State is the factual content of a scenario: everything that is true about the situation, split by who can know it. It comes in two kinds, and the distinction is the backbone of scenario design.
Known state is information the persona knows about themselves. They reveal it selectively, depending on what the operator asks and how much trust the operator builds.
Hidden state is information the persona genuinely cannot know. The operator discovers it through their own professional process.
Yes - it is known state. The persona has it; the question is when they share it.
No - it is hidden state. The persona cannot have it: an exam finding, a test result, a record they have never seen.
It is a textbook fact the operator should know from their training - it is not state at all. Domain knowledge belongs to the operator, not the scenario.
A worker knows they have been doing side jobs, so that is known state. They have not seen their own imaging results, so those are hidden state. The clinical meaning of those results is domain knowledge, so it does not go in the scenario.
Each known state item carries a reveal trigger that controls when the persona shares it:
Trigger
Behavior
Example
Volunteered
The persona mentions it freely
”I work in a warehouse”
Direct question
Only disclosed when the operator asks
”Have you been working elsewhere?” leads to “Well, yes…”
Rapport required
Only shared after trust is built
Admits a fear of losing their job after feeling heard
This is where skill shows. A strong operator asks the right direct questions and builds enough trust to surface what the persona is holding back. A weak operator leaves rapport-gated facts on the table and never knows they were there.
Reveal triggers say when a fact can come out. Revelation mechanics set the overall difficulty of getting the persona to open up. There are five modes, forming a difficulty ladder:
Mode
Difficulty
Behavior
None
Not applicable
Shares openly from the start
Mild
Beginner
Opens up quickly after basic rapport
Standard
Intermediate
Gradual four-stage disclosure based on trust and empathy
Guarded
Advanced
Slower to trust, may become defensive
Resistant
Expert
Very reluctant to share, tests expert-level rapport building
The same scenario at two different revelation modes makes two different difficulty levels. Start new operators on Mild or Standard, then raise the mode as they improve.
Hidden state is everything the persona cannot know. The operator reaches it by doing their job: ordering the test, pulling the record, running the analysis.Examples:
Records - a prior claims history the persona has no access to
Red flags - inconsistencies only visible through professional analysis
Keep hidden state strictly to things the persona cannot know. If you hide a fact the persona would plausibly have, the persona behaves unrealistically when asked about it, and operators notice.
In journey simulations, state items can carry a recording frequency that controls how often the fact changes as simulated time advances:
Frequency
Behavior
Daily
Updates every simulated day
Weekly
Updates every simulated week
Bi-weekly
Updates every two simulated weeks
Monthly
Updates every simulated month
On-request
Updates only when something in the journey calls for it
Pain levels might move daily, work status weekly, and a formal review monthly. Between sessions, the state evolves in response to what the operator did, so the situation the operator returns to reflects their earlier choices.
