Rant on Computing Emotions
After some time reading and writing on emotions, emotional states and how to compute them, I find myself lost in thoughts.
Introduction
An introduction is needed, for you know not who I am. I am a Computer Sciences PhD student at an engineering college. Since my master's Degree I've been working on creating emotional characters and therefore on how to compute emotions.
What is computing emotions you may ask? Well in simple terms is how one can create emotions in a computer. In 2010, Scherer, Länziger and Roesch wrote categorized affective models categories into five separate general categories, but let's focus on two Appraisal theory approaches and Anatomical approaches.
My work revolved mostly around the first category, Appraisal theory approaches, in these approaches the emotion is mostly considered the result of our own interpretation of events, in a simple way, if I receive a bonus at work then I feel happy.
The Anatomical approaches try to recreate the neural structure behind an emotional response, in simple terms, they try to recreate what a brain does in order to make a person feel happy.
I am also a Game Developer when I can. I made some small games with small teams just for fun. In game dev I worry mostly about two things: Good Gameplay, the feel and flow of the game - Does it play well? Is it fun? Do the controls feel right?; and User Interface, UI, the graphics that the user uses as a guide or reference in what he is doing - Is it easy to understand what is happening? Is it intuitive? Does it give ways to errors? How can we correct that?
The Rant
What then is my rant about? It's about the choice between creating emotions that the player thinks are real and creating real emotions. What do I mean by that? You see in game development if the gameplay is not right the player won't enjoy the game, in that sense, if a character in a game expresses an emotion it is not supposed to then the player will not enjoy the experience.
What then can I do to fix this? I try to create a simple system that creates characters with the "correct" feelings, often leading to the creation of models based on Appraisal theory approaches. Simple and easy to implement, action leads to a consequence. If I offer a gift to a lady character I fancy and she likes the gift, then she will be happy. These emotions are what players find believable/real.
But in the back of my mind, where the engineer in me lives, a though appears, what the hell of emotions are these? Emotions can't possibly be that simple... Biology, Chemistry, Neurosciences surely can explain in a more detailed way how emotions are created.
This was when I remembered there was Anatomical approaches, although not perfect these approaches try to recreate the tiny sparks of electricity that flow through our brain and generate emotions. These are REAL emotions. Yet these approaches are not used out side the Academia, maybe they are too complex, maybe they ruin the experience because the emotions one character is feeling is not well perceived by the player.
Now I have a conflict in me, one of me want to follow the correct path to create a real emotion, the other me wants to create believable experiences even if the characters in them have "correct" emotions instead of real ones.
Conclusion
What message do I want to send? Even as I'm writing this I don't know exactly, since these thoughts have been brewing in my mind for so long.
One thing I do want to discuss is the world of Video Games. As you may have guessed, a game should feel real to the player, not be real. This is why so many games today still lack some technologies already developed in the Academia. It is essential that the experience is fulfilling, so remember: When playing a game, if you are enjoying it, forgive the flaws and keep on jamming! (Unless it's Mass Effect: Andromeda, those are some freaky animations)
