Date of Award

8-2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Program

Computer Science

Department

Computer Science

Major Professor

Ben Samuel, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Vassil Roussev, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Abdullah Al Redwan Newaz, Ph.D.

Abstract

This thesis explores the impact of AI-assisted narrative generation on player immersion and agency in a live-action roleplaying (LARP) experience. A live-action murder mystery game was designed and run in two formats: a static version with GPT-4 generated characters, dialogue, and stage directions, and a dynamic version where players created their own characters and improvised freely, guided by AI-generated narrative beats, a story element that moves the plot forward [21], that provided a narrative scaffolding for the players. The dynamic version employed a distributed computer vision system that tracks the movement of key items in the play-space so their relevance can be weighted in the generation of narrative elements. Post-game surveys measured immersion, emotional investment, narrative clarity, and perceived Results show a significant increase in all metrics in the dynamic version, particularly in player agency and emotional connection. These findings suggest that AI can be most effective when used to scaffold player creativity and demonstrates the potential of AI to provide a narrative structure for players to express their own creativity.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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