Step-by-Step Task Segmentation

The User Reality: Some users struggle to intuitively break down broad, complex objectives (e.g., "Escape the room") into executable actions. When faced with an unstructured goal, the resulting cognitive paralysis often leads to total task abandonment. (NB anecdotal evidence during primary research suggests that more than 2-3 steps can lead to abandonment).

Research:

• Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller, 1988) emphasises that high-fidelity immersive environments consume substantial processing capacity. W3C COGA standards recommend separating each instruction to reduce errors for users with processing challenges.
• Miller's Law suggests that working memory typically holds approximately seven discrete items, though this capacity diminishes significantly under sensory stress or for individuals with specific learning profiles.

The Openality Standard

The system must act as a cognitive guide, granularly decomposing narratives into a linear sequence of actions. This ensures that users are never required to hold more than one active instruction in their working memory.

• Constraint: The system must not present complex, broad objectives without automatically breaking them down into single, immediate steps.
• Requirement: Design must prioritise the separation of each instruction into a single, manageable step.

Core Behaviours

• Linear Task Segmentation - Automatically breaks down complex objectives into a linear sequence of single-step instructions, ensuring users are never required to hold multiple tasks in working memory simultaneously.

Primary Interaction Patterns

• The Linear Flow System - A system that automatically advances the user through a predefined sequence of steps, only presenting one instruction at a time.