WO2008099439A2 - Multi-platform, client-server distributed system for multi-player videogame, and method of simulation of lifelike virtual character for videogame usable with such system - Google Patents

Abstract

Multi-platform, distributed client-server system for multi-player videogame, characterised in that it comprises: - An assembly of game devices (100; 102, 104, 106, 108 and 110) on each of which a respective game client application (112, 114, 116, 118 e 120) is installed, - An assembly of game administration devices (300; 302, 304, 306), which are apt to manage the digital contents and monitor the game activity, on each device being installed an administration client (312, 314, 316), - An assembly of game servers (200; 202), on at least one of which a respective game engine is installed (212) which manages the functioning of the game simulation, as well as the communications with the game clients and administration clients, - An information system (400) comprising at least a database (402, 404), and - A routing server (500), all communicating through a network communication infrastructure (510,51O1), each game (112, 114, 116, 118, 120) and administration (312, 314, 316) client being able to establish a specific communication connection or session (522, 524, 526, 528, 530, 532, 534, 536), through which, after having been switched on a specific communication connection (542) by the routing server (500), communicates with any other game engine (212) installed on one of the game servers (202), the information system (400) being accessible, through specific connections (552, 554), by the administration clients and game engines, in such a way that these are able to introduce in said at least a database (402,404) information concerning the virtual game world and/or information concerning the real setting of the players, thus allowing in real time a game interaction between virtual setting and real setting. The invention further concerns a method for simulating a lifelike virtual character for videogame that can be used with the system according to the invention.

Description

MULTI-PLATFORM, CLIENT-SERVER DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM FOR MULTI-PLAYER VIDEOGAME, AND METHOD OF SIMULATION OF LIFELIKE VIRTUAL CHARACTER FOR VIDEOGAME USABLE WITH SUCH SYSTEM

The invention concerns a multi-platform distributed client-server system for multi-player videogame, and method for simulating a lifelike virtual character for videogame which is usable by such a system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE STATE OF THE ART IN THE FIELD A multiplayer mass videogame ("MVM") is a client-server entertainment application played by a large number of users by using an network communication infrastructure, which can be local (a "Local Area Network" or "LAN"), of medium (a "Metropolitan Area Network" or "MAN") or large extension (a "Wide Area Network" or "WAN"). In turn, the network communication infrastructure can be constituted by a wired network (for example, "ATM", "FDDI", "SMDS" or "Gigabit Ethernet"), by an optical fibre network (for example, "WDM", ADSL", "xDSL"), by a wireless network (for example, "Wi-Fi", "IrDA" o "Bluetooth"), by a combination of these types of network or by any other system that enables the data transmission between remote devices. The protocols utilised for the network communication are several, among which the "HTTP", "UDP" and "TCP", while the devices by which one can play the game comprise personal computers, consoles or mobile phones.

Currently there are no multi-platform MVM, i.e. MVM which can be played, according to the same modes, for example both on console and on mobile phone. In the current MVM, indeed, a player disconnects from the virtual world and can not play when he cannot use the predetermined device (for example, if the MVM is playable only by using a personal computer, the player who disconnects cannot play on other devices, for example on mobile phone, in case he have to leave home or he is on trip). This constitutes a technical limit that reduces the ubiquitous accessibility to the game, 24 hours a day, of the users, as instead would be required by a game really persistent and pervasive, as the MVM should be. In the virtual space of the MVM, be it represented in 2D or 3D computer graphics, the players are represented by virtual entities which are called "avatar". By handling directly their own avatars, with the help of any suitable computer peripheral (a keyboard, a joystick, a pad, and so on), the players can interact, according to the other physical software- simulated constraints, both with other players, by their respective avatars, and with the virtual world and the entities which are part of it, among which the characters managed by the Artificial Intelligence, called "non-playing characters" ("PNG"). A classical example of such a type of videogames is World of Warcraft™ of Blizzard Entertainment™.

In general, the MVM consist of role games for computer set in fantastic or mythical universes, and therefore the virtual worlds wherein the players who interact represent the reality of various fictions, for fantasy, to science fiction, horror, alternative life simulation. The MVM are games whose duration is indefinite, since the tales created by the game managers involve players for years, through narration cycles that are contiguous in time and connected between them. Within such cycles, composed by tales that start and terminate, the players achieve missions, solve mysteries, explore unknown places and fight against mythical creatures or other avatars thus improving their own character by the acquired experience. New players can join the game at any time without waiting for the start of a new event or a narration cycle. Simply they accede to a proper alternative reality, provided with own tale and features, they let themselves involve by the events and cause new ones in turn, steering the actions of their own avatars. The MVM enable the players to construct interpersonal relations between them by the mediation of the corresponding virtual alter-ego, the avatars, and to be amused by wholly participating to the social interaction that happens in the reality simulated by the game.

Unfortunately, the existing MVMs lack a number of features, which are desirable for the players and would render the game experience more involving and pervasive.

Indeed, the players would like to play at the same game on different devices without break. In other words, they would like to have a multi-platform MVM wherein they can connect to the game indifferently by computer desktop, mobile devices, consoles, interactive TVs and any other means of daily use which is able to communicate with Internet.

The players would like to dispose of a global approach game, i.e. of a game which extends some elements of the narration outside the virtual world wherein the avatars are set. By some specific game modes, which can be put into action on multimedia devices provided with a global positioning system ("GPS" o "A-GPS", for example), the users could play in the real world by pretending to be their own avatars, and this interaction, in turn, could influence the events of the narration and the virtual world.

The players would like to be able to interact at a cognitively more demanding level with the non-playing characters and be emotionally involved by this interaction. These characters should be provided with an Artificial Intelligence which is able to actively seek the interaction with the user, to simulate emotions, objects and motivations, to express more likely or life-like behaviours, to manage a dialog freely, instead of proceeding by pre-determined question-and-answer patterns. Currently, all the virtual characters of a MVM are modelled with finite-state automaton or behaviour scripts, they lack learning ability and therefore they do not evolve complex behaviours.

The players would like to be able to modify the global narration of the game by the actions and local choices of their own avatars, instead of following, without any actual option of free will, the tales managed by the developers, which in the technical jargon are called "quest". The players, in other words, would like to be able to contribute to the creation of the game narration, as much as the game administrators, so that the narration be actually dynamical and not pre-determined.

The players, finally, would like to be able to introduce into the game their own creative, autonomously developed multimedia elements, thus personalising some elements, areas or entities of the virtual world wherein they are playing. Hence, as indicated several times by the field experts, there is a need of a new type of multi-player mass videogames, which provides a valid response to these needs by means of a technological approach and methods of a game type called "pervasive". SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The proposed invention concerns the implementation of systems and methods suitable to solve the individuated technical problem, illustrated above, that is the implementation of the features required by a MVM in order that it allows a more involving and pervasive game experience. The technical result of this implementation is defined as "Multiplayer Mass Pervasive Videogame" (MMPV).

In a possible representation of the present invention, the system underlying the MMPV is composed by a client-server entertainment application, that can be played by using a ("LAN"), medium ("MAN") or wide extension ("WAN") local network communication infrastructure. The systems allows parallel game sessions and multiple users in real time thanks to the access, through suitable game devices, to an alternative virtual universe whose software component resides on a network of game servers interconnected between themselves and with an information system. By means of these servers the entertainment is provided, managed and controlled by the game administrators in charge of developing and taking care of the contents of the same game of which the users take advantage (tales, characters, three-dimensional graphics, etc.), by means of suitable administration tools.

The application comprises access, management and enjoyment modes which are different depending on both the body of users that connects, according if it is a player or administrator, and the hardware resources and the operative system of the game device. There exist, therefore, client components of the application which are different depending on the functionalities of management and enjoyment of the game and the game or administration device utilised by the body of users. This allows the MMPV to be a entertainment system, which is both multi- platform, playable according to similar modes on different devices, like computer desktops, notebooks or palmtops, mobile phones, PDA, television sets, game consoles, and ubiquitous, since the player can keep game continuity when passing from a device to the other in the course of the day. These features, in relation to those individuated aspects of the technical problem above described, make the MMPV, from the point of view of the man-computer interaction, a system that is really persistent and pervasive with respect to a MVM.

The game or administration device is any programmable device that is able to communicate both with other programmable devices with similar characteristics and with a server network by means of a LAN, MAN or WAN network connection, and is provided with suitable requirements for performing an online game activity that is typical of the MVM. Therefore the game or administrator device must be provided, in addition to a network communication interface, also with a processor ("CPU") capable to execute an application of client type, a writable memory unit ("RAM"), a suitable input interface (for example, a numerical keyboard, a touch pad, a mouse, a joystick or a touch screen) and a display by means of which to show information and computer graphics representations. Further, the game or administrator device must be provided with a mode of installation of computer programs, in order to be able to install on it the client components of the MMPV application. In the case of the game device, such components are called "game client" and manage both the 2D or 3D graphical representation of the game elements (setting, objects and characters) and the interaction with them, by means of suitable computer graphics algorithms, and the communication with the game servers, by means of suitable communication protocols (for example, "HTTP", "UDP" and "TCP"). In the case of the administration device, such components are called "admin client" and allows both to monitor in any detail the activity of the virtual characters, the avatars and any other digital element of the MMPV, and to manage different aspects of the game, from the narrative contents, to the graphical elements, from the parameters relevant to the setting of the virtual world, to those that steer the behaviour of the Artificial Intelligence models with which the virtual characters are provided. The computer desktops, notebooks or palmtops, the mobile phones or other types of mobile terminals, the PDA, the television sets, the game consoles, are very good examples of what is intended as game device in a possible representation of the present invention.

A server is any programmable device arranged to work in a domain network model and with a high calculation ability thanks to the presence of one or more processors ("CPU") able to execute server type applications, high-capacitive and fast hard disks, special writable memory banks ("RAM") and one or more network boards with high transfer rate. The device, moreover, must be provided with a computer program installation mode, in order to be able to save on it the server component of the MMPV application, also called "game engine", charged of managing automatically, by means of simulation and artificial intelligence algorithms, the functioning of the game, the simulation of the virtual world, the logic of the behaviour of the virtual characters and any other game element that be not the graphical representation, in addition to administering, by means of suitable algorithms of network administration, the communications with the game devices and the relevant client application. The information system, installed on one or more game servers, is any database organised in such a way to allow very fast operations of reading and writing of data relevant to both virtual world (properties, events and settings states, of the characters and objects) and the players

(account data, user's profile and history of player's activities) of the MMPV.

In a possible representation of the present invention, the MMPV can implement, unlike the MVM, both game modes that are active in the persistent virtual universe, and game modes that are active in the real world of the players, who are called to personify their avatars in a meta- game, similar to the typical setting of the role live games, superimposed on the events of the daily life. Both the digital game, that in the MVM is the sole existing mode, and the meta-game are two reciprocally interactive modes: what the player performs in the virtual universe by means of his own avatar has consequences on the meta-game that take place in the real world and involves the player himself; but also what happens in the real world, mediated by the meta-game, influence the narrative line, the contents and the events of the virtual universe. This occurs by means of three components of the MMPV: the location-based game, the pervasive artificial intelligence and the alternative reality game.

The location-based game utilises global positioning systems to individuate the location of the players in the real world and activates, as a function of some neighbourhood parameters, real contest and interaction opportunities, supplementary game pervasive functionalities in the client components, provided that the game device be provided with an embedded or accessory global positioning system, (for example, the "GPS", "A-GPS" or even the cell radio system used in the wireless network of the mobile phones). The interaction between players in the real world, mediated by the game device, modifies the state of the avatars of the involved players and therefore produces some digital effects even on the state of the virtual universe. The ubiquitous extension of the game mode from traditional online game sessions typical of the MVM to local game sessions in the real world is another element of pervasivity that goes beyond the limits of the current videogames individuated above.

In a possible representation of the present invention, the MMPV, in addition to the traditional artificial intelligence (IA) systems intended for the simulation of virtual evolution and behaviour processes of the setting, included the existing objects and physical forces, can also implement pervasive IA systems, at different levels of complexity and functionality, in the server and/or client components, whose object is the improving of the realism sense of the alternative universe wherein the players are involved, enhancing the likelihood of behaviours of the virtual characters and their proactivity with respect to the players. The virtual characters equipped with pervasive IA systems are able to actively seek the users in the real world by means of most popular digital systems (for example, instant messaging, email, SMS) in order to start one-to-one interaction sessions that are personalised on the single users, their behaviour in the virtual world and the state of the digital world. This means, for example, that an adverse IA that has been defeated in a duel in a level of a preceding game session, can, by means of an SMS message, inviting the player to start a personalised network game session, defy him for a return game even if this is disconnected from the virtual universe. Likewise, a friendly IA, for example a virtual character that is a lieutenant of the player's avatar, could promptly alert on the PC by means of email or instant messaging the player, even if disconnected from the online game, about an impending danger and ask the presence of the online player in order to manage the situation. These individual interactions, started by a search in the real world through the digital communication means, modify the state of the virtual characters and of the avatars and therefore they modify directly the state of the virtual universe. This effect allows to partially going beyond the limits of the traditional videogames described as part of the above technical problem.

In a possible representation of the present invention, further, the MMPV implements systems of pervasive IA which are able to make act the virtual characters autonomously on the basis of objects and motivations (for example, not to assault immediately a virtual adversary when one has the possibility owing to the fact that he could reveal important information if questioned), to make them recognise, manifest and react to emotions expressed by the behaviour (for example, submit to a more powerful adversary without fighting if he succeeds in arousing terror with verbal threats), to make him take the initiative in an interaction with the players (for example, hunting an avatar that violated the social laws of the virtual universe), to manage a dialog on the basis of the content (for example, by facing a theme without binding the players to choose among a series of pre-defined questions but formulating one's own questions), going over the limits of the classical methods applied in the MVM, based on behaviour scripts and pre-determined question-and- answer dialogic interaction schemes, which have been described as part of the technical problem individuated and described above.

In a possible representation of the present invention, the MMPV is provided with a "content management system", destined to the narration of the game, able to construct automatically and to release online structured and likely representations of fiction, i.e. of the so-called "sights" on the narration, collocated outside the game virtual universe but connected to it. The sights can be web sites (for example, the users could find on the World Wide Web a corporate site of an imaginary industry of technologies that can exist only in the game narration, presented as likely even if non-existing in the reality), blog (for example, a virtual character could have his own personal blog that could lead the users to attribute him a character dimension analogous to that of real persons), photos, videos and in general any multimedia content that can render elements of fiction as likely. The effect of such a distribution of narrative contents outside the game setting of the virtual universe, that represents the digital aspect of a game mode known as "alternative reality gaming", increases the level of suspense and incredulity of the players, amplifying the emotional involving and therefore going over the limits of the current MVM described as part of the above technical problem.

In a possible representation of the present invention, the content management system of which the MMPV is provided allows the introduction of new narrative contents not only to the game administrators, but also to the same players. The management of the contents is organised on two levels: the global one, that constitutes the reference narrative plot of the whole game, composed by main novel, events and characters, and the local one, composed by secondary narrative plots, i.e. minor novels, events and characters, connected to those of the global level, that are the so-called "quest" or "missions". In the MVM both the global and the local level are completely managed by the administrators, who are the sole having the control on the narration, by means of functionality of introduction of new contents and modification of the existing ones. In the MMPV, the content management system allows the players who wish it to introduce local narrative contents, connecting them automatically, in a way similar to the functioning of a "wiki", to the contents of the global level, by means of a system of analysis and elaboration of the natural language applied to narrative contents. The functionalities of insertion and modification of the narrative game contents of the content management system of which is provided the MMPV allow also the introduction of multimedia contents into the virtual universe (for example, graphical skins for one's own avatar or photos and video relevant to the secondary narrative plot inserted by the user). As a matter of fact, therefore, differently from a MVM, the MMPV allows to personalise elements, areas or entities of the virtual world wherein the users play. Hence, it is not only by the actions and interactions of the avatars that the players can modify the state of the game universe but also by means of the direct construction/building of new narrative plots that are able to introduce and tie themselves to the existing ones, creating, as a matter of fact, a personalised and rich of contents fiction world. It is a form of share between the players that is typical of the virtual communities, and is applied to the context of the game narration; it solves, as a matter of fact, the technical problem individuated above.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

After having provided a general description of the invention, we intend to illustrate some aspects by means of some figures, not necessarily in scale, that have the object of illustrating and not of limiting the invention.

Figure 1 is a block diagram that illustrates the main components and their interactions in an abstraction of a MMPV relevant to a possible representation of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram that illustrates the multi-platform client-server distributed system underlying a MMPV and the specific components relevant to a possible representation of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram that illustrates the local interaction system in the real world between players of a MMPV, by means of multimedia devices provided with a global positioning system ("GPS" or "A-GPS", for example), in the so-called Location-Based Gaming mode, relevant to a possible representation of the invention.

Figure 4 is a block diagram that illustrates the Artificial Intelligence system used to model the behaviour of the virtual characters of a MMPV, which are relevant to a possible representation of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a block diagram that illustrates the interactive system of supplying, monitoring and modification of the digital contents relevant to the narration of a MMPV₁ in the so-called Alternative Reality Gaming mode, relevant to a possible representation of the present invention.

Figure 6 is a diagram that illustrates the system allowing the player the personalisation of some of the multimedia digital contents (narration, graphics, text, images, sounds, video, etc.) of a MMPV, relevant to a possible representation of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention will be now described in detail making reference to the figures, wherein its preferred embodiments are illustrated. In the description, reference will be made to algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data performed within the data storage of an information elaborator. This way of representing the invention is the one preferably used by the experts of information processing, but the invention can be represented in other ways as well, for which the representations illustrated in the following should not be considered binding but as one of the possible forms to explain the components and the functioning of the present invention. An algorithm, indeed, is conceivable as a sequence of operations that require the physical handling of physical quantities, which usually, but not necessarily, assume the form of electrical or magnetic signals suitable to be stored, transmitted and in general handled. Typically one refers to such signals as information, symbols, components, variables and so on, but one has to bear in mind that it deals with convenient descriptive labels that are associated to physical quantities that can be represented, for example, also by means of electrical circuits and hardware in general, as an elaborator, wherein the terms "processing", "computation" and the like imply the handling and physical (electronic) transformation of physical quantities (electronic as well) stored within the registers and memories. The general functioning and the game system of the MMPV is illustrated in Figure 1. An online virtual universe 100, populated by avatars 102, i.e. virtual projections of the real players, and by virtual characters 104 able to interact with one another within this simulated settings, is accessible to players 210 and 212, collocated inside the real world 200, by means of devices of daily use 200, 202 and 204 able to connect themselves to a network communication infrastructure 300, that represents the interaction medium between the systems 100 and 200. In the game devices 200, 202 and 204, that must be provided with the pre-determined minimum requirements, described above, client applications are installed which are able to manage the accessibility to the virtual universe, the control on one's own avatar and the bi-directional interaction with the simulated settings and the virtual characters. Examples of such devices are the personal computers, notebooks, palmtops, mobile phones, PDAs, and so on. If such devices are provided with a global positioning system in the real world, like GPS for example, the client applications can activate pervasive game modes that are called "location-based", i.e. modes wherein: (a) the position of the players in the real world influences directly their possibilities of interaction in the virtual universe according to parameters of reciprocal proximity or to specific areas qualified for the management of such interaction, (b) the results of the interactions that occur between the players with this mode influence directly the status of the virtual universe, and finally (c) the status of the virtual universe influence in turn directly the opportunities of interaction between the players in the real world, for example by acting on the activation or deactivation of areas qualified for the location-based mode. This "location-based" game interaction system 300'" appears and disappears as a function of the movement of the players in the real world: therefore, a MMPV can be composed of a time-variable number of active "location-based" systems, theoretically infinite.

The pervasive type interaction and superposition between virtual universe 100 and real world 200 occurs mainly by means of a system of an active "alternative reality game" 300': the virtual characters 104 can interact with the players 210 and 212 not only on the level of the online virtual universe 100 through the avatars 102, but also on the level of the real world 200, by means of SMS 320, mms 322, emails 324, instant messaging 326 or any real-time multimedia network communication model, disposable on computers, palmtops, mobile phones and, in general, on any other device provided with a wireless network connection system. The virtual characters 104 that populate the online virtual universe 100, are indeed provided with artificial intelligence systems that determine their proactive type behaviour that is guided by objectives. This means that it is not prerogative of the sole players 210 and 212 to start, through their avatars 102, an interaction with the virtual characters 104. In a MMPV, the virtual characters 104 can actively seek the interaction with other virtual characters 104 or with avatars 102 if this lies within the aims generated by the artificial intelligence systems for them. The game administrators 214 can monitor these interactions by means of administratioh devices 206, provided with the expected minimum requirements, that are described above, and equipped with a game contents management client application.

The interaction and the superposition of pervasive nature between virtual universe 100 and real world 200 occurs also by means of a passive alternative reality game system 300", that includes a large and heterogeneous series of network-spread digital contents: blogs 310, web sites 312, photos 314, videos 316 and any other multimedia object realised ad hoc by the game administrators 214 by means of administration devices 206, provided with the minimum expected requirements described above, and equipped with a game contents management client application: they carry information relevant to the virtual universe 100 in the real world 200, by means of the means 300, be it Internet or another suitable network communication infrastructure. Information relevant to virtual characters, avatars, novels and events of the virtual universe 100 are constructed so as to result likely or at least credible even to a common observer of the real world 200. For example, if in the virtual universe 100, set in a achievable scenario, the players 210 and 212 find, by investigating through their avatars 102, managed by means of the client applications installed on the devices 200 and 202, that the invasion of the robots they have to face originates in a imaginary technology industry that in the real world 200 is being working on forefront artificial intelligence systems, the web site of this industry will be findable on the Internet, the site being constructed as it existed actually, with a series of likely information and other information that are wholly invented but bound to the game, the web site being able to provide valuable hints for solving the event of invasion that will occur in the virtual universe 100. The web site could absolutely be provided of an automatic call centre managed by a robot able to answer to the site users, the players 210 and 210, as it was a real human operator, and so on. The same procedure can be applied to photos and videos, re-elaborated with the help of the computer graphics, in order to construct, for example, the collector photo or video of an UFO sighting, like those spread in the real world 200, but totally invented and bound to the narration and the contents of the virtual universe 100 of the MMPV.

The multi-platform client-server distributed system that constitutes the game infrastructure MMPV is illustrated in Figure 2. The system includes an ensemble of game devices 100, an ensemble of game servers 200, an ensemble of game administration devices 300, an informative system 400 and a routing server 500, all ones communicating through a network communication infrastructure 510 and 510'.

The assembly of the game devices 100 includes, in turn, one or more game devices 102, 104, 106, 108 and 110, that are different with respect to type and hardware resources but all necessarily having the expected minimum requirements, described above, so that a game device can be utilised for benefiting the game experience provided by a MMPV. Each game device has installed on it a game client application 112, 114, 116, 118 and 120, each having the game functionalities necessary to benefit of the MMPV, but composed of software modules specifically adapted to the hardware resources of each typology of game device.

The assembly of the game administration devices 300 comprises, in turn, one or more administration devices 302, 304 and 306, different with respect to typology and hardware resources, similar to the game devices, but all necessarily having the minimum expected requirements, described above, so that an administration device can be used to manage the digital contents of the MMPV and monitor the game activity. Each administration device has installed on it an "admin client" application 312, 314 and 316, each having the administration functionalities needed for managing all the digital aspects of the MMPV, but composed of software modules specifically adapted to the hardware resources of each administration device typology.

Each game client 112, 114, 116, 118, 120 installed on a game device 102, 104, 106, 108, 110 comprised in the assembly 100 is able to establish a specific communication link 522, 524, 526, 528 and 530, named "session", through which, after having been switched on one specific communication link 542 by the routing server 500, can communicate with any game engine 212 installed on one of the game servers 202 comprised in the assembly 200. It is the routing server 500 that, by means of specific algorithms devoted to minimise the waiting times in the client-server data exchange by distributing the connection requests in a balanced way between the game servers, determine with which specific server 202 a specific communication link 542 is established on the basis of the received link requests 522, 524, 526, 528 and 530.

The same procedure described is actuated for each admin client 312, 314 and 316, installed on a administration device 302, 304 and 306 comprised in the assembly 300, through the communication link 532, 534 and 536, switched by the routing server 500 towards the game servers 202 and the corresponding game engines 212, included in the assembly 200, through the communication link 542. The assembly of the game servers 200 includes, in turn, one or more game servers 202, i.e. computer server of desktop type, laptops or work-stations, having the minimum expected requirements, described above, so that a computer can be utilised as game server of the MMPV. Both the number of game devices (client), and that of the administration servers (client) are virtually unlimited, bound exclusively by the hardware characteristics and the number of game servers (server), also virtually unlimited, as well as by the physical characteristics of the network communication infrastructure 510 and 510' that connects the assemblies 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500. Every game server has installed on it a game engine application 212 having the functionalities needed to manage automatically, by means of simulation and artificial intelligence algorithms, the functioning of the game simulation, the behaviour of the virtual characters and any other game element that is not the graphical representation, as well as the communications with the game clients and the admin clients of the MMPV.

The information system 400, organised according to two main databases 402 and 404, the first being named "player account" and relevant to the player data, and the second being named "game logic" and relevant to game data (features of the virtual characters, the interactive setting, the events, etc.), is directly accessible, through the connection links 552 and 554, by the admin clients and the game engines, for the normal real time operations of game administration.

The network communication infrastructure 510 and 510' that connects the assembly of the game devices 100, the assembly of the game servers 200, the assembly of the game administration devices 300, the information system 400 and the routing server 500, can have a "bus", "star", "ring" or "grid" topology. Moreover, the network communication infrastructure 510 and 510' can be a local area network ("LAN"), like Ethernet, a metropolitan area network ("MAN"), like an Intranet, or a wide area network ("WAN"), like Internet, or a "peer-to-peer". In other possible representation of the present invention, network communication infrastructure can be "dedicated" or "shared", "peer-to-peer", and also include wholly or partially, without any limitation, a "wireless" network, a "cellular" network or another system whose function is the data transmission.

The modes of connection to the network 510 and 510' are different: from the phone lines to the networks "LAN" or "WAN" (for example, "TT, "T3", "56kb", "X.25", etc.), from the broadband connections ("ISDN", "Frame Relay", "ATM") to "wireless" ones. Such connections can be established by means of different communication protocols (for example, "TCP/IP", "IPX", "SPX", "NetBIOS", "Ethernet", "ARCNET", "FDDI", "RS232", "IEEE 802.11" and still others, among which the asynchronous direct connections). Other client and server nodes, that are not necessarily involved in the MMPV, can be connected to the network 510 and 510'. In other possible representations of the present invention, the client systems can connect themselves to the server ones by using separated and distinct networks.

The "location-based" game interaction system in the real world of the MMPV is illustrated in Figure 3. This system, of which some features and points game modes have already been described above, comprises the help of different parameters connected to the position of the players in the real world, from the activation area to the game interaction time, to the fulfilments of the conditions linked to the itinerary or the configuration of the journey made by the player (for example, the player can use the movement in a specific activation area to give life to signs and symbols drawn on a corresponding virtual area, that can be exploited to evocate creatures in the online virtual universe). The system takes into account also other parameters, like threshold values of proximity between the players or between players and particular area of activation of location- based game mode. The game interactions occur through the network communication system already described above, bearing in mind that the game devices, that have to fulfil the requirements described above, can utilise standard analogical, digital or dual-mode communication protocols, like the "Global System for Mobile Communications" (GSM) or the "Universal Mobile Telecommunications System" (UMTS), and their evolutions.

In a typical representation of the functioning of the "location- based" game interaction system of the MMPV, the game devices 130, 132, 134, 136 and 138 are placed within the help area of a network communication infrastructure 100, which includes also wireless receiving and transmitting stations 110, 110' and 110", characterised by radio fields 120, 120' and 120" of different width, that can also have superposition areas, as in the case of 120 and 120'. This cell organisation is typical of the communication infrastructure of the mobile terminals, such as mobile phones. A generic game device provided with a global positioning system, therefore, can accede directly to the coordinates of its own position by communicating with the satellite network ("GPS"), or can accede to the coordinates of its own position through the mediation of the communication cells used by the mobile terminals, which select the satellites in the area, reducing the access times to required data. It is thanks to the help of these multiple access channels to the global position of the game device that the game client can determine if its own position, as a player, is in the proximity of the other players or areas active for the game, on the basis of a "spatial configurations" connected to the online virtual universe 200 and to the game narration. From this check, the game client is able to understand whether it finds itself within "playable areas", like the 120 and the 120', or within inactive areas, like the 120", i.e. not included in the "spatial configurations" of the online virtual universe 200. Depending on the variations in the latency intervals in the data exchange between players, the game client can use the Bluetooth protocol 140, as in the case of the game devices 132 and 134, or the Wi-Fi and the cells of the available network operator 110 and 100', as in the case of the devices 130, 136 and 138, in order to manage the game interaction in the location- based mode. In any case, the effects and consequences of the interaction between the players in the real world are sent to the game servers, through the system already described above, that in the case of mobile terminals uses, in general, "GPS" or "UMTS" communication protocols, in order to update the avatars status and hence of the virtual universe in which they are placed.

The artificial intelligence system used to model the behaviour of the virtual characters of the MMPV is illustrated in Figure 4 and is individuated, from the technological point of view, by the concept of Synthetic Personality, a typology of intelligence agents provided with motivation and emotion simulation systems, particularly adapted to interact with the human beings. In a possible and preferred representation of the present invention, the artificial intelligence system is a computer program, but other representations are possible, included hardware implementations of the system components. The elements that describe the system model are imported from models of behaviour psychology and ethology, that explain how the living beings are able to interact autonomously in their own habitat and in a lifelike way, and therefore the reference to the artificial intelligence models are preferably, but not exclusively, those of the Evolutionary Reinforcement Learning and of the Genetic-Based Machine Learning.

The cognitive structure of the system allows the virtual character to have representations of causal temporal relations (for example, associating the attack of an adversary to the obtaining of a reward), similar to what happens in the classical conditioning and in the operating one which are studied in the living beings, to the aim of allowing it to foresee the consequences of both his own behaviour and that of the others. Different psychological theories, particularly connected to the Connectionism, suggest that such representations are simply constituted by associative connections between perception, memory and action. The width of the time window within which such relations are to be individuated is a system variable that can be different from character to character and that can be stable during time or undergo variations connected to emotive state or learning. This form of causal representation, in other words, is the means used to construct a model of the world to be used to act in an effective way. This is one of the mechanisms by means of which the virtual character of the MMPV succeeds in behaving in a more lifelike with respect to an analogous of the MVM.

A further mechanism that makes the virtual character more "lifelike" is the presence of motivations 100, i.e. of needs to be satisfied, instincts that incite the virtual character to act in a certain way, aims that direct the short-term and long-term behaviour thereof, through the link of sequences situation-action. The knowledge acquired by the system 200 and its ability to foresee the result of one's own actions serves, to the virtual character, to satisfy his own motivations 100, that can be both aims of instinctive type (the motivation to feed, avoid the pain or danger, to socialise, and so on) and cognitive (helping an avatar to complete a quest, acquire a social position in one's own realm, and so on). At a technical level, the motivations 100 are simulated by means of a variable with real values comprised between a minimum, that corresponds to the satisfaction of the need, and a maximum, that corresponds to the maximum motivational activation. Each motivation 100, moreover, has associated a weight value 110 that express its importance with respect to the others. The set of the weights 110 associated to the set of motivations 100 can be considered as the value system (multi-dimensional) of the virtual character and is sufficiently stable during time. Exactly as happening in the human beings, that are able to modify their own values scale, the knowledge acquired by the system with the experience can modify the relative importance of some motivations 100, as a function of a cognitive rigidity factor 300 of which each system is provided and that express the tendency to modify their own opinions. But the importance of the motivations 100 could be modified also by a periodic or quasi-periodic function 310, for example for representing a circadian rhythm or a strange attractor similar to those individuated as regulators of the behaviour in some biological systems. The satisfaction of a motivation 100 is calculated as a function of some other aspect of the correlated system (for example, the level of satisfaction of the motivation of feeding in a virtual character could be a function of the assimilated food quantity).

The actions 400, that constitute the system output, contribute directly to modify, by their effects, the status of the set of motivations 100 and as a function of this expected influence they are considered as useful or harmful for the system. By associating to each action a representation 100' composed by variation to the set of values of the motivation 100, one can calculate a utility value 120 expected for the action by linearly combining the motivational values of the motivations 100, their relative importance values 110, their modifications expected from the actions 100'. It is the evaluation of this utility value 120 that contribute to determine whether to undertake an action or not. The actions utility values can be both determined a priori and observed in the setting, by the individuation of causal temporal relations and an analysis of one's own internal state, or also a combination of the two ones. The perception of a situation, intended as a configuration of external stimuli 500, which constitute the input of the system, and internal stimuli (motivations 100 and emotional states 600) activates a series of action options on the basis of their perceived utility 230 and makes the system able to take a decision on which action to undertake in a determined situation, on the basis of associative functions of probabilistic type.

The representation of the associations between situation and action 200 consists in predictive tuples 210 composed by: an activation context 220, an associated action to be executed 222, a target for the action 224, a termination condition for the action 226, an expected effect 228 and an expected utility value 230 associated to the action to be executed. The activation context 220 is the configuration of the active stimuli which are both internal 220' (motivations 100 and emotive states 600) and external 220" (input stimuli 500) that define the situation in a certain instant and can be specific (for example, if you see a red light) or generic (for example, whichever be the settings in which you find yourself). The associated action to be executed 222 can be a single action (for example, sit down) or a more complex behaviour (for example, go to visit a friend). The action target 224 can indicate an object, another system or the same system. The condition of action termination 226 indicates, exactly, the condition upon occurrence of which the behaviour put into action can be concluded, and can be a temporal condition (for example, wait for ten minutes), another action (for example, defend yourself as long as you are attacked) or a stimuli configuration or another situation. The expected effect 228 can, it also, refer to variations of the internal state 228' (motivations 100 and affective states 600) or to variations of the external setting 228" (for example, appearance or disappearance of input stimuli 500) or a combination of both ones. The expected utility value 230, finally, is an intrinsic value associated a priori or by learning to the tuple depending on the expected effect 228. The observation of the effects of the actions 400, intended as changes in the setting 700 or in the internal states of the system 100 and 600, allows the check of the expected utility value 230 of an action, which could, realistically, change as a function of time, setting, experience or an internal motivational or affective state. The discrepancy 800 found between the expected utility value 230 and the caused real effect 120, both in positive (the effect proves to be higher to expectations) and in negative (expectations are disappointed), are used as a measure of punishment or reinforcement of the last used tuple 210 and is also back- propagated 810 to tuples 21O¹ and 210" whose expected positive effects 228 contribute to the activation of the tuple 210 in a certain measure proportional to the temporal distance (for example, if the last tuple was composed by the action "eat", able to generate the satisfaction of the nutritive need as effect, and activated by the appearance of food, also the tuple that by pushing a button make the food appear is reinforced, proportionally to the time elapsed from when it has been put into action). In such a way, the system reinforce or punish tuple chains 210 or representations 200, refining its behaviour as a living being does. If then the activation context 220 of the tuple 210 is generic, it is also specialised by reducing the set of the stimuli 210' and 210" to those actually active at the moment when the situation occurred, which induced the action. The system can specialise, both by modifying the already existing tuples 210 and by creating new ones 210"' and, by periodic selection mechanisms of one's own representations 200, reinforce progressively those more useful or frequent and weaken the less useful or frequent ones. A curiosity factor 320, that possibly can be included in the set of motivations 100, induce the system to experience with higher or lower frequency new predictive tuples 210 and variations of the already existing ones, with the aim of widen its own model of knowledge of the world 200. The predictive tuple 210, moreover, can be organised according to macro-categories, possibly hierarchised by weights, both for the activation context 220, and for action 222 or target 224, and for expected effects 228, in order to make faster the selection of the tuple 210 to be put into action at a given time.

Another aspect that contribute to make a character of the MMPV more "life-like" than an analogous of the MVM is the emotions simulations. Similar to the motivations, the system possesses "affective" variables 600 with real values by which it is possible to map the seven primary emotions individuated by the Psychology (surprise, interest, angry, aversion/contempt, joy, sadness, fear) by a multi-dimensional emotions model of the type "arousal-affective stance". The configuration of variation of the motivations 100' of a tuple 210 contribute to determine the affective states 600, as also the evaluation of the discrepancy 800 between the expected utility values 230 and the real one 120 produced by the action activated by the tuple 210 (for example, a utility value that is perceived as very high could activate an excitation and joy state, apart for generating angry if such value is disappointed by the real effect). The affective states 600 contribute directly to influence the state of motivations 100, the back- propagation 810 of the discrepancy, the thresholds of the stimuli 500 and to activate actions involved in the expression of the emotions 410, exactly as it happens in a living creature. The affective states 600 are influenced also by an emotional rigidity factor 330, similar to the cognitive rigidity factor 300 that regulates the motivations 100, which indicates the emotional stability level of the system.

Both the set of inputs 500 (perception) and that of outputs 400 (action) are structured a priori according to the setting 700 wherein the system is placed. It must be present a stimuli coding that can vary in the simplicity level or "atomisation" (objects' colour, a certain sound, a certain behaviour, and so on). According to this coding, each stimulus 500 has an activation threshold, variable as a function of the experience or the motivational 100 or affective 600 state (to simulate a waiting or insensitivity state), above which the system perceive the presence of the same stimulus. For each set of stimuli 500 there exists an associated set of values 510 that quantify the relevant importance, practically weights, in the connectionistic sense. In such a way, it is possible to hierarchise the stimuli 500 perceivable by the system, both a priori, at the moment of the creation of the same, as a function of the settings variables 700 wherein it is placed, and with the experience, as a function of the motivations 100 and the affective states 600 auto-generated by the same system as a consequence of the expectations on the effects of the performed actions. The real input that the system gets from its sensors, therefore, is given by the combination between the activation value of the stimulus 500 and the associated weight 510. Beyond a process of variation of the long-term system "sensibility", as that just described, another short-term one exists, which is dynamical, analogous to a real-time attention process. Similar to stimuli 500, also for the actions 400 there must be a coding that can vary in the level of simplicity or "atomisation" (stand up, sit down, eat, look, go visit your friend, seek the treasure, tell a story, and so on), but there needs not be present a set of importance values associated to actions, because such a value is expressed by the expected utility value 230 of the situation-action tuples 210.

By integrating management techniques of elaboration of natural-language phrases which are typical of the so-called "chatterbot" (for example, Eliza) or "text mining" with a system similar to that just described, moreover, a supplementary system can be realised which is able to manage a dialogue outside the default schemes. When the actions indicated by the tuples of the first system comprises the dialogue interaction with another virtual character, the control passes to the system for the management of the natural-language dialogue, which manage predictive tuples for the elaboration of the dialogue and can return the control to the first system when the dialogues terminates or, if an activation context appears that matches some critical believed drives (for example, if the character is attacked he stop the dialogue and begin the management of the conflict situation).

The content management system on the server side, called "Admin CMS", of the MMPV, which allows the supply and the modification of digital game contents by the game administrators, is illustrated in Figure 5. The release of digital contents connected to the game narration and their organisation in those information containers that we named as "sights" above is composed by three steps, all under the control of the game administrator: analysis of the existing involved digital contents, possible introduction of new contents and their automatic validation, exportation of some digital contents outside the game, which are organised according to suitable "sights".

In the first step, a game administrator 100 activates a request for examination of the contents present in the game 110 to the admin client 200, that, by a request 210, interrogates the information system 300, which returns one or more organised lists 310 of the digital contents involved in the game, which are then shown by the admin client 200 to the game administrator 100 by means of a suitable screenful 212. If the game administrator 100 consider it as necessary, he can activate a supplementary step of introduction of the contents, otherwise he can proceed with the step of exportation of the contents that he consider appropriate to select by the obtained lists.

In the possible step of introduction of new contents, the admin client passes temporarily, by the activation 214, to a second screenful 200' of introduction of the new contents. The game administrator 100, through the "data entry" and "file upload" 112 simplified modes, introduce the new contents, that the admin client 200' forwards, by the sending 216, to the system 400 devoted to the integration of the new contents on the basis of elaboration in natural language and of specific tags assigned to the contents, whose functioning is similar to that of a "wiki", even if it is managed in an automatic way by means of artificial intelligence algorithms. The system 400 integrates the new contents by means of a series of interrogations 410 to the game data stored in the information system 300, thus obtaining feedbacks 312 that contribute to the evaluation of the possibility of data integration. At the end, the system 400 sends a confirmation signal 412 to the admin client 200' highlighting which contents it was not possible to integrate automatically and which, therefore, need modifications and adaptation by the game administrator 100, to whom they are shown through a screenful 218. By subsequent operations 112, the game administrator 100 can modify and adapt the contents that have not be successfully integrated until he obtains a positive outcome from their automatic validation or can abandon those incongruent contents by discarding them and ending the introduction step.

In the third and last step, the game administrator 100 can export some of the contents elaborated in the first step of the process, and possibly in the second one, by means of the sending 220 to the system

500 of those selected through the screenful 220 of the admin client described above. The system 500 is able to get, by means of interrogations 510 to the information system 300, information 314 on the narration linked to the contents to be exported, and is devoted to the automatic construction of the web sites, blogs and other narrative "sights" composed by text, graphics and multimedia files by means of algorithms of automatic writing of codes and of automatic composition of the typical contents of the web content management system. The contents thus organised are uploaded on appropriate spaces and domains in the network communication infrastructure 600, that can be "LAN" (Ethernet), "MAN" (Intranet) or "WAN" (Internet), and a confirmation 514 of their online construction and uploading is sent to the admin client 200, which provides to confirm it to the game administrator 100 through a suitable screenful 222.

The content management system on the client side of the MMPV, which allows the personalisation of some game digital contents by the player, is illustrated in Figure 6. The insertion of textual contents (story, quest, etc.), graphics (skin, animations, etc.) and multimedia files (videos, photos, etc.) in the game is subject to the verification of the enabling of the player to the game personalisation, therefore it is composed of three steps: introduction request, contents introduction and validation of the introduced contents. The first two steps are activated by the players, whilst the last one is up to the game administrators. In the first step, a player 100 activates an introduction request of new digital game contents 110 to the game client 200, which propagates the request 210 to the game engine 300. The game engine 300 verifies, by interrogating the information system 400 with a request 310, whether the data relevant to the account of the player indicate that he is enabled for the personalisation of the game. If the answer 410 of the information system 400 confirms the enabling, the game engine 300 enables, by means of the activation code 312, the game client 200 to the introduction of new contents by the player 100, to whom it is shown, by means of activation 212, a screenful 200' of introduction of the new contents, starting the second step.

In the second step, the player 100, through the simplified "data entry" and "file upload" modes 112, introduce the new contents, that the game client 200' forwards to the game engine 300 by a sending 214. The game engine 300 propagates, through the sending 314, the contents to the system 500 devoted to the integration of the new contents on the basis of elaborations in natural language and of specific tags assigned to the contents, whose functioning is similar to that of a "wiki", even if it is managed in an automatic way by means of artificial intelligence algorithms. The system 500 integrates the new contents by means of a series of interrogations 510 to the game data stored in the information system 400, thus obtaining feedbacks 412 that contribute to the evaluation of the possibility of data integration. At the end, the system 500 sends a confirmation signal 512 to the game engine 300 highlighting which contents it was not in case possible to integrate automatically and that, therefore, need validation by a game administrator. The game engine sends, in turn, a confirmation 318 to the game client 200', which shows to the player 100, through a screenful 216, which contents have been successfully integrated and which ones are waiting for a validation.

In the third and final step, the game engine 300, after the answer 512 of the system 500, sends a validation request signal 320 to an admin client 600, which shows an alarm 610 to the corresponding game administrator 700, complete with a series of information on the operation of introduction of new game contents, such as, for example, the player that has effectuated the operation, its data, the number of already effected similar operations, which contents he introduced as yet, which ones are waiting for a validation, possible problems of compatibility between the found contents, and so on. The game administrator 700, by means of a series of evaluation and confirmation operations 710, validates or not the new introduced contents, by means of a series of updating operations 610 of the information system 400 started by the admin client 600. In case that, at the end of these operations, there are contents that it is not possible to integrate, the admin client 600 sends a list of not validated contents 612 and motivations for which the introduction did not succeed (for example, an introduced content could not be validated because it would have denied already validated contents or contents relevant to non-modifiable narration elements) to the game client 200', which arranges to show a notice 218 to the player 100.

The preferred embodiments of the invention and some of its variations have been hereinabove described, but it should be understood that those skilled in the art can make modifications or changes therein without departing from the scope of this invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims

RIVENDICAZIONI

1. Multi-platform, distributed client-server system for multi- player videogame, characterised in that it comprises:

- An assembly of game devices (100; 102, 104, 106, 108 and 110) on each of which a respective game client application (112, 114, 116,

118 e 120) is installed,

- An assembly of game administration devices (300; 302, 304, 306), which are apt to manage the digital contents and monitor the game activity, on each device being installed an administration client (312, 314, 316),

- An assembly of game servers (200; 202), on at least one of which a respective game engine is installed (212) which manages the functioning of the game simulation, as well as the communications with the game clients and administration clients, - An information system (400) comprising at least a database

(402, 404), and

- A routing server (500), all communicating through a network communication infrastructure (510,510'), each game (112, 114, 116, 118, 120) and administration (312, 314, 316) client being able to establish a specific communication connection or session (522, 524, 526, 528, 530, 532, 534, 536), through which, after having been switched on a specific communication connection (542) by the routing server (500), communicates with any other game engine (212) installed on one of the game servers (202), the information system (400) being accessible, through specific connections (552, 554), by the administration clients and game engines, in such a way that these are able to introduce, in said at least a database (402,404), information concerning the virtual game world and/or information concerning the real setting of the players, thus allowing a real-time game interaction between virtual setting and real setting.

2. System according to claim 1 , wherein the network communication infrastructure (510,510') is of a typology chosen in the group consisting of: "bus", "star" or "ring", "grid".

3. System according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the network communication infrastructure (510,510') is chosen in the group consisting of: "local area network" ("LAN"), "metropolitan area network" ("MAN"), "wide area network" ("WAN"), and "peer-to-peer".

4. System according to any claim 1 to 3, wherein the communication infrastructure is a "wireless" or "mobile" network.

5. System according to any claim 1 to 4, wherein the information system (400) comprises two main databases (402, 404), the first being relevant to the player data, and the second being relevant to the game data.

6. Method for simulating a virtual "lifelike" character for videogame, characterised in that it comprises the utilisation of the following elements: - One or more variables of external stimuli (500), that constitute the input of the method,

- One or more variables of affective states (600),

- One or more variables of motivations (100) to action, with real values comprised between a minimum, that corresponds to the satisfying of a need, and a maximum, that corresponds to the highest motivational activation of the character;

- A set of modifiable respective weight values (110), which are associated to the motivations (100), that is called also character value set;

- A set of respective values of satisfaction of motivations (100), calculated as a function of a pre-determined series of parameters of the virtual character; the method comprising the following subsequent steps:

A. Starting from the motivation variables, calculating actions(400) of the virtual character; B. Determining a utility value (120) of the actions (400) on the basis of the computable effects of the actions (400) on the set of motivations values (100);

C. Determining whether to perform the action (400) or not depending on the corresponding utility value according to a function or pre-defined procedure;

D. Performing the action (400);

E. Revealing the action effect and the discrepancy (800) with the expected result;

F. Modifying the motivations (100) and/or the respective weight values (110) correspondingly to the action effect and discrepancy (800) and going back to step A for a further action, the method refining in such a way the predictive ability of the action in the virtual setting.

7. Method according to claim 6, characterised in that it comprises the utilisation of a cognitive rigidity factor (300), that measures the tendency to modify the motivations (100), and modulates therefore the modification of the weight values (110) according to one or more predetermined functions.

8. Method according to claim 6 or 7, characterised in that the weight values (11) are modified according to a periodic or quasi-periodic function (310).

9. Method according to any claim 6 to 8, wherein the utility values (120) of the actions are pre-determined a priori.

10. Method according to any claim 6 to 8, wherein in step B the utility values are determined by the variables of the virtual setting, by means of the individuation of causal temporal relations and an analysis of the internal state of the character or even a combination of both ones.

11. Method according to claim 10, wherein in steps A to C a representation (200) of the associations between situation and action is used which consists of predictive tuples (210) composed by: - An activation context (220), which is the configuration of both internal and active stimuli (220') of the character, i.e. motivations (100) and affective states (600), and external (220"), i.e. input stimuli (500), which define the situation at a given time,

- An associated action to perform (222), - A target for the action (224),

- An action termination condition (226),

- An expected effect (228), which is referable to variations of the internal state (228¹) of the character, i.e. motivations (100) and affective states (600) or variations of the external setting (228") of the character, for example appearance and disappearance of the input stimuli (500), or a combination of both ones,

- An expected utility value (230) associated to the action to be performed, which is an intrinsic value associated, a priori or by learning, to the tuple on the basis of the expected effect (228), the observation of the actions effects (400) in sep E allowing the verification of the expected utility value (230) of an action.

12. Method according to claim 11 , wherein the discrepancy (800) found between the expected utility value (230) and the caused real effect (120), both in positive (the effect proves stronger than expectations) and in negative (the expectations are disappointed), is used in order to increase or diminish the importance value of the last utilised tuple (210) and is also back-propagated (810) to the tuples (210', 210") relevant to the past actions whose expected effects (228) contribute to the activation of the tuple (210) in a pre-determined amount proportionally to the time distance between the tuples.

13. Method according to claim 12, characterised in that, if the activation context (220) of the tuple (210) is generic, it is specialised by reducing the assembly of the stimuli (210', 210") to those effectively active at the moment when the situation that induced the action occurred, the specialisation occurring both by modifying already existing tuples (210) and creating new ones (210'") and, by means of mechanisms of periodic selection of the representations (200), progressively increasing the value of the most frequent or useful tuples and diminishing that of the less frequent or useful tuples.

14. Method according to claim 12 or 13, characterised in that a curiosity factor (320) is included in the motivation assembly (100), and provokes an experience of higher or lower frequency of new predictive tuples (210) and/or variations of those already existing, with the aim of amplifying knowledge model of the world (200) of the character.

15. Method according to any claim 12 to 14, wherein the predictive tuples (210) are organised according to macro-categories, in particular hierarchised with weights, both by activation context (220), and by action (222) or target (224), and by expected effects (228), in order to render faster the selection of the tuple (210) to be put into action at a given time.

16. Method according to any claim 12 to 15, wherein a configuration (100') of variation of a tuple (210) contribute to determine the affective states (600), as well as the discrepancy (800) between the expected utility value (230) and the real one (120) produced by the action activated by the tuple (210).

17. Method according to claim 16, characterised in that the affective states (600) contribute directly to influence the motivations state (100), the back-propagation (810) of the discrepancy (800), the activation thresholds of the stimuli (500) and to activate the actions involved in the emotions expression (410).

18. Method according to any claim 6 to 17, wherein the affective states (600) are influenced also by an emotive rigidity factor (330), which indicates the emotive stability level of the character.

19. Method according to any claim 6 to 18, wherein both the assembly of inputs or stimuli (500) and the assembly of outputs or actions (400) are structured a priori according to the setting (700) wherein the character is placed.

20. Method according to any claim 6 to 19, wherein a coding of the stimuli (500) is used, which provides that each stimulus (500) has an activation threshold, that is variable depending on the experience or the motivational (100) or affective state (600), above which the presence of the same stimulus is determined, for each set of stimuli (500) existing a set of values (510) associated that quantifies its relative importance, being thus possible to hierarchise the stimuli (500) both a priori as a function of the variables of the setting (700) wherein the character is placed, and of the experience, as a function of the motivations (100) and the affective states (600) that are auto-generated by the same system as a consequence of the expectations on the effects of the performed actions, the real input according to the method being given as a combination between the activation value of the stimulus (500) and the associated weight (510).

21. Computer program characterised in that it comprises code means suitable to carry out, when operating on a computer, the method according to any claim 6 to 20.

22. Memory support readable by a computer, having a program memorised, characterised in that the program is the computer program according to claim 21.

23. Server computer, on which a program of game engine is installed according to any claim 1 to 5, the program of game engine being the program of claim 21.