White Paper 026 Virtual identities in interactive broadcasting

April 2002 M. Greef, V. Lalioti

Abstract

""The story was the bushman's most sacred possession. These people knewwhat we do not; that without a story you have not got a nation, orculture or civilisation. Without a story of your own to live, youhaven't got a life of your own."" . Since our childhood we areexposed to stories in a variety of forms and they reflect the richnessof our civilisation. Movies, cartoons, television series,advertisements, multimedia and computer games are all built aroundnarrative structures. However, the potential of interactive narrativeshas not yet been fully explored by interactive television in comparisonto its many uses in virtual environments and computer games.

In a previous paper we proposed the virtual identity approach forauthoring interactive experiences in Virtual Environments. With thisapproach the user is experiencing virtual environments through the eyesof a virtual identity, resulting in different interactive experienceswithin the same environment. We used the approach and authoring tool toauthor the Cato Manor interactive experience. This paper focuses on thetransition mechanism and the ways it can be used to enhance interactiveexperiences. It also proposes ways of using the approach with today'stechnology of interactive broadcasting.

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