From: edlantz@aol.com (Edlantz) Subject: Re: ENTERTAIN: what to do in Cyberspace? Date: 6 Nov 1996 17:56:57 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) "Brandon Van Every" writes: <...> >>>CyberTheater provides a full cast of live performers, including the principal characters, minor characters, and some "puppetteers" who control large numbers of "extras" (such as the onlookers at the court, townspeople, etc.) How does the consumer participate in such an event? Do they ever get to play the principal parts? If they do, then don't we have to worry about them mucking it up, and ruining the quality of the performance? Do they get to invent new parts, that interface to the main storyline in novel ways? If so, then how do we control the "damage" that they can do to the script? Or do we simply force the consumer to be a passive observer?<<< >>>Or, do we offer a universe that contains a continuously running re-enactment of "Hamlet," and merely offer other forms of entertainment that borrow from the "atmosphere" of Hamlet. i.e. you don't get a part in the main drama, but you can be a shopkeeper, or a pick-pocket, or a foreign aristocrat travelling to strange lands, etc.<<< >>>Consumers might be able to take a more active role if they are given good "authoring" tools. At one end of the spectrum, a "good" authoring tool would be one that makes up for a consumer's lack of acting/artistic panache. At least, that's what would be "good" from the perspective of CyberTheater, Inc! Whether certain consumers would find this entertaining or not, remains to be seen. <<< Very good questions you are bringing up here, Brandon. It is one thing to provide a VE delivery system, but the real challenges lie in the content. A key technology for spontaneous interaction with VE Drama will be voice recognition. Also, AI will allow the agent to get to know each participant and use that knowledge to goad them into an interaction with the agent and other participants (as avatars), much as a good street performer does. Individualized attention will be an important factor. Also, CyberTheater must be carefully designed such that participants cannot make a "wrong" response. A Shakespeare play "as-is" would be much too rigid for interactive freedom. There would have to be countless possible outcomes in the script. I also think that a 1:1 simulation of reality is NOT going to utilize the power of this new medium. We will want fantasy, magic, and entirely new storytelling devices. For instance, we could simulate what it is like to BE the character, including internal dialog, fantasies, impulses, dreams, and voices from the past. Another key goal of mine is to get the audience to interact with each other. There is such a richness to our beings which remains hidden behind our defense mechanisms. It would be a great use of technology (and alot of fun) to break through our defenses and get people to interact on a deeper level. BTW, I recently spoke with Scott Stevens (sms@cs.cmu.edu) of Carnegie Mellon Univ. who is launching an Entertainment Technology program fusing the Computer Science and Drama departments. Anyone interested in CyberTheater related studies may want to contact Scott. Cheers, Ed Lantz edlantz@aol.com