Determine the effects of individual prototype changes

Determine how individual changes to Afterglow’s AI-role presentation, generated content, crisis routing, and optional world mechanics affect user interpretations and experiences independently of prior exposure and group discussion.

Background

The prototype was evaluated across two rounds, with returning participants and newly recruited participants encountering different builds. Because build revision, prior exposure, and group discussion were intertwined, the study could not isolate the effect of any individual design change.

The authors explicitly identify these effects as unresolved, leaving comparative or controlled evaluation as an open empirical problem.