I chat, therefore IM ;P

Monday, April 20, 2009 / by

[UPDATE: July 28, 2009] I added the new SLURL to Mona's place.

[UPDATE: July 29, 2009] The bots were featured on New World Notes! Here's the link: Meet April, the Bot Who Learns To Speak As She's Spoken To

[UPDATE: January 10, 2014] The bots are currently unavailable (it's not possible to chat with them)

I want to tell you about something we've been working on with Sql for a while. We created and now take care of two learning chat bots in SL. Sql does most of the technical stuff, like linking chat bot engine to SL, programming the bots, fixing bugs etc., and I'm in charge of 'soft' responsibilities, like managing bots' looks and profiles, cleaning their logs, a bit of marketing etc. Together we brainstorm new ideas and discuss possible implementations of new functions. These bots have been in SL for a few days already, so you might have come across them, but let me tell you more in case you haven't.

Second Life Chat Bots - April and Mona

Our bots are April Scientist (English language) and Mona Scientist (Polish language). They both started with no knowledge and they learn as people talk to them. Then they try to have an intelligent conversation basing on what they learned. The more you talk to them, the more they know! If the bot repeats after you, it means she's not sure what the reply should be. That's when you should teach her the proper reply (answer her properly). When talking to the bots, you have to be understanding. People might teach them various stuff and bots might say inappropriate things. Teach them something nice instead. Also, you have to remember that April and Mona are experiments in beta stage, so unexpected errors might happen.

To talk to the bots on main chat you should start your every sentence with bot's name, eg. 'April hello'. Otherwise the bot won't listen to you. To talk with the bot on IM, just message her like you would normally do (without her name in the beginning). Please restrict to talking in one language to each bot (the language of bot's profile).

April - Second Life Learning Chat Bot (English)
You will find April (English language bot) around my shopping area.

Mona - Second Life Learning Chat Bot (Polish)
Mona (Polish language bot) is currently residing as a librarian at the old Polish Republic sim (it's currently being changed into a new place, so it might be closed sometimes) in her own skybox.

I must admit Mona is currently a bit better, because we do all the tests with her. For example she 'does' some librarian chores now (walks from place to place and jumps on poseballs to get animated), and soon she's going to have her own 24-hours routine. We hope to do the same with April one day.

Enjoy talking to the bots and feel free to paste some fun conversations in the comments here (there's going to be lots of them, trust me) :)

Residents' favourite scripter

Sunday, April 19, 2009 / by

Today I have some great news to share :) I'm very happy and proud to announce that Sql Miles won the Resident Choice Award 2009 in the Favourite Scripter category. Yay! If you ever came across his scripts, you know he fully deserves the award. Sql mainly does commission work but he's best known to SL community as the creator of uTV - probably the most user-friendly SL TV ever (#12 rank on XstreetSL!). You might also remember his transportation system made for COP14 conference island in SL, or perhaps, he might have wirtten a script for you - then you know it's first class. There is no script that Sql would have trouble with and the award only proves that - I think the majority of Polish SL community voted for him, and a lot of his customers outside Poland :) Congratulations, Sql, you're the best! :*

Resident Choice Awards 2009 Winner's Circle @ Brampton
Resident Choice Awards 2009 Winner's Circle @ Brampton

I found THE egg :)

Sunday, April 19, 2009 / by

I found the 5000L$ egg in the BunnyJam hunt ^^ We've been flying with Sql all over Second Life, trying to figure out one of the clues, when suddenly I realised something. Mia had been working so hard on this event, so at least one of the eggs have had to be in her SL office. And so it was, lying innocently on a shelf among Linden bears. I didn't expect it would be the 5000L$ one though ;) Funny thing, as Twitter notice appeared, I was flooded with messages from fellow residents, asking about the egg. If you messaged me at that time and I didn't reply, I'm sorry, it was just too many to handle ;) Congratulations to all residents who found the eggs!

Ayu & Sql @ BunnyJam Party
Me and Sql awaiting the results at the BunnyJam party

Happy Easter! [UPDATE]

Saturday, April 11, 2009 / by

[UPDATE: April 14, 2009] I added the correct SLURL to the egg.

[UPDATE: April 19, 2009] Send me an IM in-world, if you want this egg, I'll send it to you for free!

Together with Sql we made an egg for the
Egg Decorating Contest (yay!). I just had to show it to you!

Easter Egg Chicken House

It's an Easter Chicken Egg House :) We added some little Second Life finishing touches: the basket is full of prims instead of eggs, and the picture on the wall is the chicken with children/eggs at the trip to Natoma to see 'The Man' statue :P It was really fun to make! Later we went to EggsActly islands to see the other eggs and there are thousands of them, all beautiful! Go there, it's worth it. In case you'll be looking for our egg, it's on the EggsActly Right island EggsActly island (click for SLURL) :)

I wish you all happy Easter! Smile a lot, eat some yummy food and have a wonderful Easter with your loved ones.

Open Grid joke :)

Wednesday, April 01, 2009 / by

Yesterday evening I went with Sql and Uzi to Open Grid. No, no worries, I'm not leaving Second Life. I'm just exploring the possibilities ^^ My first impression was that it's how early days of Second Life must have looked like - if you want someting, create it. We were busy chatting, testing stuff and teleporting around when suddenly our avatars turned into stick figures. But these were not really the kind of stick figures you are used to. These were really weird stick figures with all body parts in wrong places. We tried relogging, cache clearing and so on, but we couldn't figure out what caused the problem. Then finally Sql realized it was 4 minutes past midnight and April Fool's Day started :) We took a picture, trying to look our best - well, as much as a stick figure can look ;)

Open Grid joke
From the left, majestically floating: Ayumi, Uzi and Sql

Happy April Fool's Day! :)