Making Guides Entertaining

This paper describes Viktoria, an entertaining interactive guide on the Web that informs visitors about the Viktoria Research Institute. By applying the models of communication used in the well-known Eliza program, it expresses emotional states and communicates by using natural language. It has enhanced functionality compared to Eliza in that it has the ability to associate and remember the subjects it is talking about. These abilities endow the guide with a human-like behaviour which makes it entertaining to use even when it misunderstands the user.