MPML3D: Scripting Agents for the 3D Internet

The aim of this paper is two-fold. First, it describes a scripting language for specifying communicative behavior and interaction of computer-controlled agents ("bots”) in the popular three-dimensional (3D) multiuser online world of "Second Life” and the emerging "OpenSimulator” project. While tools for designing avatars and in-world objects in Second Life exist, technology for nonprogrammer content creators of scenarios involving scripted agents is currently missing. Therefore, we have implemented new client software that controls bots based on the Multimodal Presentation Markup Language 3D (MPML3D), a highly expressive XML-based scripting language for controlling the verbal and nonverbal behavior of interacting animated agents. Second, the paper compares Second Life and OpenSimulator platforms and discusses the merits and limitations of each from the perspective of agent control. Here, we also conducted a small study that compares the network performance of both platforms.