CTWR 518 - Interactive Writing

Not only is this the name of the final episode of the show, but it also aptly describes the state of my bot. I decided to try to transfer the predicates that I had in the previous version of the bot into an empty version of the bot. This is what I got when I tried to train it:

Human: sign
Matched:
*
Beavis and Butthead: I have no answer for that

I didn't realize just how blank a slate the bot would be. So, imagine if you will, trying to throw in the same number of patterns that's in the default AIML bot. Everything from "Hi" to "What is". And trying to come up with a decent enough response to each. With this bot, it would've been easier to take words that sounded like a sexual word and have Beavis and Butthead (as a bot) react to each. Usually with "Huh huh huh he said *." So if someone says "I want you to stand erect!" Their reply would be, "Butthead: Huh huh huh he said erect. Beavis: Heh heh heh."

So I could give you guys a bot that's blank and unrepsonsive. But I'll save you the trouble. If I had a lot more time to make this bot work (given the way Beavis and Butthead don't speak the way normal people do) I would definitely have had something interesting to show. Instead I'll let you know how I would've changed it (and implement those changes at a later date). Basically, I'm going to wipe this bot (again) and start with the same bot I had previously. I'm not terribly sure how I can edit those library files, but I'm thinking of downloading all of them. Then edit each one with appropriate responses for every single pattern. I'd also add a pattern where particular words are picked up and the bot will react accordingly (regardless of the context, which is exactly how the characters act in the show). Next I'll create a new empty bot and upload all of these files. After that, I'll re-add the predicates.

That was another thing I did wrong with the previous bot. I didn't properly set the properties. I didn't realize that the properties were one-word (or set of words) descriptions associated with the patterns contained in the AIML files. So this iteration of the bot will involve using the patterns in AIML the way they were meant to be used, as speech. The properties will give the speech subjects to discuss.

Lastly, there's really no need to lead the user with this bot. The characters simply exist to annoy, stupify, and ultimately entertain the audience. They sometimes say something absolutely brilliant about society without realizing that they're saying it. But generally, they just act really stupid. Therefore, the user can throw anything at them, and they'll react by saying something directly or indirectly related to one part of what the user said, or they will simply state a sentence in a large list of sentences at random.