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<!ENTITY % METACOSM SYSTEM "../en.metacosm.ent">
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<article lang="EN">
<articleinfo>
<title>RFC - Character</title>
<corpauthor>&author;</corpauthor>
<revhistory>
<revision>
<revnumber>0.2</revnumber>
<date>May, 11 2000</date>
<authorinitials>Entropizer</authorinitials>
<revremark>"The late release" now based on Metacosm-DTD,
added section on Character creation</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>0.1</revnumber>
<date>February, 21th 2000</date>
<authorinitials>Entropizer</authorinitials>
<revremark>"Presidents' Day release" First version based
on Entity-RFC (Entropizer)</revremark>
</revision>
</revhistory>
<abstract>
<simpara>This document is meant to define what a Character is and describe more
precisely concepts that only make sense for Characters such as Skills,
memory or roles...</simpara>
</abstract>
</articleinfo>
&license;
&project;
<sect1>
<title>Foreword</title>
<para>This document relies heavily on the notion of Entity. To be able to
understand all of it, the reader should be familiar with
Entity-RFC. Several references are made to that document in the
present one. It can therefore be useful to keep a copy of it at hand.
Moreover, the reader should keep in mind that this is more an analysis
level document and doesn't therefore go deep into the details of
implementation. Enjoy!</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>What is a Character?</title>
<glosslist>
<glossentry id="character">
<glossterm>Character</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A Character is a particular kind of Entity. We
consider as Character any Entity that Players can control. This
implies that a Character is an Entity which is *permanently*
controlled by a Controller (whether the Controller is a Player or an
Artificial Intelligence). The permanent aspect of the control is
important because it excludes all entities that can be *temporarily*
controlled because they are under the influence of a spell. However,
this is not enough to define a Character since we can imagine that
some entities can be permanently controlled by a Controller without
being eligible to be a Character (think of machines as an example, we
can imagine that their behavior can be controlled by a Controller).</para>
<para>The major quality that an Entity needs to be considered as a Character
is (relative) indeterminism. What does this mean is that Players can
only play entities which behavior they are able to control at least a
minimum. The Player add the indeterminism to the Entity. If a Player
doesn't have the possibility of influencing the behavior of an Entity
then this Entity is not suited to be controlled by a player and cannot
therefore be considered as a Character.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
</glosslist>
<para>More precisely, it is an Entity which Type (see Entity-RFC) is
Character. Characters are also likely to belong to more specific
sub-types. Once again, as mentioned in Entity-RFC, on the
implementation side, Types are likely to be implemented as
classes. However, in the case of Character, it is more likely that
this Type will be implemented as an interface so that Entities from
different sub-types could become eligible to be Characters. This
document will not however go into the details of sub-types since we
consider they are part of a particular instance of the Metacosm game
engine. However, we will try to keep in mind the fact that it should
be possible to define sub-types without having to actually code new
ones. Therefore, we will try to define Characters so as to comply to
this requirement.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Roles</title>
<warning><para>Highly experimental section... The Role concept is not
entirely clear.</para></warning>
<glosslist>
<glossentry id="role">
<glossterm>Role</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>Roles are a new concept (?) that could bring an
interesting dimension to the game. As their name implies, Roles are
roles that a Character can play. A Character can play multiple roles
at the same time. It can also change roles or "learn" new roles.</para>
<para>Roles are closely linked to Actions. Actions can define a list of
Roles that are needed for its completion with fluency levels. In this
case, Roles gather all the needed information that allows a Character
to execute a given action such as needed Skills and requirements on
attributes. Similarly, Roles can define a list of Actions that they
enable Characters to do.</para>
<para>A Character has a 'fluency' level for each roles that it
plays. These levels determine how easy it is for this Character to
accomplish the related Action.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
</glosslist>
<para>Roles can be instantaneous or semi-permanent. They can be as
large-grained and semi-permanent as a Character's Orientations (see
<link linkend="orientation">below</link>) or small-grained and
instantaneous as "instant roles" that are played for a very small
lapse of time by Characters and that act mainly as a facilitator for
interactions. Instantaneous Roles will be developed in greater details
with Actions in the Interactions-RFC.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Characters and Characterization Levels (CLs)</title>
<para>In this section, we examine more precisely what CLs mean for
Characters and introduce new CLs when appropriate. More precisely, we
discuss the impact of a Character's Choice of Life on its diverse
Characteristics.</para>
<sect2>
<title>Character creation</title>
<para>Creating a Character that appeals to the Player is an important step
towards having a good time while playing a Metacosm-based game. It is
really important that a Player feels comfortable with his Character
since it will be his or her avatar in the realm of the game. Being
able to play a Character for which you chose its qualities and
weaknesses, its attitude towards what happens to it, is really
rewarding and is an important element that can bring Players to
role-play. Metacosm offers therefore a large choice of customization
options.</para>
<glosslist>
<glossentry id="choiceoflife">
<glossterm>Choice of life</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>When a new Character is created,
orientations are chosen that provide a frame for the Character's
acts. It is what we call the Choice of Life. The Character's acts are
evaluated considering its Choice of Life. The Metacosm game engine
bases its calculation on the Choice of Life to determine a Character's
Karma.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
</glosslist>
<para>A Character's Choice of Life contains several aspects of a
Character's personality. When a Player creates a new Character, she
is asked to provide information on the Character she wants to play.</para>
<para>Metacosm will provide templates that will be available for
modifications by Players to speed up the creation process.</para>
<para>Proposed templates (among others...):</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>warrior</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>merchant</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>scientist</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>magician</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<sect3>
<title>Orientations</title>
<glosslist>
<glossentry id="orientation">
<glossterm>Orientation</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>Orientations define the Character's
interests. They try to define the global behavior of the Character
and influence the way it will probably evolve.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
</glosslist>
<para>There are several different Orientations that a Player can choose for
its Character. They all act at different level and can be combined to
add depth to a Character.</para>
<sect4>
<title>Attribute Orientation</title>
<para>Attribute Orientation allows the Character to give a subjective
importance to Attributes. This system will try to model the way a
Character uses its Attributes to influence the way it will handle
situations (for computer-controlled Characters) and determine how a
Character's Attributes are going to evolve.</para>
<para>It should be possible to change Attribute Orientation during the
game. However, such changes should be rare and subject to a relaxation
time i.e. the change will take a certain amount of time depending on
how important the change is. For example, a warrior who decided to
give the greatest importance to Power at first since his combat
philosophy was oriented towards pure brutality will surely have
difficulty to embrace a more subtle approach to martial arts by
choosing to give a greater importance to Coordination.</para>
<para>The system will work by attributing a given importance to each
Attribute. We can imagine that the system could take two different
approaches. First, a point-based system in which each Attribute will
receive a given number of points, the total of available points being
constant so that giving points to an Attribute will mean having less
points available for the others. The other alternative is more simple
and doesn't allow for several Attributes to have the same importance
as it is the case in the point-based approach. This other system
consists in giving a strict order to Attributes that are then ranked
from the most important to the less important.</para>
<para>It is worth noting that the Attribute Orientation system should
influence the Character generation process in the sense that an
Attribute with greater importance will be more likely to have a higher
level at creation than an Attribute with a smaller
importance. However, this is not a necessity and the Attribute
Orientation is not required to be an image of a Character's Attribute
levels, i.e. a Character with a great subjective importance on Power
doesn't necessarily have its Power Attribute greater than the others.</para>
</sect4>
<sect4>
<title>Behavorial Orientation</title>
<para>Behavorial Orientations try to capture the way that a Character is
likely to behave like. We will try to identify here only orientations
that can be computer-assessed and are susceptible to be implemented as
part of a computer-controlled Character's Artificial Intelligence.</para>
<para>Ideas for Behavorial Orientations:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>violent / peaceful will use violence or try to argue?</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>curious / </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>generous / greedy</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>talkative / reserved</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>...</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect4>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Edges and Flaws</title>
<para>Metacosm's Edges and Flaws system allows Characters to be even more
characterized by adding little, polishing touches to the overall
description of a Character.</para>
<sect4>
<title>Definitions</title>
<glosslist>
<glossentry id="edge">
<glossterm>Edge</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>An Edge is a particular kind of Characterization
Level that gives an advantage to a Character. This kind of advantage
can be of several different types such as bonuses to Characteristics,
to Skills or Actions...</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
</glosslist>
<glosslist>
<glossentry id="flaw">
<glossterm>Flaw</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A Flaw is a particular kind of Characterization
Level that gives a disadvantage to a Character.This kind of disadvantage
can be of several different types such as maluses to Characteristics,
to Skills or Actions...</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
</glosslist>
</sect4>
<sect4>
<title>Formal Description</title>
<para>Can affect attributes, Skills, actions... => explain</para>
</sect4>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Choice of Life and Roles</title>
<para>The role that an Entity assumes affects the way that it reacts to
its environment. As an example, working hard physically would probably
improve a creature's stamina. Moreover, a creature's Role leads it to
practice certain Skills and therefore improve them but can also leads
it to forget about others. A particular Role is the Entity's Orientation.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Modifiers</title>
<para>Done by CPs... => explain</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Skills</title>
<para>Skills are more complex than attributes or capabilities. Contrary to
how it is for attributes, not all entities possess Skills. Skills are
limited to sentient entities (or entities made sentient through
different means, be it magic or technology...).</para>
<para>A Character possesses an undefined number of Skills. Those Skills are
define at the Type level. They represent basic Skills of an Entity of
a given Type. It is possible for a Character to learn new Skills or
develop old ones. Characters can however only learn a certain number
of Skills at full efficiency. This number is given by a function of
his/her/its memory attribute. Full efficiency of a Skill means that the
Character is able to potentially use the Skill at its best degree of
performance. If the Character tries to learn more Skills, more ancient
ones will become "faded". They won't be in immediate memory anymore
and the Character won't be able to use them with maximum
efficiency. However, after a couple of tries and/or practice, the
Character may regain full efficiency in a Skill. We don't think that
one can really forget a physical Skill. One might however forget
unused knowledge.</para>
<para>Each Skill should be based on an attribute. The Skill will work as a
modifier to the attribute to enhance the performance of the Entity. We
can also think that if an Entity doesn't have the necessary Skill to
perform a given action, it can optionally default to the appropriate
attribute. However, not all actions can use the default attribute or
if they do, they should do so with an important penalty as it is the
case for knowledge Skills.</para>
<example>
<title>Mathematics</title>
<para>Example: if you haven't learn mathematics, it will be very difficult
for you to solve a given problem. However, a very clever person could
devise a way of solving the problem without the necessary
knowledge. This is however highly unlikely and difficult to do. We'll
explain more precisely in another document how Skills will work,
especially regarding the use of attributes.</para>
</example>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Memory</title>
<para>Memory is an important concept to the game. It will allow more realism
since each Entity will be allowed to keep track of its deeds and
history. Moreover, it should simplify interactions by introducing
concepts such as short-term memory. Characterization levels have a
great influence on memory. Each CL will introduce its own memory that
will be shared by all entities affected by a given CL. CLs will act
like a pool of concepts, modifiers and memories that will be shared by
all member entities. Sharing memory with a community allows to
simplify Entity design by factoring out commonality. Moreover, it will
allow the possibility of making the world evolve by operating on CL
memories. When a shared memory is changed, all entities sharing it
benefit from the change. Thus, we can represent knowledge evolution,
rumors, etc. by several kinds of processing on Characterization Pools.
A particular short-term memory will be used to store an Entity's
context to allow it to act depending on its context. The most obvious
application of this is for basic interactions since this short-term
memory will allow an Entity to directly act on objects in its context
without having to have to identify each other Entity before acting on it.</para>
<para>Examples of CPs memories:</para>
<example>
<title>General level</title>
<para>We can imagine that each Entity will have a
specific set of actions that will model physical law of the world.
This set of physical will manage how entities interact (unconsciously)
with their environment. As an example, if an Entity is pushed by
another, the action representing the related physical law will be
used. For more information, see Interactions-RFC.</para>
</example>
<example>
<title>Type level</title>
<para>"Races" memory could simulate cultural knowledge or specific
abilities.</para>
</example>
<example>
<title>Geographic level</title>
<para>Memory of home town history.</para>
</example>
<example>
<title>Community level</title>
<para>Knowledge of rumors, name of the local baker...</para>
</example>
<example>
<title>Professional level</title>
<para>Specific Skills given by the Entity's profession if any.</para>
</example>
<example>
<title>Personal level</title>
<para>Personal Skills, history, discoveries, knowledge,
relationships with other entities (friends, enemies...)</para>
</example>
<para>It should be possible for a Character to explicitly query its own
memory. => explain</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Possessions</title>
<para></para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Editor</title>
<para></para>
<!--
role: skills and attributes to be affected (design of a role)
-->
</sect1>
</article>