Semi-Autonomous Avatars in World of Minds A Case Study of
AI-based Game Design ACE 2008 Yokohama, Japan Thursday, Dec 4, D1,
9.00 Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari Gotland University, Sweden Michael
Mateas University of California, Santa Cruz, USA Slide 2
Introduction Ngonting om mig doktorand p hgo (via teeside, CS +
mathematics), tidigare spelprogrammerare, bg ven
littvet&beteendevetenskap. Detta, exempel p ai driven spel
design forskning EIS labbet i University of California SC. (MM) -
handupprckning: mud. Ultima online. EQ. WoW? CRPGs? TTRPGs? Slide 3
Characters in MMOs Majority of characters in MMORPGs are player
characters/avatars. Most character interaction take place between
avatars. NPCs in MMORPGs mainly give quests, sell items or give
information about the world. Slide 4 Round and Flat A flat
character consist of only a few traits and usually have a single,
static aim, transparent to the audience. A round character is
complex and capable of contradiction, surprise and change. Round
characters have a multitude of contradictory traits. (Forster,
Aspects of the Novel, 1927) Slide 5 Chatman on Round Characters
Round characters [] possess a variety of traits, some of them
conflicting or even contradictory [...] We remember them as real
people. They seem strangely familiar. Like real-life friends and
enemies it is hard to describe what they are exactly like.
(Chatman,Story and Discourse, 1978) In MMORPGs, the player
characters ARE real Slide 6 Round and Flat A flat character consist
of only a few traits and usually have a single, static aim,
transparent to the audience. A round character is complex and
capable of contradiction, surprise and change. Round characters
have a multitude of contradictory traits. (Forster, Aspects of the
Novel, 1927) NPCs Avatars Slide 7 Where MMOs fail Despite the focus
on player-to-player interaction, current MMORPG designs fail to
provide explicit support for helping players to roleplay and fail
to incorporate such social interaction and roleplay into the game
mechanics themselves. Slide 8 Goal To develop an AI-based game
mechanic that brings round characters into MMORPGs to support the
player in roleplaying through their avatar. Find ways to utilize
the richness of the present human intelligence in virtual game
worlds and via, the right triggers, enrich the game experience in
terms of characterdriven drama woven into the virtual world through
its rulesystem. Slide 9 Outline and summary One of the most
exciting possibilities in game AI research is for AI to open up new
game design possibilities. New AI will suggest new design
possibilities while design will push back on AI requirements. This
paper provides: A concrete case study of AI-centric game design,
specifically describing how AI can be powerfully and effectively
used in an MMORPG design. The Mind Module, a technical framework
for modeling personality and emotion for both player and non-player
characters. The World of Minds (WoM), an MMORPG that employs an
AI-based game mechanic designed around the MM. Lessons learned from
a paper prototype playtest of the mechanic. Slide 10 Mind Module
overview Slide 11 Mind Module (MM) Overview a semi-autonomous agent
architecture built to be used in a multiplayer environment as a
part of the player's avatar. The MM models the avatar's personality
as a collection of traits inspired by the FFM maintains dynamic
emotion state as a function of interactions with objects in the
environment and trait values, and summarizes the avatar's current
emotional state as an inner and outer mood Spreading Activation
Network (SAN) Slide 12 Deconstruction and reconstruction In
psychlogy and neuropsychology the complexity of the human mind is
made more comprehensible by deconstruction into subsystems. As
builders of virtual humans we need to reconstruct agents that can
function in way that is believable and useful to the users in the
contexts and systems we devise. Slide 13 Node types Weighted
network of interconnected nodes Slide 14 Two-dimensional affect
plane Emotions: brief and focused (ie. directed at an intentional
object) disposition Sentiments: permanent and focused disposition
Mood: brief and global disposition Personality: permanent and
global disposition Slide 15 Personality Plethora of personality
theories; psychoanalytic, behaviorist, cognitive and
biophysiological theories. Trait theory pioneered by Allport
(1930ies) where the most prominent personality assessment is called
the Five Factor Model. (also used by Guoliang, Klesen, Khirsagar,
El Jed, etc) Slide 16 Five Factor Model NEO PI-R (also called
OCEAN) Slide 17 Personality Trait Nodes Defines how you are.
Traits: OCEAN model (Big five) Slide 18 Emotions in MM Emotion
Weight to Inner Mood Weight to Outer Mood Amusement+2 Interest
Excitement+1.5 Enjoyment/Joy+2 Relief+1.5 Satisfaction+2
Surprise+1.5 Confusion-1.5 Distress/Anguish-2-1.5 Fear/Terror-2
Anger-2 Shame/Humiliation-1.5 Sadness-2 Guilt-1.5 13 basic
emotions, common to primates, as described by Ekman, Tomkins,
Nathansson Slide 19 Emotion Nodes Define how you feel right now 13
Slide 20 Mood In everyday sense: An overall state or quality of
feeling at a particular time Changes slower than emotions Temporary
Highly contextual Lingers even if the context changes Becomes part
of the next context Individual same type of event result in
differents moods for different people. Slide 21 Moods private,
inner mood extroverted side of the mood, how the character
emotionally is relating to the game world and to other characters.
Slide 22 Inner and Outer Mood The inner mood is the private sense
of harmony that can be present even if the character is in an
environment where events lead to a parallel mood of annoyance. The
nature of the outer mood is social, and as such tied to emotions
that are typically not only directed towards another entity but
also often expressed toward an entity, such as anger or amusement.
The two scales for the mood nodes open up the possibility of more
complex states of mind than a single binary axis of moods that
cancel each other out. Slide 23 Mood Define how you feel today
Slide 24 We interpret the moods of people around us, and choose how
to act accordingly Slide 25 Sentiments Emotional attachements MM
allows several sentiments ie, of different emotions, to be attached
toward an other entity, thus creating a compound set of sentiment.
emergent sentiments origin from interactions with other entities in
the world, thus creating emotional memories. authored sentiment
sets have certain pre-set combinations. For example ``infatuation"
is a combination of interest/excitement/amusement and joy toward
another character. Slide 26 Player might realize it is a good idea
to RUN! Slide 27 Slide 28 Sentiment Define how you generally feel
about specific things An emotional disposition towards a specific
object or class of objects. Slide 29 Node types Weighted network of
interconnected nodes Slide 30 MM Summary The MM thus provides the
player with information about the avatars feelings toward other
entities in the world. Proximity to objects or characters affect
the emotions, and thus the mood of an avatar, functioning as
information the player can use to form an agenda for game play.
Slide 31 World of Minds Game Play Slide 32 World of Minds Summary
Prototype mutiplayer game world where the personalities of the
inhabitants are the base for the game mechanics. When interacting
with other characters, the action potential depend upon the player
character's current mood and personality Slide 33 Basic Game Play
of WoM Players need to defeat physical manifestations of negative
mental states by using - Spells - Affective actions The spells
available to the character depends on personality The affective
actions available to the character depends on the current mood.
Slide 34 Spells and mind energy Spells cost Mind Energy to use
(mana) Attacks reduce Mind Resistanse (health) The amount of Mind
Energy is tied to Outer Mood The amount of Mind Resistanse is tied
to Inner Mood Slide 35 Fluctuations of Energy and Resistanse Slide
36 Slide 37
