Telling a story in 3D community oriented worlds

Neora (http://www.neora.com/ � ucl talk � Dec. 10^th, 03

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� ME DEA EX_ - Description of the project

o Script � I�m just the DJ of the text

� combination of text from several adaptations of Medea (Hebrew Translation of) Euripides, Heiner Muller, Seneca

� meta story, in English, reflected on Middle East conflict

Medea � palestinian, Jason/Creon � Israelis, she is sending her kids to die in suicide murder

� all the elements of the script are kept in the database, non-standard can be added via script fields inside database

� html version is generated and resides online � also functions as simulator

o Space

� Virtual � Outerworlds (based on Activeworlds platfom) 3D universe with 2 designed environments

o Amphi Theatre �

� meta story happens there.

� Decision making (votes).

� Confrontation with previous productions of Medea.

o NYSE � trading floor

� News exposition

� acts � from LOVE, SACRIFICE, EXILE, EVICTION, COLLISION, SHAHIDS (MURDER)

� Real

o 4 walls � 12*12*6 meters each (vs. classic cave)

o Open ceiling � the pros and cons of full mooon

o Construction within AmphiTheatre in Acco

o Actress sitting on �bionic� wheelchair

o Audience sitting on office spinning chairs

o Control desk at the corner

� 4 PCs connected to wide-angle projectors

� 1 PC conneced to projector � for textual window

� 2 PCs for running the bot and controlling the sound

� Flow and Interaction

The flow and design are based on several factors.

� Time in the show � starting always from before dawn to after sunset

� The choices of the home audience � may influence light/background music/skybox

� The choice of the onsite (voting with SMS)+online users � about scene order at some points

This is the list of scenes. Each has its charectristics in design and ambience

� Intro � Amphi and Medea productions repository, bot=Zara

� Love - wireframe and olive trees, clouds exposition

� Sacrifice � religious symbolism, flag conflict

� Exile � water and unsecurity

� Berayal - nets and networks, gossip exposition, bot=Jason

� Eviction � news exposition, bot=Creon

� Collision - storm/lightning, bot=Jason

� Shahids - explosion/news room

Between each scene, the meta-story takes place, following similar rules.

The votes take place always in the meta-story scenes, the Amphi.

All in all, there are 4 votes for the onsite (real) audience and 6 votes for the online (virtual) audience

State Machine - the database has a rule-based approach (with priorities)

Following is partial tree of choices � one of the several optionsal possibilities:

� Characterization: Sound and appearance

	Medea	Jason, Creon, Nurse	Chorus
Appearance	Live, on wheel chair, holding a laptop (for home user - video embedded)	3D avatars	Male/female gray simple avatars, representing the online visitors. (Not much pre-defined, so easier to identify with.). Restricted from entering the virtual stage where Jason and Medea are.
Language	Hebrew and Arabic	Hebrew (with his parents German)	English, Hebrew, Arabic, other languages�
Sound	Live	Pre-recorded human sound	Text to speech (synthesized sound)
Background Music	Live DJ � quiet/mellow music	Short loops for background, longer ones for delays between cues

Creon � computerized actor, run by bot, pre-recorded sound (of acress with effect)

� Bot Technology

The script is run by bot software MAGSBOT, with code developed by the MEDEAEX group.

This code is using ADO/Access database, where all the parameters and texts of the script are entered.

This is a list of all the database tables we�re using:

Following are some screenshots of specific tables.

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