Co-creating narratives: ludonarrative agency and generative AI in digital games

This chapter explores how narrative agency, authorship, and co-creative practices in digital games are being transformed by generative AI systems, with an emphasis on AI Dungeon. It views storytelling in GenAI environments as a type of procedural co-authorship—distributed, negotiated, and frequently unpredictable—drawing on theories from narrative studies, game design, and AI ethics. The chapter identifies important dynamics like narrative drift, editorial intervention, and ludonarrative friction by qualitatively analyzing twenty structured gameplay sessions. It suggests that participants are continuously negotiating meaning and coherence with algorithmic systems in their roles as authors, editors, and curators. For academics, designers, and teachers attempting to understand the emerging field of interactive narrative design, this has important implications. The findings draw attention to the ethical conundrums and imaginative potential of AI-mediated storytelling.