Multi-user Interactive Drama: A Micro User Drama in Process

Process dramas emerge through the interplay of a number of factors including the types of participants and the context of the interaction. The term ‘process drama’ was coined by Cecily O’Neil, whose approach to theater in education practice explores the interplay of structure and spontaneity in dramatic workshops directed towards a thematic dialogue. The analysis presented here refers to O’Neil’s model in order to explore the factors that influence what is arguably the focal point of computer-mediated multi-user dramas, the individual user’s real time experience of that drama. It is proposed that The User Drama can be identified as a six phase process: 1) Perceive and Expect, 2) Invest and Express, 3) Experience Results, 4) Loop, 5) Merge and 6) Reflect.