, S. “A Framework for Immersive Virtual Environments (FIVE): Speculations on the Role of Presence in Virtual Environments.” Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments 6, 603-616. (1997) https://doi.org/10.1162/pres.1997.6.6.603 [2] Janet H. Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace (1997), 324.  [3] Jennett, C., Cox, A., Cairns, P., Dhoparee, S., Epps, A., Tijs, T. and Walton, A., 20,8. “Measuring and defining the experience of immersion in games.” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 66(9): 641-661. [4] Slater, Mel. “Place illusion and plausibility can lead to realistic behaviour in immersive virtual environments.” Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences vol. 364,1535 (2009): 3549-57. doi:10.1098/rstb.2009.0138 [5] Mcmahan, Alison. "Immersion, engagement, and presence: A method for analyzing 3-D video games." The Video Game Theory Reader (2003): 67-86.  [6] Brown, Emily and Paul A. Cairns. “A grounded investigation of game immersion.” CHI EA '04 (2004). [7] Lombard, Matthew, and Theresa Ditton. "At the Heart of It All." Journal of Computer- Meditated Communication 3, no. 21 (1997).  [8] Aylett, Ruth, and Sandy Louchart. "Solving the Narrative Paradox in VEs – Lessons from RPGs.” in Rist T., Aylett R.S., Ballin D., Rickel J. (eds) Intelligent Virtual Agents. (2003).  [9] Biocca, Frank. "Can we resolve the book, the physical reality, and the dream state problems? From the two-pole to a three-pole model of shifts in presence." Dept. of Telecommunication. Media Interface and Network Design (M.I.N.D.) Labs, (2003).  [10] Ryan, Marie-Laure. “From Narrative Games to Playable Stories: Toward a Poetics of Interactive Narrative." Storyworlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies (2009): 43-59.  Figure 2 Box plot of the Study 2 AIM results 

Rereading the Narrative Paradox for Virtual Reality Theatre

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Rereading the Narrative Paradox for Virtual Reality Theatre

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