A chart is a good idea. How about using an interface
for common behaviors so authors can change behaviors
from time to time?
It goes without saying that all behaviors would be protoed for reuse. I thought we
would
use the psychcological profiles for each set of behaviors. The last time I took
psycholoy
they were;
Ectomorph , Endomorph, and Metamorph there characteristic are in order
Passive Agressive, introverted physical traits are slinder , nervious activity.
Assertive, extroverted physical traits tend towards fatness, sedentary.
Agressive,assertive, extroverted physical traits musclular and athletic
or we could go for pure psychological profiles
Agressive , passive-agressive, Assertive, nuerotic, compulsive.
If you want another dimension of
depth, some character/roles should evolve. As in your
example, the fishwife can certainly get meaner, but
that is not evolution (emergent behavior); just adjustment of range of
behavior. Getting the character across a threshold
adds more depth because it surprises the user. In a
plot line, say, you try to kiss the fishwife, and she smacks
you with a fish. One day, you buy a fish and feed it to
the stray dog within sight of the fishwife. Next time
you pass her, she gives you a fish and blows you a
kiss. IOW, plot develops based on dependencies
Certainly an option, that won't inflate the code too much, my only argument would be
what
importance would it play in the overall scheme of things. Sometimes we want to save all
the bells and whistles for the main story or the substory. If her behavior did
something
to do that then it would be a good thing to include. Sometimes it is just better to
create
one dimensional characters, especially if they add nothing to the progression of the
story.
I use to live in South Perioia, next to an old Italian lady we called Mrs. Dentino. Her
old craftsman style house was surrounded by a six foot tall wall of hedges. That hedge
had faced many freezing Perioria winters, and the undignified attention of every stray
dog
or cat in that city, but if a single child were to inadvertantly touch that hedge, or
god
forbid pluck a leaf or a branch from it, Mrs. Dentino would fly out of the door like a
wrath with a broom and beat the hands and head of the offending child.
One summer day Mrs Dentino return from the corner store with a bag of groceries
precariously resting in the bend of her boney liver stained arms. She had an old metal
tin
mail box in front of her hedges that could only be seen in the fall since the hedge all
but gobbled it up. That day as she was retrieving her mail from the box she almost
spilled
her grocieries and in the movement to catch the bag before she spilled it a letter
slipped
out of her hand and underneath her feet. She went inside her house without even
noticing
the letter.
Looking for any opportunity to ingraciate myself with the old lady whose broom had so
frequently parted my unruley hair, I picked up the letter and went to the door and
knocked. She accepted the letter with a smile, and then quickly closed the door. I
don't
know, if it was the heat or the Peroria humidity or maybe just the magic of that
moment,,,
being rewarded with a smile instead of the business end of broom that is,,, but I
forgot
what I was doing and my hands on their own volition grabbed the hedge when I passed and
plucked one perfect green leaf.
I had no sooner plucked the leaf when Mrs. Dentino was on me straw from the broom
flying,
and the letter still in her hand. The moral of this story is, like it or not, some
people
are extremely one dimensional and can't appreciate that circumstances change based on
the
actions of the people they come in contact with.
