Cultural Diversity for Virtual Characters: Investigating Behavioral Aspects across Cultures

  • In this dissertation, the simulation of culture with virtual characters is investigated. Thereby the focus lies on the generation of different culture-related behaviors by integrating culture as a parameter into the behavioral models of virtual characters, rather than simulating obvious differences such as outer appearance or language. In the scope of this dissertation, aspects of verbal behavior, communication management and nonverbal behaviors were explored and exemplified for the German and Japanese cultures. These aspects are of special interest, since they are dependent on culture on the one hand, and address different modalities of a virtual character's behavior on the other hand. For the integration of culture into computational models, a hybrid approach was developed that combines the advantages of a model-based approach and a corpus-driven approach. The hybrid approach enables us to model the causality of culture and corresponding behavior in a generalizable manner whileIn this dissertation, the simulation of culture with virtual characters is investigated. Thereby the focus lies on the generation of different culture-related behaviors by integrating culture as a parameter into the behavioral models of virtual characters, rather than simulating obvious differences such as outer appearance or language. In the scope of this dissertation, aspects of verbal behavior, communication management and nonverbal behaviors were explored and exemplified for the German and Japanese cultures. These aspects are of special interest, since they are dependent on culture on the one hand, and address different modalities of a virtual character's behavior on the other hand. For the integration of culture into computational models, a hybrid approach was developed that combines the advantages of a model-based approach and a corpus-driven approach. The hybrid approach enables us to model the causality of culture and corresponding behavior in a generalizable manner while concrete behaviors can be extracted from empirical data. For the generation of culture-specific behaviors, methodologies from Artificial Intelligence were applied, in particular distributed behavior planning and Bayesian networks, and simulated in a 3D virtual environment. To evaluate the culture-related behaviors, perception studies were conducted in the two target cultures, to investigate for each behavioral aspect whether human observers prefer virtual character behavior that is in line with their own cultural background. Although the workflow has been applied to two national cultures, it is of a general nature and can serve as a guidance for other culture-specific generation approaches. The integration of cultural background into the behavioral models of virtual characters can not only enhance their acceptance by a certain group of users, but also be used for cultural training in virtual environments, for the localization of computer games, or for cultural heritage by preserving and transferring culture-specific behaviors.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author:Birgit Endrass
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-opus4-19064
Frontdoor URLhttps://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/1906
Advisor:Elisabeth André
Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language:English
Publishing Institution:Universität Augsburg
Granting Institution:Universität Augsburg, Fakultät für Angewandte Informatik
Date of final exam:2012/04/26
Release Date:2012/07/18
GND-Keyword:Virtuelle Realität; Computeranimation; Verhaltensmuster; Kulturelle Identität
Institutes:Fakultät für Angewandte Informatik
Fakultät für Angewandte Informatik / Institut für Informatik
Dewey Decimal Classification:0 Informatik, Informationswissenschaft, allgemeine Werke / 00 Informatik, Wissen, Systeme / 004 Datenverarbeitung; Informatik
Licence (German):Deutsches Urheberrecht