Fearnot

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IRIS Wiki - IS Systems - Fearnot

Availability

Detailed information on the FearNot! project can be found on Fearnot website.

download Fearnot

Technical Description

FearNot! Project is based on unscripted 3D animated characters (Aylett et al., 2006). Characters use a cognitive and emotional model of human behaviour. It is expected that from the interaction of these complex characters a global story will emerge, without any central management of the story, according to the principle of narrative emergence (Aylett, 1999).

System components facilitate story development by setting up episodes and scenes for the purpose of increasing the chances of story progression.

Recent research includes a double appraisal mechanism, where an agent chooses an action according to the estimated impact on the other agent. The action with the strongest impact is selected (Louchart & Aylett 2007).

Result Description (end user perspective)

The FearNot! system is used to address bullying situations for school aged children (8-12). Users (children) interact with characters in a simulated bullying situation. A clip is played where a bullying situation unfolds, the user then can interact with the victim through a free text dialogue exchange in order to give advice to the victim. The next scenario that is played out follows from what the user advised the victim to do.

Authoring Description

A story is authored by selecting characters' goals and features. Also, each successive episode is authored with preconditions.

Strong Points

  • Within an episode, the events are unscripted and solely based on autonomous character (emergence).
  • Double appraisal mechanism
  • FearNot! has been used outside laboratories, in schools.

Limitations

Given the mode of interaction (dialogue between episodes), one cannot tell that the events are generated rather than scripted.

Main Publications

  • Aylett, R. (1999). Narrative in virtual environments - towards emergent narrative. In Proc. AAAI Fall Symposium on Narrative Intelligence (North Falmouth MA), 83-86. Menlo Park: AAAI Press.
  • Aylett, R., Louchart, S., Dias, J., Paiva, A., Vala, M., Woods, S. & Hall, L. (2006). Unscripted Narrative for affectively driven characters. IEEE Journal of Graphics and Animation. May/June 2006 (Vol. 26, No. 3) ISSN: 0272-1716 pp. 42-52.
  • Louchart, S. and Aylett, R. (2006). Investigation Théorique sur le récit émergent. In (Szilas & Réty, Eds.) Création de récits pour les fictions interactives - simulation et réalisation. Paris: Hermes/Lavoisier. pp. 241-271.
  • Louchart, S., Aylett, R. (2007). From synthetic characters to virtual actors. In Proceedings 3rd Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment International Conference (AIIDE 2007) (pp. 88-91). Stanford, USA: AAAI Press.

Supporting Narrative Theories

FearNot! took more inspiration from interactive media (non computer) than from classical narrative (Louchart & Aylett, 2006). Sources of inspiration include: Role Playing Games, improvisation theatre, reality TV.

Computational Model

Specific agent models.