An Introduction to OpenSimulator and Virtual Environment agent-based M&S Applications

An “agent” in a computer simulation is an object with a dynamic model driving its actions. There are different classifications for agents, for example: autonomous, intelligent, and software. A cell within a cellular automaton might be considered an agent with the complete environment being a multi-agent system. An object containing an artificial intelligence could also be considered an agent. Our purpose is to introduce the “personal” aspect of agents through first-person perspective—by becoming one of the agents in the simulation. When a level of presence on the part of the human’s relationship to the agent is incorporated in this fashion, we must incorporate methods found typically within multi-user virtual environments. This tutorial is centered on one particular open-source, multi-user, virtual environment system called OpenSimulator (or OpenSim). We introduce OpenSim to allow the reader an opportunity for understanding how this software is used within the context of agentbased computer simulations.