Leashing the AlphaWolves: mixing user direction with autonomous emotion in a pack of semi-autonomous virtual characters

  • Authors:

  • Bill Tomlinson;Marc Downie;Matt Berlin;Jesse Gray;Derek Lyons;Jennie Cochran;Bruce Blumberg

  • Affiliations:

  • Synthetic Characters Group, The Media Lab, MIT;Synthetic Characters Group, The Media Lab, MIT;Synthetic Characters Group, The Media Lab, MIT;Synthetic Characters Group, The Media Lab, MIT;Synthetic Characters Group, The Media Lab, MIT;Synthetic Characters Group, The Media Lab, MIT;Synthetic Characters Group, The Media Lab, MIT

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2002 ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics symposium on Computer animation
  • Year:
  • 2002

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Abstract

We present a system in which computer-graphical virtual characters may be controlled by a user and also remain "in character." The system allows the user to have high-level control over the actions of a character, while the emotional state of the character is autonomously maintained by the computer. We show how this system functioned as part of the AlphaWolf installation, presented in the Emerging Technologies program at SIGGRAPH 2001. Results from a 32-subject human user study support the hypothesis that users could control a character's actions without sacrificing its realistic autonomous personality. This system is appropriate to the control of computer-graphical entities that are meant to have personalities distinct from those of the humans that direct them.