DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds

Week 12

Future of Virtual Worlds

6pm – 9pm

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

Kathryn Merrick and Owen Macindoe

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Announcements

This lecture will begin with 15 minute demo in the Sentient

Level 2, through the glass door to the Key Centre, then first door on your left

Please join me downstairs

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Lecture Overview

Blurring the line between the virtual and the physical

Virtual worlds as platforms for advanced AI

Technological improvements and growth models for virtual worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Blurring the Line Between Physical and Virtual

Augmented reality Augmented virtuality Mixed reality Alternate reality Mirror worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Augmented Reality

Combination of the real world with computer generated data:

Current research concerned with use of live video imagery, which is processed and ‘augmented’ with computer generated graphics

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Augmented Reality: Tools and Techniques

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Head mounted display

Square marker patterns

Tangible pointer

Kyoto Garden

Augmented Reality Applications

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Kyoto Garden AR Toolkit

Research Challenges with Augmented Reality

Problem of tracking the user’s viewpoint

Camera calibration

Speed for real time use

Use of obtrusive, worn hardware

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Mixed Reality

The merging of real world and virtual worlds to produce new environments where physical and digital objects can co-exist and interact in real time.

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Paul Milgram’s Virtuality Continuum

Mixed Reality: Human Pacman

Overlay of physical with virtual

Bluetooth used to give physical objects digital meaning

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Human pacman

Mixed Reality Research Challenges

Wearable hardware

Networking and communication

Real time function

Health and safety

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Wearable hardware for human pacman

Alternate Reality

Physical and virtual worlds are merged as an interactive narrative

Virtual world may be revealed through: Internet, telephone, email, mail Not necessarily through computer

graphics

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Alternate Reality Terms

Rabbitholes (trailheads): mark the entry to the alternate reality

Puppetmasters control virtual content while players interact with it

TINAG (this is not a game)

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Alternate Reality Research Issues

Can we create alternate reality games without human puppet masters?

Combination of alternate reality and mixed reality

Applications of alternate reality Education, information literacy, advertising

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Alternate Reality Examples

The Beast (2001) Promotion for A.I.:

Artificial Intelligence

I Love Bees (2004) Promotion for Halo

2

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

www.ilovebees.com

Virtual Worlds as Platforms for Advanced Artificial Intelligence

AI and virtual worlds are merging in two ways:

Virtual worlds as test-beds for AI AI to enhance virtual worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

AI Enhancing Virtual Worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

The promise of high quality AI is a major selling point for virtual worlds

Especially true for game worlds

AI makes the world dynamic Changing worlds have greater ‘replay-

ability’

AI Enhancing Virtual Worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Current AI techniques for virtual worlds are relatively simple:

Ensures predictability Easy to implement

Virtual worlds are a complex application domain for AI research…

Complexity of Virtual Worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

AIs must monitor large amounts of data and choose from many different actions

World can change while AI is thinking

Changes may be unpredictable due to Open-endedness of virtual environment The presence of humans

Virtual Worlds Enhancing AI

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Complex virtual worlds require research of new AI techniques

Implementation complexity

scriptedbehaviours

cognitiveagents

swarmagents

motivatedagents

Be

hav

iou

ral com

ple

xity

learningagents

Motivated Agents for Dynamic Virtual Worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Motivated agents are one emerging research area for virtual worlds

The idea is to combine computational models of human motivation with artificial intelligence techniques

Interest, curiosity, competence motivation

Advantages of Motivated Agents

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Motivated agents find their own goals If the world changes, motivated agents

can change too by finding new goals In complex worlds, motivated agents

focus on a small number of goals

Motivated agents also have applications in other research fields

A Model of Motivation for Agents in Virtual Worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Agents monitor changes (events) in the world

Events with moderate novelty are highly motivating

Positive feedback

Negative feedback

Interest

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

0 0.5 1 1.5 2Novelty 2N(t)

Inte

rest

(R

ewar

d)

I(2N

(t))

= R

(t)

.

Future Technical Directions

Virtual world technologies are driven by (and also drive) other computer technologies:

Graphics, chips, memory… Servers, databases…

The increasing prevalence of virtual worlds is also influenced by social, cultural and economic values

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Have Virtual Worlds Reached A Tipping Point?

What further changes will promote growth?

Release of client code has already prompted improvements

Release of server code would also facilitate growth

BUT companies such as Linden would need to find new ways to make money from virtual worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Possible Growth Models for Virtual Worlds

Open source server code

Software licences for server code

APIs allowing other companies to build clones of virtual world software

Co-location facilities with hardware outsourced to other companies

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Summary

Virtual worlds are an exciting, emerging technology

We can expect to see: Merging of the virtual and physical Improvements in artificial intelligence New technologies to support virtual worlds New business models for virtual world

providers New applications of virtual worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Today’s Tutorial

Preliminary critiques: Spend 10 minutes demonstrating your

design to another group Discuss strengths, weaknesses and

strategies for improvement

Work on Task 2

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Next Week

Each group will give a 20 minute presentation

Presentation should include: Slides describing plot, strengths,

weaknesses (2 marks) Demonstration of game-play sequences (3

marks)

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007

Next Week

Each group to hand in: One report describing the game One report describing the group process

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, October 2007