Automated story direction and intelligent tutoring: Towards a unifying architecture. Paper presented at the

Abstract. Recently, interactive storytelling systems – systems that allow a user to make decisions that can potentially impact the direction of a narrative – have been applied to training and education. Interactive storytelling systems often rely on an automated story director to manage the user’s experience. The focus of an automated director is the emergence of a narrative-like experience for the user. In contrast, intelligent tutors traditionally address the acquisition or strengthening of a learner’s knowledge. Our goal is to build training simulations that cultivate compelling storylines while simultaneously maintaining a pedagogical presence by incorporating both automated story direction and intelligent tutoring into an immersive environment. But what is the relationship between an automated director and an intelligent tutor? In this paper, we discuss the similarities and differences of automated story directors and intelligent tutors and, based on our analysis, recommend an architecture for building narrative-based training simulations that utilize both effectively and without conflict