Where do generative AI (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT or Claude stand when it comes to the design of Interactive Digital Narratives (IDNs)? Can they be used to create an IDN from scratch? Or complete typical tasks in narrative design? To answer these questions we first develop a benchmarking framework in collaboration with a group of experts before applying it to create and evaluate the output of GenAI tools. We describe the development of the benchmarking framework, discuss results and consider limitations. The results show that while GenAI tools can be a great asset in IDN design, they are not yet able to replace a human narrative designer. The strength of the current generation of GenAI tools lays in delivering output that can be used for ideation and training, and in some occasions also for production in the hands of an experienced designer. Finally, we consider ethical aspects and future developments. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

Students can think and they are creative, yet education in interactive narratives and related field does not always support creativity and critical thinking skills. As a result, students struggle to fully grasp the learning material and lack the ability to critically assess existing knowledge. In particular, aspects of theory, method and industry practices are often taught only as a passive exercise of receiving static knowledge and not as a dynamically growing body of knowledge. We see this status quo as a missed opportunity, especially when it comes to integrating students into research projects, where critical assessment and further developments of theoretical frameworks and research methods is a necessity. In this paper, we present an analysis of the current situation and an initial framework to improve education, with the aim to empower students’ critical thinking skills and creative abilities when it comes to theory, method, and design practices. 

Interactive digital narratives (IDNs) create alternate realities using both fictional and non-fiction material. The interactive aspect of IDN turns audiences into participants and enables the exploration of alternative perspectives and actions within a single artifact. Such multifaceted representations make IDN a vehicle for representing complex issues, a crucial capability at a time when the limits of traditional narrative media to adequately represent complex issues such as climate change become apparent. Conversely, properly evaluated, generalized knowledge about how exactly IDNs engage and influence us and what this means for the design of such works is still scant and thus this topic needs scholarly attention. In this overview paper, we discuss the potential of IDN, but also the difficulties of realizing this potential in terms of design and of verifying the effectiveness through empirical research methods. The potential of IDN as dynamic, participatory, and encyclopedic artifacts can be clearly expressed, yet the same cannot be said when it comes to the design and especially the evaluation of intended prosocial effects, the topic this paper is focused on. We start by identifying the problem of IDN design resulting from a combination of the lack of generalized knowledge and formal professional training. Then, we discuss the challenge of measuring the effectiveness of IDN design for prosocial effects and report on several case studies. In this context, we discuss methodological issues and advocate for best practices. Finally, we consider future steps in addressing the continuing challenge of evaluating IDNs.

Scholarly work on Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN) has long been communicated using the non-interactive format of the academic paper. Yet, when we only tell or show, we do not interact, which means that we lose the most important aspect of IDN–the interactive experience. In this article, we consider the limitations of traditional scholarly representations when it comes to IDN and demonstrate a novel format which includes interactive artifacts within the article, a move we consider as a crucial step for advancing IDN scholarship.

This paper presents a pedagogical activity with 120 students from two higher education institutions, one in the Global South and the other in the Global North. The objective was to incorporate decolonial thinking into analysing IDN artifacts through cross-cultural dialogue and collaboration. To achieve this, students were randomly divided into 20 groups comprising individuals from both countries and were assigned to work together across different time zones and geography. Students were prepared with an introduction to decolonial thinking and interactive digital narratives (IDNs). For the cross-cultural analysis, students used a methodology that merges the SPP model, the transformation aspect of IDN user experience, and the decoding position to reflect on how the artifacts perpetuate coloniality. Our results indicate that cross-cultural dialogue enabled students to counter colonial norms of universalism and Eurocentrism in IDNs through collaboration and interaction across the globe.

Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN) literacy and authoring skills are being gained too late along a typical student’s educational journey and only by a niche subset of learners while such skills are crucial to consume modern day media communications reporting on complex phenomena from multiple perspectives. This paper acknowledges the impact of technology on teaching and learning methods as well as the current status of digital media in education and uses them to explain how IDN can be used to teach K-12 subjects with the aim of helping students attain IDN literacy skills. It also suggests ways to expand IDN literacy by adding authoring skills. The paper connects these overarching goals with current initiatives in establishing IDN literacy and authoring skills in the K-12 curriculum and presents short-, medium- and long-term objectives towards the above two aims.

Narrative has been central to psychoanalysis from its inception. What has been explored less is the relationship between psychotherapy and interactive narrative. In particular, narrative therapy is a wellestablished practice in psychotherapy which shares central concerns with interactive narrative research and practice. In this paper, we explore the foundational role of narrative in psychotherapy and consider its interactive aspect. Then, we identify the overlap between interactive narratives and narrative therapy, and identify interactive narrative works which use this potential for therapeutic purposes. We also describe a concrete implementation, the board game Mind Stories, and introduce the concept of interactive narrative therapy.

This remarkably clearly written and timely critical evaluation of core issues in the study and application of interactive digital narrative (IDN) untangles the range of theories and arguments that have developed around IDN over the past three decades.

Looking back over the past 30 years of theorizing around interactivity, storytelling, and the digital across the fields of game design/game studies, media studies, and narratology, as well as interactive documentary and other emerging forms, this text offers important and insightful correctives to common misunderstandings that pervade the field. This book also changes the perspective on IDN by introducing a comprehensive conceptual framework influenced by cybernetics and cognitive narratology, addressing limitations of perspectives originally developed for legacy media forms. Applying its framework, the book analyzes successful works and lays out concrete design advice, providing instructors, students, and practitioners with a more precise and specific understanding of IDN.

This will be essential reading for courses in interactive narrative, interactive storytelling, and game writing, as well as digital media more generally.