Building Characters: Lessons Drawn from Virtual Environments

Abstract

There are a number of common research problems encountered in building applications which involve the usage of virtual characters or sociable robots, especially when the application demands the facilitation of social interaction and communication with users (Breazeal, 2002; Kidd, 2003; Schroeder, 2002). One of these challenges is in modelling characters of high visual fidelity and behavioural authenticity (Slater et al., 2000; Goetz et al., 2003). This paper gives a review of studies that offer evidence to support the importance of developing characters with plausible and consistent behavioural