Abstract
This paper proposes a new perspective, based on the concept of social masks, for the simulation of a realistic NPC (Non-Player Character) behavior. The Mask Model goal is to support AI techniques for autonomous agents by encouraging or discouraging behaviors according to the social environment and by providing knowledge about possible reactions to the agent actions. In this approach, the NPC tendencies are controlled by the interactions of three overlapping mask layers: self-perception layer, social layer and interpersonal layer. The masks mould the tendencies, the feelings and the ethics of a NPC. By changing the links between characters and masks, a wide variety of different behaviors and story-lines may arise. The paper present an algorithm for the selection of the actions and an example implementation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aylett, R.S., Louchart, S., Dias, J., Paiva, A., Vala, M.: FearNot! - An Experiment in Emergent Narrative. In: Panayiotopoulos, T., Gratch, J., Aylett, R.S., Ballin, D., Olivier, P., Rist, T. (eds.) IVA 2005. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3661, pp. 305–316. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)
Crawford, C.: Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling. New Riders, Berkeley (2004)
Davies, N., Mehdi, Q., Gough, N.: Creating and visualising an intelligent npc using game engines and ai tools. In: Proc. 19th European Conference on Modelling and Simulation, Riga, Latvia, pp. 721–726 (2005)
Edgley, C., Turner, R.: Masks and social relations: An essay on the sources and assumptions of dramaturgical social psychology. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations 3, 4–12 (1975)
Goffman, E.: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Doubleday Anchor Books, Garden City (1959)
Hofstede, G.H.: Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations, 2nd and enlarged edition. Sage, Thousand Oaks (2001)
Lee, E.J., Nass, C.: Does the ethnicity of a computer agent matter? An experimental comparison of human-computer interaction and computer-mediated communication. In: Proceedings of the 1st Workshop of Embodied Conversational Characters, WECC 1998 (October 1998)
Marsella, S., Pynadath, D., Read, S.: Psychsim: Agent-based modeling of social interactions and influence. In: Proc. of the International Conference on Cognitive Modeling, pp. 243–248 (2004)
Mascarenhas, S., Dias, J., Afonso, N., Enz, S., Paiva, A.: Using rituals to express cultural differences in synthetic characters. In: Sierra, C., Castelfranchi, C., Decker, K.S., Sichman, J.S. (eds.) AAMAS (1), pp. 305–312. IFAAMAS (2009)
Mateas, M., Stern, A.: A behavior language for story-based believable agents. IEEE Intelligent Systems 17, 39–47 (2002)
McCoy, J., Treanor, M., Samuel, B., Tearse, B., Mateas, M., Wardrip-Fruin, N.: Authoring game-based interactive narrative using social games and comme il faut. In: Proc. of the 4th International Conference and Festival of the Electronic Literature Organization: Archive and Innovate (ELO 2010), Providence, Rhode Island, USA (2010)
Nelson, M.J., Roberts, D.L., Isbell Jr., C.L., Mateas, M.: Reinforcement learning for declarative optimization-based drama management. In: Proceedings of the Fifth International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, AAMAS 2006, pp. 775–782. ACM, New York (2006)
Paul, R., Charles, D., McNeill, M., McSherry, D.: Mist: An interactive storytelling system with variable character behavior. In: Aylett, R.S., Lim, M.Y., Louchart, S., Petta, P., Riedl, M. (eds.) ICIDS 2010. LNCS, vol. 6432, pp. 4–15. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Pirandello, L.: Maschere Nude. Mondadori, Milano (1986)
Sharma, M., Ontañón, S., Mehta, M., Ram, A.: Drama management and player modeling for interactive fiction games. Computational Intelligence 26(2), 183–211 (2010)
Strauss, A.: Mirrors and masks: the search for identity. Transaction Publishers, New York (1997)
Young, R.M., Riedl, M.O., Branly, M., Jhala, A.: An architecture for integrating plan-based behavior generation with interactive game environments. Journal of Game Development 1(1), 1–29 (2004)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Osborne, F. (2011). A New Approach to Social Behavior Simulation: The Mask Model. In: Si, M., Thue, D., André, E., Lester, J.C., Tanenbaum, T.J., Zammitto, V. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7069. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25289-1_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25289-1_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-25288-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-25289-1
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)