A Believable Group in the Synthetic Mind

In recent years, virtual environments have evolved from single user and single agent, to multi-user and multi-agent. Furthermore, with the emergence of synthetic characters, collaborative virtual environments can now be populated with characters and users, all interacting, collaborating or competing between each other. However, the user’s interaction with the synthetic characters is not always the best, and it is only positive if the characters are able to show a coherent and believable behaviour. Therefore, in scenarios where users and synthetic characters interact as a group, it is very important that the interactions follow a believable group dynamics. Focusing on this problem, we have developed a model that supports the dynamics of a group of synthetic characters, inspired by theories of group dynamics developed in human social psychological sciences. The dynamics is driven by a characterization of the different types of interactions that may occur in the group, which are differentiated in two main categories: the socio-emotional interactions and the task related interactions.