Citizen science games enable public participation in scientific research, yet these games often struggle to engage wide audiences. As a potential solution, some game developers look to narrative as an experience-enhancing feature. Yet the impacts and affordances of narrative in citizen science games remain understudied, especially for games that require significant onboarding. Therefore, we investigated the effects of wrapping a story around the tutorial puzzles of the citizen science game Foldit. We found that the narrative increased the time players spent engaging with the game’s tutorial and its scientific puzzles but did not substantially affect their progress through the tutorial. This article provides two major contributions: (1) empirical evidence detailing the impact of narrative on gameplay metrics in a citizen science game, including the relevant effects of genre preferences on engagement; and (2) recommendations on the use of narrative and its capacities in citizen science games. We conclude that the inclusion of a narrative can add valuable depth to the experience when designed thoughtfully and intentionally.

In argumentative writing, writers must brainstorm hierarchical writing goals, ensure the persuasiveness of their arguments, and revise and organize their plans through drafting. Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) have made interactive text generation through a chat interface (e.g., ChatGPT) possible. However, this approach often neglects implicit writing context and user intent, lacks support for user control and autonomy, and provides limited assistance for sensemaking and revising writing plans. To address these challenges, we introduce VISAR, an AI-enabled writing assistant system designed to help writers brainstorm and revise hierarchical goals within their writing context, organize argument structures through synchronized text editing and visual programming, and enhance persuasiveness with argumentation spark recommendations. VISAR allows users to explore, experiment with, and validate their writing plans using automatic draft prototyping. A controlled lab study confirmed the usability and effectiveness of VISAR in facilitating the argumentative writing planning process.