Many virtual reality applications and games need a large number of virtual characters. Some of these applications require, in addition to the quantity, the simulation of kinship and evolution, not only of human character models, but also of different types of animals, toon models or other creatures. Some applications also require interactions between isolated populations with well-defined ethni...

Providing compelling, realistic, immersive game worlds is one of the major goals in modern game design. The presence of unique and interesting dialogue for all of the characters in a game enhances this sense of immersion. In this paper we present the concept of an “Intentional Dialogue Line” that supports the efficient generation of multiple variations of a dialogue, where these variations are ...

We extend existing research on police use of coercive mechanisms of social control against racial/ethnic minority populations by testing three structural hypotheses regarding excessive force. The minority threat hypothesis maintains that the greater the proportion of minority residents in a city, the greater the use of coercive crime control mechanisms. The place hypothesis argues that spatiall...

We introduce Virtual Roommates — a mapping of loosely linked spaces, that allows users to overlay multiple physical and virtual scenes and populate them with physical and/or virtual characters. As the name implies, the Virtual Roommates concept provides continuous ambient presence for multiple disparate groups, similar to people sharing living conditions, but without the boundaries of real space.

The International Conference (series) on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies (ICDVRAT) this year held its sixth biennial conference, celebrating ten years of research and development in this field. A total of 220 papers have been presented at the first six conferences, addressing potential, development, exploration and examination of how these technologies can be applied in ...

For many applications, exploring empty virtual cities is not sufficient: streets and squares need to be populated by crowds of virtual humans. This position paper addresses the problem of generating such crowds when the scale of the city prevents the use of standard simulation methods. We first present the concept of crowd patches and review their advantages and drawbacks for animating large cr...

In this qualitative pilot study, the authors report on curriculum field trials within a personal learning environment (PLE) designed by a collaboration of academic researchers and nonprofit volunteers working together in the virtual world of Second Life. The purpose of the PLE is to provide learners less likely to have access to educational opportunities with a means to create a ‘new life’ in t...

Telepresence is the future of multimedia systems and will allow participants to share professional and private experiences, meetings, games, parties. The sense of "presence" in the virtual environment is an important requirement for collaborative activities involving multiple remote users working with social interactions. Using virtual humans within the shared environment is a essential support...

Community health workers (CHWs) have played an important role in improving the health of underserved populations in resource-limited settings. CHWs are trusted in communities that they serve, and are often able to see solutions to community problems that outside persons cannot. Solutions need to be low cost and easily accessible, and address the knowledge gaps among CHWs through appropriate tra...