Comments on: Lady (p.4) or the Tiger (p. 167)

by: Mark Marino

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 19:17:00 +0000

I like these ideas.

Re: Christy’s comment on bot fiction: I wonder if we don’t need to differentiate between the processess or algorithms that produce bots and algorithms set up to be chatbots (conversation agents). Perhaps in benchmark fiction we would separate these.

It sounds like the challenge will be to establish the categories for benchmarking clearly:

Here are some early thoughts (but, Jeremy, benchmark fiction probably deserves a more full posting).

Here are some examples: (this is not an attempt to create a definitive list)
Applications: FLASH, WordPress, Storyspace
Programming Languages: AIML, (Jeremy, IF languages?), javascript, html
Genres of stories:
IF Adventure, Chatbot Fiction
Various crossmedia combinations.

So for chatbots, we distinguish between the benchmark test of implementing the story in AIML as a chatbot or perhaps some other format, such as a storytelling bot (simple-response).

Jeremy, let me get back to you on Galatea

by: Jeremy Douglass

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 06:40:23 +0000

I have excellent copyright news. Gutenberg is distributing LOTT - which explains why it is publicly available on dozens of websites. Short and punchy, thematically relevant, known but not used - we may have a benchmark fiction text!

by: Jeremy Douglass

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 06:38:14 +0000

Mark, Christy, it strikes me that rendering Lady Or The Tiger (LOTT) as a bot conversation makes sense given that it is presented as a kind of oral tradition - we wrap the story matter inside a citizen spectator or main character who is eager to reminisce about it. Perhaps, as Mark indicated in the CYOA list above, the bot persona would be an older person whose mind wanders, and who doesn’t always remember the story in the same way….

by: Jeremy Douglass

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 06:00:18 +0000

Ah - a manifesto-style definition of what botfiction is and isn’t. Christy, I smell a new post…. :)

If you do work on such a thing, I have one particular request (that you can of course ignore - write away and then I could try to follow up): where does the IF “Galatea” fit in - is it botfiction or not?

by: Christy Dena

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 00:55:15 +0000

I should clarify here Mark that I don’t really see my Villager and Teenbot story as being indicative of botfiction. I use bot software but I could of easily just used a form-database interface. My intention was to have the single input-response transmute at a certain point in the story into a more natural language interaction. So, I’m not sure if we should consider that type of interaction a form of botfiction. Are perhaps I’m being too strict — the software can be used for anything. But I guess this forces the issue of defining just what botfiction is.

Botfiction encourages conversational-type interaction. I don’t want to say natural language because some bots have a drop-down menu of choices. I guess my story (of having words typed in to get a response) still fits into this category though. Perhaps we’re getting types of botfiction interaction here?: Natural language, predefined, single-response…