Using video games, virtual simulations, and other digital spaces for learning can be a time-consuming process; aside from technical issues that may absorb class time, students take longer to achieve gains in learning in virtual environments. Greg Jones and Scott Warren describe how intelligent agents, in-game characters that respond to the context of the game and to the individual player's situation, can accelerate learning in MUVEs and other virtual learning environments. These agents can be designed to deliver instructional content, to provide cognitive aids for students wrestling with complex concepts, and to react and adapt to learner behavior. After describing the role that intelligent agents can play within the narrative framework of a game, Jones and Warren describe one example that combines intelligent agents with a structuring narrative as a means of reducing the amount of time it takes for learning in virtual environments to produce improved learning outcomes. (Contains 1 exhibit.)