"Bullard, Claude L (Len)" wrote:
>
> I would suggest in Episode 1 (having not seen it) that the author
> is faced with the task of creating an action adventure that has to
> also be the setup for what follows. His audience was given orignally,
> an "in medias" introduction because the middle of the epic
> was presented first. He isn't using a flashback, and he
> has to make the right connections. So, he has a lot of
> challenges in episode 1. Soap operas are great models
> just as Babylon V and X-Files are. It is amazing how long
> they can keep postponing the revelations.
>
> As has been discussed, given interoperable tools, good standards
> etc., an approach to the worlds you describe can be done if
> multiple authors/users work inside a framework. The challenge
> to the persistent database is to act for them as the sequencer
> MIDI recorder works for the musician. Although more complex,
> the scenes and scene transitions can be reduced to named
> components just as MIDI depends on number assignments
> based on a standard keyboard. Even these can be altered
> and that is how one sets up "kits" for particular songs. So
> you have:
>
> Album - connects songs
> Song - connects patterns
> Patterns - A and B variants with a C transition variant
> Kits - assigns midi note numbers to particular instruments
> and/or ranges of instruments
> Instruments - have variations based on sonority (eg, acoustic, electric,
> etc)
> Arrangers - take ideas and orchestrate them to create
> patterns using Kits.
> Performers - using arranged ideas as backing for their
> improvisations
>
> There are recorded events which are reproducible and real time
> events which may be recorded. You can combine real time
> (improv) with recorded (eg, the rhythm section). All of these
> can be reproduced in a persistent system as you have designed
> given the right controls. That is why the issue of standard controls
> recurs. Also, recording is essential because then you
> can let the sim build, take a character out and put a new
> possibly live character in. Let each one take the kobayashi
> moru test of character.
>
> To really get far, we need the tools because right now,
> creativity requires far toooooooooo much hands on programming
> and that is an expensive skill to get and to use. Otherwise as
> IrishSpace and VRMLDream showed, one needs a team of
> dedicated specialists. As the PROTO library advances
> and UMEL, perhaps this will get easier as we can build
> with parts instead of handcrafting. One of my problems
> with X3D is having to restart the building processes we
> have labored on for the last few years. Oh well....
>
> One needs to be able to control the characters, but also
> enable the characters to control each other through the system
> interfaces. The environment is a character as well. One
> does not need to model infinity as you rightly point out.
> Big enough is good enough. I claim that free will is
> an illusion in most cases, or is at best, a limited option
> so not completely free. One can choose suicide but it is a hard
> act to follow. :-)
>
> The vital question about a piece is, is it entertaining? (we
> could also include instructive but ....)
>
> As pointed out on another list on another subject, the failures
> of evocation among characters is the sine qua non of communication.
> It is also essential for farce and tragedy. One could take the
> rule that as in the browser, what is not recognized is ignored.
> In other words, yes if an interpretation can be expressed, the
> evocative interface drives an action but this is not the same
> for all characters. Some objects have public interfaces, some
> don't. Most have both public and private methods. A fascinating
> issue is what happens in standard worlds as people build
> ever more complex avatars and insert them into running
> simulations.
>
> You are well on the way by setting up the MU. Now if you
> and others can set up the standards for inserting and controlling
> the avatars, as well as a means of creating and communicating
> the environment setup (eg, messages in the tower), then
> a means for recording that which does not insist on deus
> ex machinas (the problem with chat is that it is not good theatre),
> you are mostly done.
>
> Oh... to make money, provide an interface to put ads in the
> world. Billboards be profitable.
>
> Len
>
> Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
> Daamyata. Datta. Dayadhvam.h
--
Jeff Sonstein http://www.blaxxun.com/
http://ariadne.iz.net/~jeffs/jeffs.asc
==========================================
Director of Technical Support
blaxxun Interactive
