Audience Impact
Artificial Intelligence (AI) raises the computer character above the level of digital puppet to that of synthetic actor. It allows the synthetic actor to make decisions to vary and adjust its performance and behaviour, in response to internal and external factors, while introducing randomising factors where appropriate to avoid the appearance of deterministic, robotic behaviour and to simulate imperfect decision making. AI techniques can also be used by synthetic actors to express procedurally encoded or recorded emotions to imitate human or other animal emotions or to suggest physical or physiological characteristics or behavioural responses.
A Truman Moment
In a Truman moment, a game-player's immersion in a theatrical or play experience, their suspension of disbelief or faith in the author, is weakened or broken, and theatrical devices or illusions are seen for what they are. In The Truman Show, the unreasonable behaviour of those around him, coupled with observable technical glitches in the TV set around him, leads the eponymous hero Truman to question the world that has been passed off to him all his life as real and to eventually expose what was previously hidden from him: that his whole life he has been the unwitting subject of a broadcast TV serial: The Truman Show. Knowledge of the truth sets Truman free and he becomes truly human at last, a True Man. In the synactors profession, the synactor works to conceal its nature by assuming the character of the one they play, by pretending to be human if the role calls for it. Normally, it is the goal of the synactor and of the player to conceal from the game player or viewer their nature distanced from their game character. Note I need to work on this because I want to argue that it's not exactly disbelief because my whole experience is a highly aesthetic one. Possibly because I'm older, whereas a child engages in play in a different way. Maybe I can have it both ways. The difference is when you see something theatrical, where its designed nature is evident, if it delights then it's good and if it doesn't it's bad. When I see in the undergrowth evidence of construction I stop to admire the artistry of how the illusion was created. If I only see it sometimes then the illusion is effective, and seeing the trick close up doesn't annoy me, but lets me celebrate by reflecting on the cleverness of an illusion (one that otherwise works). When a person or bird, however, disappears in whole or in part into another object this can make me smile, so it's still a potential source of enjoyment but only in small doses. It's a bug but one that seems excusable and a source of interest or amusement representing a contradiction in the game-world. If I witness it too often, it becomes evidence of lack of design and a source of criticism. [Include this in the page about bloopers]