Structure, causality, visibility and interaction: propositions for evaluating engagement in narrative multimedia

Within the field of multimedia there are few methods, criteria or standards for evaluating the experiential impact of a design. This paper offers six propositions for structure, causality, visibility and interaction, which ap pear to produce cognitive, emotive and sensory engagement in users' reactio ns to a narrative multimedia design. The developmental approach was phenome nological. The propositions derive from a focus group study in which 12 use rs played with four commercial computer games, then we (and they) analysed their reactions. Two observations from the study inform the morphology of n arrative. Firstly, there is a fundamental conflict between narrative in its traditional form and interactivity, and secondly, the primal features of n arrative-causality temporality and linearity-are disrupted within a hyper s tructure. The first set of propositions suggests solutions for such conflic ts. These are spatial containment, causality, and demands on user's skills. Further propositions for engaging interaction are causality of dialogue, a pparent intelligence of the program and hiding the delivery medium. (C) 200 0 Academic Press.