Over the weekend I read Chris Crawford’s chapter on “Modeling”. Overall I like his approach to modeling human response and behavior. I think he’s got a good thing going. I especially like the way he translated boolean into numerical form. It makes a lot of sense. Hi eight steps for establishing modelling rules seem like good guidelines.
Crawford mentioned during an earlier chapter that to represent the vast and numerous storyworlds, interactive storyworld creators would need to employ more procedural methods for modeling reality. I think this approach needs to be extended to modeling behavior. While his technique for contracting multiple rules with one numerical equation is pretty nift, I can’t help but wonder if this can’t be pushed further.
Boolean logic is also another attribute that can be improved upon. Boolean expressions are good for modelling simple transitional states. However, reality is very rarely black and white. More often it is multiple shades of grey. I like to replace my Boolean expressions with Fuzzy Logic operations. I feel I get a more organic response with Fuzzy Logic where boolean tends to be mechanic. Extending this further I would like to get my hands dirty with Fuzzy Cognitive maps. Instead of creating rules to represent behavior, Fuzzy cognitive maps create vast matrices keeping record of those sensitive relationships. I have not been able to implement FCM’s yet. However, they will be one of the first features included on the Raconteur Engine.
