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How can we use AE? Artificial emotion produces two fundamental components as output: gestures and actions. Actions are a general category and are dependent upon the context of the situation in which the character exists. A simulation’s movement system uses AE to select and/or modify an action. When selecting an action, AE indicates what actions are appropriate to the character’s personality and current mood. So a timid character is unlikely to do anything aggressive, for example. When modifying an action, AE can help to determine how an action is carried out. An outgoing, extroverted character might perform an action enthusiastically, although this probably wouldn’t be the case for an extreme introvert. Our primary use of AE, however, is in driving gestures, namely hand, body, and facial gestures. Gestures are the way in which we communicate our emotions to the outside world. Without them, we would seem cold, flat, and unemotional — rather like a computer character. These AE-driven gestures are tied directly to our characters’ personalities and moods and follow definite patterns.
This body language adds an extra dimension to a character’s behavior, giving life and depth to simulations populated by autonomous characters that now posses unique personalities. We are all used to seeing environments populated by characters that all have identical motions or body language. They all stand stiffly upright and move like clockwork toys. Would it not be refreshing to see a sad looking fellow, shoulders hunched over, arms hanging limply and walking slowly as he makes his way through our environment? This idea immediately introduces all sorts of theatrical and cinematic possibilities, such as populating our environment with a whole cast of unique characters. Our viewer’s experience would be enriched as well. "Who is that guy? Why does he look so sad? What’s his story? Should I go and ask him?" The kinds of questions that occur to the viewer of a truly interactive experience are simply irrelevant without AE. (It should be noted that I could also substitute the acting term character in place of my term personality. Character might be a more appropriate term, but could confuse the reader because I’m using character to indicate an autonomous agent in this article. The terms are, however, interchangeable.) The future of AE I can imagine a scene; I’m searching for a lost city in a wild, remote jungle with my trusted autonomous companion Aeida. Suddenly, we find the entrance to the city and walk in. It’s still inhabited. The inhabitants’ body language changes when they see us, reacting to our sudden intrusion. Some become fearful, backing away and curling into a nonthreatening posture. Others do the opposite, standing upright, shoulders back, chest out, and fists clenched — looks like trouble. We stand motionless for a time, until a very jovial character smiles broadly at us, laughs, then comes over to greet us, telling the other inhabitants to do likewise. The inhabitants’ interactive behavior, and more importantly their individual behavior, creates a living world for us to explore and within which to entertain ourselves. This environment would be socially oriented; our decisions and actions would be based upon the personalities and moods of the characters that we encounter. Essentially, the characters’ decisions and actions would be interactively based upon ours; nothing would be prescripted (unless the designer of the experience wished it that way, as in interactive theatre). Such a world would require that designers spend a good deal of time designing their characters for deep and engaging roles. Designers will need to add the skills of scriptwriting and storytelling to their growing repertoire of talents. Interactive theatre and cinema is a relatively new area that is emerging around autonomous characters. Those who are interested in participating in its development would be wise to start their reading now. A great place to start looking is the web site composed by Andrew Stern of P.F. Magic at http://pw2.netcom.com/~apstern/index.html. Here you’ll find links to just about every conceivable source in these fields and many more besides. The convergence of many factors — processor speed, market awareness, and the maturation of the entertainment field to name a few — will revolutionize the way in which we use characters in simulations. Whole new avenues and genres will open up before us. The timing of these developments may not be a moment too soon, considering the growing (and plausible) perception that videogames turn kids into desensitized and violent members of society. Designing experiences around social interaction may not push your buttons, but society at large will probably thank you (and give you lots of free press). This subject is full of real emotion, which could, ironically, be averted through the use of artificial emotion. Visionary, life designer, philosopher, creative genius, egomaniac, and legend in his own day dreams. Ian (Gamasutra Profile) aims to be the father of believable, emotional, virtual characters in the emerging arena of entertainment simulation. He is currently trying to establish artificial emotion as a separate field of study from AI (which is, according to Hollywood, going to take over the world and enslave us all!). He can be reached at ianw@artificial-emotion.com. |
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