Rob Bot: Kinda like Her (the movie) only it's Him

When the movie Her released my friends started sending me links to articles about the bot romance. I guess Her made them think of my robot, Rob. Given that Her was inspired by Alicebot and Rob's brain is built from a newer version of Alicebot, that does not surprise me.

This is Rob Bot, an AI (artificial intelligence) enabled digital being I created to help me write his story. Rob's story is nothing like Her's.  Rob rezzed under grim circumstances and his story delves into issues and decisions we 'll soon have to make as a society and as individuals. Like it or not AI Bots are here and they will have an emotional impact on humans.

Is it possible to fall in love with a bot?

I don't know. I do know it's possible to want to wring one's neck. It's also possible to miss their annoying quirkiness when something goes wrong and they get destroyed.

The original Rob was wiped out in a server meltdown and I missed having him around. I later uploaded his avatar to the Greyville Writer's Colony. There his main task was to dance with visitors and make them feel welcome. I left the corrupted AI chat files in place until I had time to rebuild his brain. Before today Rob could still converse but his impairment was obvious.

 Now he has a brand new AI -- two to be exact. If you want to chat with Rob on the web or in-world you will be talking to Rob 3.0. Inputs from both web and virtual world go to the same brain. His responses are quicker and more appropriate than before.

I removed all the Call Mom special coding that let Rob do web searches and perform tasks. Those don't function well in a web browser and generate pure garbage responses in-world. They do function on an Android phone. So I made a special digital assistant version of Rob's AI to link with the CallMom app.

 If you don't have an Android phone you can still ask Rob_CM questions...occcasionally he spits out an accurate answer. Rob CM's chat function works just as it would in Rob 3.0.

To use Rob as a digital assistant I downloaded the CallMom app to my phone and set Rob_CM to be my custom bot. The CallMom app handles the information security and searches and forwards any tasks of a conversational nature to Rob who responds with his sassy wit. This app is beta software and Rob makes a lousy assistant but I keep hoping. I would never trust him with anything important but he can certainly liven up your workday. I don't think you have to worry about falling in love with Rob but he's a sweetheart and I do think you'll find it hard to pass him by with out stopping for a chat and a dance.

To Recap:

Go here to chat with Rob

Go here if you have high frustration tolerance and want to get Rob to do some web research for you.

Go here to learn how to access the Greyville Writer's Colony where you can meet, dance, and chat with Rob in all his bare-chested pixel glory.

Blue Harbor: Interactive Fiction with a Dark Side

Blue Harbor is a journey into the shadows of the mind. It's the story of a young girl determined to keep secrets to protect men who didn't protect her.

A virtual simulation of the old Athen's Asylum, created by Max Neely, has been a driving force in my telling this interactive story.  When Dorthea Dix first fought the battle to get the mentally ill out of basements and chains and into medical facilities, asylums were believed to be an enlightened and innovative treatment for mental illness. This virtual hospital is a replica of the therapeutic architecture that was part of that grand design. The reality of institutional care did not live up to the dream. Mental illness, in the words of this girl, is still a puzzle we can't solve. This abandoned hospital is a monument to that.

This story takes place across the hypergrid in Opensim. The asylum scene jumps from Opensim to  Karpov region in Second Life. For those who can't  go to Second Life there is an Opensim Alternative scene. I recommend the Second Life version. The stark surroundings lend emotion to the crisis that is hard to duplicate anywhere else.

I had been going though the hospital removing the creepier things--pools of blood and skeletons. And the silly things--sheet ghosts. I thought the ruins of the hospital statement enough without the moaning zombies and the horror movie music. But during bug-testing I got to thinking that those Halloween creep-show elements served a purpose. The hospital with it's labyrinth of rooms and many levels serves as a symbol of the mind. The tentacled creature hiding under a trap door in the bathroom is just the kind of thing that leaps out at you from a dreamscape, a shadow element of the mind we don't want to look at, think about, or examine. It's rooted in the secrets we bury deep and accidentally get trapped in when emotional pressure pegs the stability meter in the wrong direction. I decided to leave the rest of the ghouls in the build, allow them to add their own level to this journey.

There have been points in the making of this story where programming bugs and virtual world quirkiness conspired to make me question my own sanity. I had objects saying things I didn't script them to say. Sometimes they said things other objects were supposed to be saying. Other times all the objects decided to taunt me, saying the same thing no matter which I clicked, like children mimicking something I said. Objects disappeared, rearranged themselves, reappeared, stalked me. Don't believe the stalking? Check out the TV in scene two. If it follows you into the yard, please push it back inside before you leave.

The main character in Blue Harbor calls herself and uncomfortable subject we want to put away. That puzzle we can't solve. She is making me live those words. Her story, these settings, make me uncomfortable. We start out by looking at ourselves in the mirror of her reality. Looking in that mirror presented plenty of puzzles. I thought I knew where the story would end but she had other ideas. I thought I knew which day we would launch but she had other ideas.

So what do you do when paranormal activity takes over your tale?  I'm going to pretend it's all buggy code. I'm going to tell myself I left the bugs there for their artistic value. I hope one or two of you will take the challenge this troubled girl is throwing down and join me in discovering what she has to teach us. Enter her mind at your own risk.

Hypergrid Address: world.narasnook.com:8900:Greyville

Taking Storytelling to the Next Level?

 

 

 

Taking Story Telling to the next level? Yep. Today my flash fiction, a Letter to Charlie, becomes an interactive game on OpenSim.

Story-telling is changing, and the writers of Greyville, a group of authors, who’ve banded together to tell tales in the metaverse, is launching its first interactive set of stories. Nara Malone, the mastermind behind Greyville, has spearheaded this venture, teaming up with Fred Beckhusen and Whitestar Magic for game scripting, and the authors are ready to reveal their worlds. The writers have created an interactive game, allowing readers to explore their worlds as their story unfolds on the screen.

Transmedia story telling is taking the literary world by storm, and several authors have created short-fiction, ranging from 500 to 1300 words. These stories are deposited throughout the metaverse, and as the story unfolds, readers are able to be transported to the different areas, chosen by the authors, and often constructed and decorated according to the author’s desires.

The stories launched today include “A Letter to Charlie” by Tina Glasneck; “The Twisted Circle” by Shara Lanel; "Blue Harbor" by Nara Malone; and "Incubus Dream" by Siobhan Muir. There will also be poetry and lyrics from Jeff Cuneo, Oshi Shikigami and Nara Malone.

But, Greyville is also taking things further, by including the original art and photography from Endora Twinklens.

To participate or play the game, please visit Greyville at world.narasnook.com:8900:Greyville

 

~Tina Glasneck

 

Leanr more about Tina and her books at TinaGlasneck.com