Part One: Memesis Project Overview
How is narrative changed when the user not only chooses consciously how to navigate through a hypermedia text, but also subconsciously? The environment of Memesis is designed to resemble a haunted house that collects information about the user's phobias and deep-seated psychological fears in order to provide a more thrilling experience. The emphasis is on the development an interface designed to read subconscious input from the user as well as user choices ("point and clicks"). If successful, additional virtual reality environments (VREs) with the same interface are planned to carry the interactive narrative and engagement research even further...
Part Two: Memesis Design Bible
Memesis embodies a modular approach to the horror/thriller genre as we have come to know it from cinema, television and theatre. The horror genre can be subdivided into various types, such as "shock horror", "body horror", "psychological horror" and "moral or psychic horror." Shock horror depends on certain effects that are based on our fear of being attacked or hurt in some other way. Most shock horror works by activating viewers' phobic responses. VR environments are often used by psychologists to help phobic patients (patients can learn how to cope with vertigo or agoraphobia in a VR environment, for example)...