Mercado – 1

NPC Social Dynamics as

Emergent Behavior
By Redgie Mercado

Professor Monica Evans

December 07, 2009

OVERVIEW
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It is commonly cited in psychology and sociology textbooks that the

majority of our interaction in the real world is through non verbal

communication. Though much of our conscious effort goes into verbal

communication, many times the non verbal communication aspects shape

the group characteristics. The social dynamic between two people are

significantly different from the dynamic between 3 or more people and in the

case of interaction, people act quite differently. In the advent of ever more

sophisticated video games, worlds that live and breathe are in demand.

Video games progress in true/false trees. How can video games successfully

simulate a dynamic that pushes past simple dichotomies and create nuance

in NPCs? ("PsyBlog"; Matulef)

Digital signals require a large amount of data in order to represent

nuances. Due to its nature in binary information, every choice must be a “0”

or a”1” in order to represent a wide gamut of results. If the results are not

detailed enough, only another set of “0”s or “1”s can represent them.

Much of communication done in video games relies on overtly

mechanical features, such as dialogue trees and statistical damage and

removal of morality points that do not realistically match real life. In reality,

the brain processes a huge array of information that is sent from the five

senses. Can they be successfully “compressed” when digitally converted, but

still effectively communicate the desired psychological effect on the

immersion experience? If such a system is buildable, can the effective digital

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quantification of psychological traits be used to build increasingly complex

artificial intelligence so a standalone social dynamic can exist? This research

document will analyze the level of immersion demanded in video games and

the theories that create immersion. Then it will examine games that immerse

players in context of these theories. And finally it will examine the

relationship player agents have among NPCs and the relationships NPC’s can

have between themselves.

JUSTIFICATION:

Immersion, according to Steve Woyach “is the process by which a

media element entices a person to suspend their disbelief and accept what

they are viewing on a screen or page as actual reality. Through non-linear

dramatic elements and interaction between the player and the computer, a

video game achieves a level of reality that demands very little suspension of

disbelief and is therefore a more compelling experience.” (Woyach). In this

article he asks whether art is about imitating life, and asks what it really

means to suspend disbelief. It is established that modern video games take

little effort to achieve a suspension of disbelief. However, when video games

imitate the nuances of real life, only then will video games reach the

pinnacle of technology. Video games simulations exploit this by representing

mechanical situations like flying a fighter jet in a military installment. They

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incorporate the real controls into an interface and control scheme that is

often indistinguishable from actual aviation equipment.

However, how could a video game designer take psychological factors

and incorporate it into video game characters in a more meaningful way?

Even though technology is ever growing, emergent game play in terms of

creating a living social dynamic among non player characters is young. Many

times, video games will employ hard coded systems in order to direct

conversation trees and use scripts and game events to progress the game.

And in many times, the only source of story progression in through the use of

simple dialogues trees. Video gamers are tired of relying only on the

exhaustion of options in dialogue trees. (Matulef)

Flow Theory In Terms of Immersion

Flow theory state the usefulness of intense complete immersion in any

environment that is conducive to learning and interaction. This is especially

true for the video game experience. If the player is engaged in the natural

flow of the activity then their learning and enjoyment is enhanced. In flow

theory, the skill level is associated with the challenge level. In simple terms,

the optimum amount of challenge versus the skill level will increase the flow

of learning. Flow theory consists of 9 parts, utilizing clear goals,

concentration, a loss of self consciousness, distorted sense of time, direct

instant feedback, balance between the level and challenge, a sense of

personal control over the activity, intrinsic rewards and action awareness
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merging. As it is said by Csíkszentmihályi, not all of the 9 tenets are needed

for flow. Sophisticated non playable characters give rise to a few of these

tenets. (Butler-Bowdon)

Presentation of goals can be clearer since sophisticated NPCs would

give off more information that would make the player that much more aware

of the goals needed. The loss of the feeling of self-consciousness

incorporates the action i.e. the goal and the awareness. The player’s will to

complete the goal, when merged also leads to clearer goals, and more

importantly concentration. This affect on concentration could possibly result

in intensified communication in evolved NPCs.

Since concentration and goals are clear in mind, a distorted sense of

time is another consequence. Intense concentration and flow lead to a

natural dilation where the player becomes unaware of the time that’s

passed. This in effect allows the player to be exposed to more than they

think they have been exposed to, and thus increases learning opportunities

while naturalizing the player to the experience.

The last two state that direct and immediate feedback and the sense of

personal control are also important for immersion. Evolved, personality

infused non playable characters increases the chances for immediate

feedback, and at the same time increases personal control. If a video game

took advantage of these components of flow theory, a player who offends an

NPC can expect to receive that feedback in a form of non verbal

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communication, through gestures or facial reactions. This is unlike the

typical mechanical solution of decreasing player karma, negatively affecting

the player in some sort of arbitrary way. It is in the same way that personal

control affects player immersion. Instead of dialogue trees, the more organic

solution allows the NPCs and player to interact in a more organic fashion.

(Butler-Bowdon)

Building towards Immersion

Throughout the history of video games, many designers realized the

need for video games to communicate feeling to the player. In “The Art and

Science of Synthetic Character Design” Kline posits that dynamic characters

can be built with complex characters in terms of mathematical functions that

can programmed into a system. Though the system is complex, the main

drive for creating such a system stems from the belief in traditional

animation that the characters should communicate, through motions,

gestures, and facial expressions the very desires of their inner being. (Kline,

and Blumberg)

As rational agents, NPC intentions can be gleaned from the very

actions they produce. Kline and Blumberg’s study breaks down dynamic

characters in to four terms; motivation drives, emotions, perception and

action selection. Motivation drives are defined as the bias towards a certain

behavior. Though motivation drives may be affected dynamically through the

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environment, like in the event of danger, the NPC with a motivation drive will

flee the scene but return to do its preferred activity.

Emotions in terms of external manifestations come from the

movement, stance, and general attitude of NPCs. In contrast to motivational

drives, emotion is a sudden change in the behavior of the NPC compared to

the larger time span attributed to motivation drives.

With perception and action selection, the last two values affect each

other. Perception information relates reaction information to motivation

drives and emotion. However, the sensory information involved with

perception dictates the selection of action. Though all three other factors can

rise through the direct link from sensory perception, the nuance in action

selection provides the NPC with fine tuned control over the situation. If the

initial motivation drives and emotion are not enough to give the NPC desire

and goal fulfillment then action selection fine tunes the appropriate reaction

until the appropriate goal is achieved.

Video Games Examples

Many games are starting to push the envelope towards non player

character and player character interactions. The theory of “Avatar-centric

Communication” relies very much on the same principles discussed in the

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previous section. Instead of the focus on NPCs, avatar centric

communication focuses more on the player character’s communication and

what they mean to the player. (“Patent Storm”)

In the two games that Team ICO made, the philosophy oftheir

development team is apparent in their treatment of NPC and player

characters. In an interview with Fumito Ueda he said “We opted for a theme

full of character. We have learned much about AI thanks to the our work on

ICO, and we then explored how different things and characters can interact

with each other in Shadow of the Colossus. With The Last Guardian, we’re

taking these two facets of gameplay, combining them together and bringing

them to a whole new level, allowing us to create a truly living and breathing

world, even surpassing our first two games.” (“PS3Blog.net”)

In discussing the Last Guardian, Ueda stressed the two previous

game’s interaction and AI. Shadow of the Colossus and the more obscure

title, ICO created a sense of deep characterization communicated through

the intentional action of the player character. In Nick Fortunugo’s essay, he

says that Wander, the protagonist in Shadow of the Colossus, moves and

sounds desperate. Wander shouts at his horse with harshness and

desperation to help him. When he moves, he pants, almost constantly tired

albeit determined. In animations, Wander runs awkwardly and suffers blows

uncomfortably. In fact, if Wander is hit hard, he goes down, and does not get

back up for a worrying amount of time. (Davidson)

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In Ico, Charles Herold’s informal essay discusses Yorda’s relationship

with Ico, especially the subtle movements and gestures between the two

that turned into powerful non verbal communication for the player. Ico is a

small boy, and as a result moves around just a like a small boy. When he

swings his stick, he does so awkwardly, and does it with lumbering force.

Yorda is defenseless, and acts on her own if the player leaves her alone.

Most of the time, the player must take care of Yorda. This practice is

stretched over the entirety of the game and thus the player in consequence

develops attachment. Herold states that the prolonged involvement and

worrisome behavior of Yorda becomes the focus of the player’s immersion

and interaction with the medium. (Davidson)

These games push the envelope when it comes to invoking natural

psychological triggers in the human psyche. With Team ICO it seems that

NPC and PC interactions are evolving. However in terms of NPC to NPC social

dynamics, the communication within game is lacking compared to the

interaction NPC has to the player.

In games like Oblivion and more recently Fallout 3, Radiant AI has been

the focus on big game companies like Bethesda in order to boost realism in

video game worlds. Radiant AI incorporates movements, actions and

pathfinding in terms of the motivation drives. Radiant AI works to a certain

degree at full implementation due to the fact that only motivations are

implemented at its design. In an insert on Bethesda’s Fallout 3 panel at E3,

Kotaku talked about some of the most pertinent questions concerning

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Radiant AI in Fallout 3. “In terms of the NPCs traveling around, many travel

around town, and some travel the wasteland. There are a few caravans in

the game that go from town to town trading. Radiant AI handles something

like that really well.” (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, 2006; Fallout 3, 2008;

Kotaku)

It seems that Radiant AI has the ability to provide scheduled NPC

interaction at high levels of success. However most of their system carries

over from Oblivion. The only functions they added were the purely aesthetic

presentation in NPC actions like leaning on a wall to wait around for the next

event. Bethesda admitted that they had to reduce the amount Radiant AI

persisting through the world, since many times NPCs will flee from the player

character if the NPC is outmatched or outgunned. Radiant AI still has holes

primarily from the fact that they do not incorporate more complex structures

such as stated in the Kline and Blumberg’s research document.

Expected Treatment of Digital Characters

In the abstract of Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass’ book The Media

Equation they reveal that people, as agents of control, react and treat digital

media like they would treat real social events. They state the anything from

movements of facial features on a monitor, to female and male voices sway

human psychological interaction in much of the same way as the real thing.

The concept suggests that human brains have not evolved to filter out

computer and media formats as false sense of information. Hence immersion

within the video games can happen in the first place. (Reeves, and Nass)
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Human beings have the ability to suspend disbelief, to have diligent

concentration in an activity and activate the components of flow theory.

However, there are disconnects that can happen in between that sway our

suspension and hence break down all the positive forces that aid our desire

and goal for the activity. But in the relationship humans form with media

formats, and the expectations they have from the relationships, it would be

prudent if the combination of positive immersion forces through highly

evolved socially dynamic NPCs, and the player’s expectations to form

relationships be melded together in order to maximize the immersion

experience. In this way, the player can have a ever deeper immersion

experience that brings the game world into another level. (Reeves, and Nass)

BEYOND THE VISUAL: THE ACTIVE AGENT AND THE IN-GAME

CHARACTERS

How then can the player become totally engrossed in the experience

afforded by the highly evolved non-player character? By analyzing certain

psychological factors within human interactions, the player or the active

agent can absorb the emotional and social cues given by the NPCs in the

same way they do in real life. In the analyzing the pure aesthetic design we

can see that many things apply to the game character design that would

trigger these responses. If it is used correctly, the right message will be sent

through the aestheticism of the character itself. Though the pure aesthetic

makes it way through many games, it is still worth mentioning because of

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how it primes the stage for the evolution of personality in non-player

characters that are beyond the visual. And in many ways already this is

being incorporated through dialogue and other things much like in the game

Mass Effect, where trigger motions are used in order to make the dialogue

more reaction based, instead of the player actually having to analyze each

game choice dialogue and choosing the appropriate response reflecting the

player’s wishes. (Mass Effect, 2007)

Universals

In Katherine Isbister’s book Better Game Characters by Design: A

Psychological Approach she extensively details all the different factors that

create game characters that appeal to human beings through psychology.

While Isbister focuses on general game character design, the focus here is to

create universals that foster immersion and social interaction among the

game world NPCs. However some of her pointers apply. (Isbister)

One of the point she mentions talks about the use of simple character

relationships that everyone can relate to. This typically means relationships

between family, friends, siblings, parent and son and love interests. There

are games that display this sort of relationship of characters and attempts to

emulate relationships it through game mechanics help player’s relate to

them. The rest of the factors include testing the game among the target

culture, removing any cultural references and being careful with the cultural

references that are incorporated to the game’s design. (Isbister)

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Universals help players of all kind get into the game by openly

identifying key moments in their own lives, and the associations formed

create a sort of indirect bridge to their emotional center. However, how can

one involve the player more so that players can go beyond the indirect

approach of the pure aesthetic? For example take the model of the father

and son. Failure in most games are hard coded to display a certain scripted

event. Much like in many other games, in Katamari Damacy, winning

advances the level and losing does not. Each condition is met with a scripted

action be it a cut scene or simply the next level. However, the mechanics of

winning and failure is one-dimensional. Though the player experiences

failure, repeated failure takes on the same consequence. If somehow the

King of All Cosmos would give out different punishment for the failure of his

son, vary the reactions between failures or even cut off certain game world

content until player’s were able to complete the level successfully, perhaps

then the NPC would act more like a convincing father who guides the son i.e.

the player into a right path into completing the game. As mentioned before

with Ico, there is a possibility to make indirect associations to true pure

visual aesthetic designs and easily incorporate it in to the game world in

order to minimize any distractions to the suspension of disbelief. (Katmari

Damacy, 2004)

In a controversial game, Love Plus a popular dating simulation game

for the Nintendo DS is an example of many where pure aesthetics in the

universal sense capitalize on human behavior, namely the relationship

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between the two intimately engaged individuals. Dating simulations by

nature play on human emotion and simulate the experience by multiple

dialogue trees with several endings. It also features a time function that

takes into account the player’s day cycle so wake/sleep cycles and meal

times are synchronized. (Love Plus, 2009)

While almost every game in this genre is an exercise in dialogue tree

exhaustion, the difference here in Love Plus incorporates the use of the

stylus, toting that the player can interact with the NPC by touching her, and

thus the NPC will react dynamically to the player’s stimulus. This is one

example of indirect associations have been expanded upon by the use of

new technology to stimulate the player’s brain in such a successful way. In

fact it is so successful that in many news sites there have been reports from

various sources that show Love Plus to have sold at least 100,000 copies in

Japan attesting to its popular among the male population. There are even

reports that caused a media sensation where a man intends to marry his

virtual girlfriend in Love Plus and has started the plans for the wedding

ceremony. Certainly, this example is extreme, but it attests to the power

universal themes have over people, and especially the ones who interact in

increasingly immersive manners. (Love Plus, 2009)

Abstractions
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Screenshot from The Marriage. The blue and pink squares represent husband and wife and the circles all around

represent the different things in life. (“The Marriage”)

Abstractions offer another way to make universally relatable

characters in a method that attract the player into engaging immersion.

Taking universals one step further, creating a metaphor for the player to

engage in makes powerful plays towards their consciousness during their

gaming experience. Metaphors can take on a variety of expressions. One of

the most abstract explorations of NPCs is in Rob Humble’s The Marriage.

Here, the player interacts with two squares, both blue and pink. Playing the

game, the player sees a variety of bubbles that take away from the blue and

pink squares. This abstraction in this case however is so extreme that the

player must have it explained to them. In this sense, it fails, but once it is

made clear, the metaphor for attraction and courtship is made clear. It is

made obvious that the game represents a man and woman as they meet and

go through their life story. At that point it becomes meaningful and possibly

emotinal. Quoting Humble’s explanation he says “Your controls reveal the

agency of the game. You are only capable of making the squares move
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towards each other at the same time or removing a circle by sacrificing the

size of the pink square. You are playing the agency of Love trying to make

the system of the marriage work. Not only does this mean that the

mechanics of attraction and sacrifice communicate love but also the physical

way the game is controlled”. Though it was personal to Humble the theme of

marriage is universal. In this aspect it provides a very good example of how

abstraction will lead to a universal theme that increases the player’s

interaction with the game. (Humble)

But how does this create a dynamic situation for the player to feel

involved and immersed through psychological design? Though the NPCs are

abstract, the themes communicated are dynamically created through the

player’s agency, which is the most important part of the game. As the player

goes on through the game, agency on abstract and universal nature of the

man and wife plays at affecting the player’s emotion, and thus increasing

immersion in a way that is not static and based on hard coded reaction.

(Humble)

A screenshot from passage; the future to the far right is a blurry path. (“Passage”)
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In another game by Jason Rohrer, two similar games Passage and

Gravitation explores life in a similarly metaphorical way. Agency and the

control in this game are manipulated not only by the aesthetics of the player

characters and the NPCs, but also by the mechanics of the game world.

Though it may seem like a tangent, the mechanics are incorporated into the

player character’s perception. The view of each game is an example of this.

In Passage, the game is played with a horizontal bar across the screen. The

player meets the girl and can be played by walking straight to the end of the

level until the girl and the player character dies of old age. Immediately, one

can see the metaphor in perceptual choice. As said by Rohrer, this is a game

about life or more specifically a memento mori, journey from birth to death.

The extremely wide perspective ratio emulates the lack of full perspective

when moving through life. Going north and south changes the variables in

life. Going south provides more opportunities to get more treasure or money,

but often times, the search is fruitless, if not impossible. Go north and stay

the easy route, and people see the world as it enfolds, amassing nothing, but

reaching farther then anything. Once you choose your wife, you become less

mobile, and cannot reach different treasures due to her. There is a timer

counting your natural life, and the player character can either expire in the

southern regions seeing nothing in life but money, or expire in the northern

regions having close to nothing, but seeing everything. The first and last

moments are the defining times in the game that move the metaphor into a

whole new level. As the player character and the NPC move from the
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beginning of life to the end, the far right part of the screen is initially blurry

indicating a uncertain future. But as the player proceeds and nears the end

of his life, the end becomes clear, while the end becomes blurry. And

eventually, the wife dies. Go on further and the eventually the player slows

down and succumbs and instantly turns into a tombstone. (Rohrer)

Screenshots from Gravitation. As the player gets his high, his viewable screen gives him more to see and the land

blooms in spring. But when he is down, his view becomes small, and the world turns to the dead of winter.

(“Gravitation”)

In those final moments, the mechanics represented throughout the

short experience emulated the social dynamics between the player character

and the NPC concerning the mechanics in life. In much of the same way,

Gravitation does the same thing. In Gravitation, the mechanics directly affect

the players perception and serves as the abstraction of the agent and the

player character’s own psychology. As the player goes up and gets more

stars, he becomes more and more happy and thus expands the view of the

player. This chronic depression becomes the pivot of the player as he tries to
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make the girl near the bottom happy. Games characters themselves do not

have to be the sole source psychological factors. If game mechanics invisibly

incorporate psychological aspects by combing character mechanics within

the world, then it is possible to create a more meaningful relationship and

thus model a social dynamic among NPCs. (Rohrer)

Gender

Gender plays a specific function in social dynamics in video games, as

a means of communication. While Universals and Abstractions can play with

the lines between player character and the framework of the game, gender

communicates more specifically on terms of pure aesthetic. Gender takes on

the qualities of the universal but just like real people, NPCs have different

types of communication that arise from their respective genders. Thus the

separation is important, and depending on the male and female agent, their

reaction to the NPC are coloured by all the possible combinations.

Male and Female agents and their respective characters genders

Males and females treat their player characters much like they would

treat themselves in real life. For players who engage their respective gender

in-game the tendency for males is to play aggressive roles and cater their

game play to destructive types, thought obviously this is not always the

case. With females, the tendency instead is to collaborate, and to be

constructive instead of destructive. This is especially true with how females

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deal with other NPCs respective to themselves, regardless if they are male or

female. Females also tend to create relationships more for the sake of the

relationship and the intercommunication rather than something strictly for

gain. When Males and females engage their own respective gender in-game

it provides for them a way to play off their own attributes, and expand from

there. The advantage here is that play styles, especially those supported by

the game mechanics will foster strong communication between the player

agent and the player characters and other NPCs, and thus increase the

immersion factor to a great degree. (Isbister)

Male and Female agents and their opposite respective characters

According to Isbister, the majority of female NPCs appeal to the male

gamer by visual appeal. Sexual curiosity becomes part of the drive to

communicate with female characters. And in many ways, if the game allows

it, the male agent will communicate to the female character in the way he

believes is appropriate to treat her because of her gender. However male

agents who have control of female player characters become a different

goal. Sexual curiosity is still there, but it takes on another role, this time, in

gender role-play. This allows the male player to explore or even nurture the

inherent feminine traits the player. This gender based attraction goes both

ways, and allows social interaction to flow in natural ways.

Female agents may treat male NPCs differently. Just as they do in real

life, females who are not actively engaged in the relationship can view male

characters more like an attractive mentor with a less significant stress on

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sexual curiosity. In terms of players, many of the female gamers will have

slightly reduced and different drives due to the differences in their brain and

body chemistry. Androgenetic hormones, typically testosterone increase

aggressiveness and sexual advances in men, but the severely reduced

amounts in women influence their views on the NPCs. In the same way,

female agents who play male player characters similarly, will have interest

due to the more fluctuations of their particular body chemistry. In this game,

it is less an appeal to the sexual curiosity involved with gender play, but

rather the typical habits associated with testosterone like aggressive

behaviours. (Isbister)

Stance, Posing and Facial Expressions

Taking into account all the different kinds of associations with male

and female play types, gendered posing is defined by exhibiting the

characteristics that socially cue the player agent and the general audience to

the player character or NPC’s mental state. This is especially useful when

trying to convey an idea. Using the different kinds of non verbal

communication aspects of the human body, characters in video games can

send signals that help the player immerse themselves instead of having flat

affect from the characters they interact with.

This instance of non verbal communication relies on the combination of

pure aesthetics with movement of the body. While both genders have their

own specific kinds of movement associated with their stance, the

movements are all derivations of the same movement. For example, when
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males fold their arms, it can indicate presumption, contempt, a guarded

stance or a mix of all three. However, it may be flavoured with masculine

traits. Shoulders may also hunch up taking advantage of masculine traits in

order to be more menacing or simply to punctuate the emotion and intent of

the NPC. With females, if they do fold their arms, it may be accompanied

instead by the cocking of their hips in order to intensify and colour their

response. (Isbister)

All this can be highlighted especially with Facial expressions. The

expressions can intensify or nullify an action that otherwise be vague actions

thus giving insight to the NPC’s feelings. In the previous examples, if the

female folded her arms in contempt, cocked her hips, but had a comical

expression on her face, the gesture could be taken as sarcastic, and not to

be taken seriously. This highlights the fact that the combination of the

preceding physical values goes very deeply into recognizing the true

intended action for the player to perceive. (Isbister)

First Impressions and Intention

Though it is commonly known that first impressions are made within a

30 seconds to two minutes, recent studies have shown that first impressions

are made within the “blink of an eye”. The blink effect states that the person

thinks without thinking. Gathering all the information, experiences,

stereotypes, associations that the aesthetic of the person exhibits the

observer compares it to her past experiences and judges the person.

(Heathfield)
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In terms of video games, the player character and NPCs can give way

instantly to what kind of person they might be. This instantaneous decision

results from the need to quickly analyze the situation and see if anything in

the person’s social circle looks out of place. If anything is out of place, this

blink effect helps fulfil the need for safety and essentially keeps the person,

or the player out of trouble.

Intention however, is better developed over the course of the time

wherein the player actively or passively observes the NPC. The intentions

come out after a while, and the player decides whether they want to

approach the NPC and develop a relationship. With intention and first

impressions culminating into a workable understanding on the player’s

relationship with the player character and NPC, the next evolutionary step is

to develop AI that allows the same level relationship among the NPCs

themselves. The next section will discuss the social dynamics involved that

take the concepts in between player agent and video game characters, and

places them in the context of the game world.

ADVANCING AI THROUGH PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

Many of the problems that hinder advanced AI is the drives that

analyze and set the tone the NPCs inhabit as they go on in their scripted

actions. Setting a heavy preference for AI versus their scripted action can

make the game play experience uncomfortable and in some instances

actually keep the player from achieving their goal. Interestingly enough this
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can result in unpredicted actions and solutions as mentioned before in

previous sections. However setting them back towards scripted action

reduces the AI which reverts video games back to world mechanics done in

previous games. The only different here is that NPCs seem to exhibit life like

attributes but when manipulated by the player, NPC’s act unrealistically.

In an article on 1UP.com Assassin’s Creed is known for crowd AI

simulation. Though a majority of the game is about enemy AI and combat,

the mechanics of crowd AI are still important. It is relevant in this game

because Altair, the game’s protagonist takes time to weed through crowds

and find his way to his assassination targets. As a hidden blade amongst the

crowd, keeping minimal visibility is important. But in some of the more

glaring examples of AI failure, Altair can quietly kill a member of society in

the middle of the crowd. His animation is exaggerated, and the citizen falls

down in a slow manner allowing ample time for Altair to walk away safely.

However, depending on the suspicion state, doing the same act in the

physically same manner can produce different results that can be

inconsistent. If the player is not under suspicion, then the player is able to

kill cleanly though movements would realistically trigger attention from

NPC’s in close proximity. However if the player is under suspicion, simply

bumping into the wrong person can trigger a full chase scene.

Theoretically, if the artificial intelligence designers come up with

sufficiently sophisticated systems, then AI would act dynamically and more

realistically. In the 1UP.com article, it is mentioned Assassin’s Creed will

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have better crowd AI simulation simply because of the better processing and

multiple thread handling capabilities programmed into the Xbox360 version

of the game. In a way, if better programming and better hardware handling

can result in better simulations in the current artificial intelligence

technologies, then perhaps the amount of factors artificial intelligence

programming takes in to account can be analyzed through psychological

factors that make up the real social dynamic. (1UP.com)

That is why there is such a need to advance beyond video game

characters that only rely on visual, audio, or text styles to provide

informational cues to the player. In the following sections, the different areas

of social dynamics will be explored in terms of their components and their

overall contribution to the relationships of NPCs, and what they mean in

terms of mechanics.

Temporal

The study of time in terms of communication takes on a different

meaning as the conversation carries on. As conversations are inherently

dependent on time, non verbal communication happens in the roughly the

same amount of time. It could even be argued that non verbal

communication encapsulates or surrounds the time taken to engage in

verbal communication. Temporal communication focuses mainly on delay

and the concentration of the efforts in that time in order to foster

communication

Chronemics
 Mercado – 26

As an NPC goes from talking to silence, the pause in between those

times is a form of non verbal communication. In this time, the delay in

between the next time communication happens has an effect on the player

who perceives it. In many ways, a long delay between speaking events can

imply hesitance or awaiting an answer. However, short delays in speaking

events can imply restlessness and impatience. Based solely on the silence in

between a wide variety of emotions and mental states can be connoted.

In Doering’s paper, the effect of chronemics in terms of SMS texts and

text based services argues that even though mobile phone technology allows

anytime, anywhere communication. Doering argues and provides research

that shows perceptions are changed merely by the inclusion of a time stamp,

aside from subjective perceptions in time. (Doering, and Poeschl)

This argument can be expanded into the world of video games. Video

game characters are separated by a virtual wall and the suspension of

disbelief, but are still treated like human beings. The effects of NPC’s

willingness to speak at different times can reflect their intentions. The

silence in between can communicate volumes of information to the player. If

a game utilized chronemics to a higher degree by implementing it into the

mechanics or the dialogue sequences, the experience can become even

more immersive by using silence like punctuation. As subtle as it would be, it

would serve its purpose and draw the player in. (Reeves, and Nass)

Not only does delay play a role in chronemics, but aspects such as

speed of speech and the willingness of the listener to continue listening. In

 Mercado – 27

the same note, speed of speech can indicate something about the NPC’s

personality. Rapid speech and short delays can form assumptions about an

NPC that is in a hurry, or rather, has the personality that things should be

done. An interesting situation a player can encounter during a dialogue, if

the player takes too long to answer the NPC the NPC cuts them off and

affects the choices the player has to choose from. The possibilities arising

from the use of chronemics as a deeper game mechanic can expand the

experience by mimicking certain real world personalities.

Monochronics vs Polychronics

The definition of monochronics and polychornics describe the way

human beings perceive time. While monochronics are concerned about

taking one thing at a time, and focusing the keeping or punctuality of time,

polychronics are more interested in multi tasking and involving more people

in their involvement in time. Apparently this distinction exists within cultures.

Polychronic cultures include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Mexico, Philippines, India

and most of Europe while Monochronic cultures Germany, Canada,

Switzerland, United States, and Scandinavia. (Hahn)

The differences in the way NPCs treat time can be interpreted to the

player as either something they are familiar with or not. Most Americans find

time to be a tangible thing and the schedule is of the utmost importance

while polychronic cultures will find time to focus on several things forgoing

times importance for the welfare of the group. Though the concepts of

monochronics and polychronics are typically associated with different

 Mercado – 28

cultures, the detection of each type of social dynamic is not limited to the

person whose culture experiences it firsthand. The person can typically

detect the differences in the social treatment of time and hence can adapt to

the communities need. (Ross)

The way these can be used successfully in games is to use the social

group dynamic to exhibit cultural treatments of time in order to make the

player feel the atmosphere. An urgent atmosphere can make the player, and

other NPCs sense the goal within that certain community. This would be

more successful in times where an aggressive play style is encouraged.

While a polychronic social dynamic can be used to foster building,

cooperation and essentially a less goal driven experience and more

relationship based play style. Whatever the play style is encouraged, the

implementation and treatment of time can add to the overall play

experience.

Visual

In neuroscience, the common aspects of social dynamics can be

formed from the combination of pure aesthetic and movements. Visual cues

allow a community to focus goals and work together in a cohesive manner.

Similarly the visual cues can also let the observer, like the player see the

discord among the group in terms of social dynamics.

Mirror Behaviour

Its known among the neuroscience community that humans adapt

easily to different situations by observing and copying the actions in their

 Mercado – 29

heads, even though it isn’t physically acted out. Mirror neurons help the

person blend in with the community at the appropriate time. This leads to

mirror behaviour, where it could be used when NPCs act in an environment.

Mirror behaviour constitutes a large part of the social dynamic experience. It

allows people to learn just as much as it allows people to blend. It also allows

people to detect intention when the act itself is simulated in the brain.

(Fogassi, et al.)

As mentioned before, the different factors that contribute to the

functionality of a social grouping depends on things like intention detection

and mirroring of different NPCs in a group. The player character with or

without the action of the agent can choose to blend in with NPC’s in the

group by copying their acts. Since the brain already can be taught by the

NPC’s on screen, this addition to group behavior mirroring can add the

missing subconscious link that happens in reality.

Proxemics

The study of proximity in terms of social dynamic structure is defined

by the term proxemics. This study takes into account the surrounding area

that an individual, and in this case, an NPC inhabits. Real people are affected

by the surrounding in two ways. The first is the relationship the NPC and the

player character has in the physical space they inhabit. Proxemics theory

says the color of the space can influence the moods of any person that are in

the space. For example strong warm colors like red and yellow can agitate
 Mercado – 30

and rush people, perfect for a fast food restaurant. However on the other

side, a sit and dine type environment that had hues of blue and green

encourage a more calm atmosphere, and thus affects the individuals.

(Sheppard)

With video games they already use a majority of color theory in game

design in order to influence the mood of the player agent in the game.

However, within social dynamics, it would be interesting to incorporate the

atmosphere and general attitude of NPCs that depends on their physical

proxemic. Creating a mechanic like that would add a sense of familiarity that

matches what the player agent would be feeling.

Another way proxemics can be viewed is through the study of social

spaces. Social spaces involve the distance in which different persons are

from one another. Of course this is one of the other aspects of social

dynamics that is dependent based on culture. But again, the argument is, no

matter what background the player agent comes into the game world,

sensitivity to the social spaces should only add to their experiences since it

mimics the subtleties in real life.

With social spaces, in typical American culture, the spaces are divided

into four separate spaces. Public space is anywhere from 12 to 25 feet, social

space ranges from 4 to 10 feet, personal space ranges from 2 to 4 feet, and

intimate space ranges from 1 foot from ourselves. Different areas change

the meaning of a person’s relationship with others that enter within their

radius. The public space is often reserved for addressing large radius, or
 Mercado – 31

keeping away from the public at large. Social space can be used for

communication among colleagues and the separation between people in

normal crowds. Personal space is primarily used for friends conversing, or

separating oneself in lines or crowds. In intimate space, this is often used for

physical contact, and is seldom seen in public. (Sheppard)

Altair blends in with four monks in a scripted event to bypass guards. What if blending was based on real time

social dynamics instead? (“Assassin’s Creed Acre Crowd”)

Yet again, if the player agent has an active enough engagement, the

player can detect this separation amongst their character and the other

NPCs in the social dynamic structure. This could be especially useful if the

NPCs use this in terms of crowd simulation and even within dialogue. The

distance can tell much information about the character in question as they

talk to the player agent. If a game like Assassin’s Creed used proxemics in

the detection of Altair as he did tried to blend through society, it could be

 Mercado – 32

much more interesting and realistic. In already one instance, Altair does this

by blending in with four prayerful monks pretending to be a monk himself.

Their distance apart would place themselves in the personal space, and thus

groups them together and allows Altair to blend in and avoid detection.

However, the inability to do that dynamically in a crowd, instead of

using a scripted event can be disappointing. The more knowledgeable gamer

could try to emulate this by standing nearby an NPC or a group of people

who are standing casually near a wall. However, in this instance Altair is still

discovered despite the realistic situation and the player’s usage of proxemics

that were taught to them in intrinsically through the game’s mechanic.

Audio

Audio comes last because communication through speech takes on the

smallest percentage in terms of communication, both verbal and non verbal.

However it is still important, despite it only being anywhere from 7% of the

communication we actually send. Though it may be counterintuitive because

it is only through speaking that we developed written and spoken language,

it is the preceding sections that make an impact on our relationships with

others as a whole. With that said, speaking is still important. Not so much in

what NPC’s and player characters say, but in how they say. (Bignold)

The most important point here is vocal intonation. In real life when one

speaks face to face for example to a friend can be coloured with all the

varieties of non verbal communication we have. In the end, vocal intonation

helps human beings communicate more effectively. It is through the non

 Mercado – 33

verbal aspects that we decided if the friend is joking around, or serious. Tone

is the intention behind what is actually said. People are often more sensitive

to tone when people have to take a phone call, or something similar in that

nature. When people have that removed, it leaves the brain needing more

non verbal use to utilize and glean the nature and intention of the speaker.

In video games, tone can be used to a great degree of dramatic effect

both in times where the player agent is able to witness the speaker and

when the player cannot. A terrified phone call could mask out the intention

of a non player agent and thus cause the player agent to panic much like the

player agent would in real life. In this way, it can also be used to punctuate a

critical moment in time, during a dramatic exposition for example, where all

the non verbal points point to distress and agony, and only in those

moments, the words that are actually spoken make a complete emotional

experience for the gamer.

However vocal intonation affect NPC AI is seldom used, if ever to any

remarkable degree in AI programming. It may be scripted that two AI fight

and argue loudly in sarcastic tones as they fight over a rake and a broom.

However, the rest of the AI is largely unaffected, thus decreasing the realism

for the player that experiences the argument first hand.

 Mercado – 34

THE FUTURE

As we see in many games there is a need for better AI in terms of

video games. While many of the sources here covered psychological factors

in some form and utilized some aspects in some games, there is still a lack of

the games out there that make a complete cohesive experience out of the

video game experience.

While some games can benefit from the use different aspects

mentioned here, the RPGs and its many variants like action RPGs and the like

could use psychological factors in AI due the very nature of their worlds. RPG

worlds and open sandbox games use much of the world population at large

that the player character has to interact with. If the player cannot interact

realistically, the player is drawn away from the experience and instead

drawn to the flaws in the game design. The positive things that can come out

of AI with personalities may help individuals have games tailored to their

personalities. In a way, not only do video games exhibit emergent behaviors

for themselves, but also give rise to the identity of the player since the AI

reacts to their presence in a more meaningful manner.

However there is always the risk of harmful habits that may come from

the increasing the forms of immersion through video games. As mentioned

before, games like Love Plus for the DS can cater to the extreme examples of

human and virtual interaction. As immersion rises perhaps a new breed of

 Mercado – 35

study can be formed to take on the addicting qualities that make people

prefer virtual relationships to real relationships. (Love Plus, 2009)

While that raises some ethical issues, the focus here is the mainstream

crowd. The mainstream crowd, if educated and aware will find video games

that feature current AI to have holes in their realism. The evidence of this is

shown in the many complaints against different games that incorporate AI.

In conclusion, good game design, much like other films and forms of

theatre rely on the suspension of disbelief in order to fully engage the player.

It has been shown that there are now games that are able to communicate

emotional values through game mechanics without any critical loss of

fidelity. While video games are now starting to become more advanced than

both films and theatre in terms of immersive factors, once a fully fledged

psychological social dynamic is created in games, like those featured in

Assassin’s Creed and Fallout 3 then gamers can experience emergent

behaviours as game play from such titles. In the end, the focus here really is

the emergent properties that gamers can take from good game design

through the use of realistic social dynamics. For example, if the gamer can

experience solutions through the use of words instead of guns, or the

manipulation of social mechanics, it may give the player options and

interests into new types of game play. If this happens, gamers will start

becoming even more actively engaged agents in the games that they play,

and it will minimize the gap between the virtual world and the real world.

The only thing left now is the advancement of technology that is able to
 Mercado – 36

handle the processing needed to render the dynamics between the player

and the NPCs. (Fallout 3, 2008, and Assassin’s Creed, 2007)

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