Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The Brat Prince 04-18-08, 11:22 AM	So in my groups annual Summer SciFi game, "Revelations," I'm making my first foray into playing an honest-to-god robot. Not a 'forged, an actual nuts-and-bolts robot. Well, to be more precise, an android. SHU-6094-13.2 aka Adam Call is one of the latest models of Synthetic Human put out by Nakara Corporation, a group of whom are on loan to the United Systems Military as a sort of 'test drive.' 'Syns' are bound by a version of The Three Laws, though military models like Call are more able to act outside them. His personality, like most syns, is generally sort of blandly pleasant, though Call's recent association with military grunts, pirates, smugglers, spies, and the like has lent him a bit more edge than most of his 'siblings.' What I really want are personality quirks, quotes, anything you can give me to separate Call from movie 'droids like Sonny, Bishop, and the Replicants from 'Blade Runner.' While he should have some aspects to him that are definitely nonhuman, I want him to seem "almost too human to be human." If that makes any sense at all...
cloud413 04-18-08, 01:12 PM	You could him have a theoretical understanding of human emotions but I don't know if that makes him almost to human to be human.
Anearysm 04-18-08, 06:00 PM	I want him to seem "almost too human to be human." If that makes any sense at all... no, it doesn't. You could, however, still give him emotions. Why? HAL 9000. HAL 9000 was the artificial intelligence that controlled the spacecraft in the Jupiter mission in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey". In HAL's last moments, he expressed indignity when it was suggested that he made an error, possibly even anger through killing almost all of the crew. when he was being shut down, he expressed terror, remorse, and other such emotions. If HAL can do it, why not Call? you could even go so far as to giving each droid his or her own personality (if your DM rolls like that). if he doesn't, you could just use rampancy (AI developing a sense of self worth) as an excuse. as for quirkiness, you could do all kinds of things. *Have him ask questions of the other characters, such as "What does air feel like?" or "What is taste like?" or something similar. a rampant AI would likely ponder such things. *Have him simulate humanity, attempting to act out pain when damaged (even though he feels none), or exhaustion after a lot of work (even though he feels none), possibly because he envies humans for being able to feel such things, or maybe just wanting to fit in. *Inversely, he could boast that he does not feel pain, exhaustion, et cetera, or of his superior mental facilities from his artificial intelligence. *He could constantly seek opportunities to show just how superior to humanity he is. *He may start talking to other machinations, even non-sentient ones, such as mobile computers, toasters, microwaves, refrigerators, CD players, etc. *He could even feel remorse when said other machinations are destroyed, As if it was another person. (funny eg: some random villain uses a toaster as a melee weapon against a PC, breaking it. Call could lament dramatically about how the " poor young toaster" was "needlessly slain") I'll post more If I think of any. (In fact, you could make quite a fun "1001 AI quirks" thread.)
The Brat Prince 04-18-08, 10:19 PM	Anearysm, I love your first idea, as well as your last two. They're definitely going into Call's bag of tricks. Also, scratch the "too human to be human" thing, it sounded better in my head and even I can't articulate what i meant by it... ()^_^
elliott20 04-18-08, 10:36 PM	I think what you meant is that the robot is trying too hard and combined with his somewhat off demeanor it just comes across as creepy. i.e. in the movie AI, there was one scene where the mother told her biological child to eat his vegetables. The robot, in response to this, starts stuffing all the veggies down his throat till his face turned blue, because he thought that's what you would do to make his "mother" happy, not realizing what she was telling his biological brother this. also, robots are procedural creatures. maybe he can break down tasks and announce every component. "unzipping pants. extending evacuation unit. evacuation begin..." "okay, Hal, we got it! dammit, hal, when you pee just go ahead and do it. Don't announce it to the world! and for god sake's go do that in the bathroom!" "but sir, my system is capable of recycling all used materials into nutritious food that can be used for your sustenance later..." "Just do it already!"
JaiaDrottsingr 04-27-08, 06:35 PM	Too human to be human? Uncanny Valley. CCGIP (Creepy CGI People) almost made the new cut.