6533b82afe1ef96bd128c03c

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Sociable Behaviors in Virtual Worlds

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description

When simulating three-dimensional environments populated by virtual humanoids, immersion requires the simulation of consistent social behaviors to keep the attention of the user/s while displaying realistic scenes. However, intelligent virtual actors still lack a kind of collective or social intelligence necessary to reinforce the roles they are playing in the simulated environment (e.g. a waiter, a guide, etc). Decision making for virtual agents has been traditionally modeled under self interested assumptions, which are not suitable for social multi-agent domains. Instead, artificial society models should be introduced to provide virtual actors with socially acceptable decisions, which are needed to cover the user expectations about the roles played in the simulated scenes. This chapter reviews the sociability models oriented to simulate the ability of the agents that are part of an artificial society and, thus, interact among its members. Furthemore, it also includes a full description of a social model for multi-agent systems that allows the actors to evaluate the social impact of their actions, and then to decide how to act in accordance with the simulated society. Finally, the authors show the social outcomes obtained from the simulation of a particular 3D social scenario.