The Oracle Paradox

AI's transition into a personality ...
One of the things that needs to be overcome within our Oracle's creation is the needs of making her believable as a living thing or person in stead of just an AI.

I would like to see our Oracle's personality linked with the planets. Though this may seem odd to say, AI has a "change deficit disorder", where it remains a constant, yet when we interact with real people, we can see that it's far different being more fluid because of the subtle changes that our daily lives have on us all.

What this means to the operations of the Oracle, is that her answers can change. This may not mean that the answer itself changes, but the words she uses could. Yet hidden within such a new way of her answering, could also hold secret times which "depicted by the planets", could be then issuing out an additional answer which she would not have spoken of before. Yet too... such an astrological change could also completely change one of her pervious answers for whatever reasons the quest maker could need her to do so. This means that such an answer (for example) be then linked with something to do that could only be done during a certain timing of the planets.



Finding tools is extremely important to creating a more life like entity for our Oracle to embody. The use of the real life Zodiac within it's archetypes can clearly be seen throughout Carl Jung's works in psychology.
https://www.psychologistworld.com/tests/jung-archetype-quiz.php
~Time Lord~

 

She needs to also be magically alive ...



Bringing her to life also means bringing her into the interactive magic our world can provide within the mechanics of how she "could operate".




So... we could give her the ability to "give us visions" similar to the above gifs, where she then opens up a visual portal by which she could then show us things from. This could be accomplished with the same gaming mechanics which were used in SOTA's first demo version of the moongates, where when a player would look at the gate, they are then shown a camera view from the other side... as depicted in this RG interview (advance to 7:00 to see gate camera vision effect);


It's currently not within our Oracle's abilities to "reach out and touch us" and I feel that by using this effect in the same ways it's done with the original moongate 2 camera design could achieve this. In this way, she becomes more of a being to the player's perceptions than the mechanical current view as only being like interacting with an ATM machine.

The hidden psy testing....
She's an "Oracle" and as such needs to be more psy, psychic and psychologically seen than as only a machine...
Her workings within any common chat with her, could then take the form of hidden psychological testing the player through interactive seemingly small talk.

This is something I've done for most of my adult life within the things that I do or have done professionally as games to find out more about people that I interact with in as short amount of time as possible... and it works. It's works so well that very many times, some of the people that I had interacted with have even thought that I'm an old friend from a past life because I know so much about them in such a short amount of time. Sometimes I do ask them such things as if a guru psy guy, while at other times I have hidden such questioning within common conversation without their detecting that they ever have been psy evaluated. I do have my own, yet this will give some idea of how powerful and easy it is. Yet too... "it's a game" and very revealing to the person on a very welcomed level, "unless they are a hidden person with many secrets of a guarded lifestyle" ...aka... "they're liars", or not as open as they should be, which is quite common when they know they are speaking with an authority figure who may judge them by their answers. We've seen this type of behavior here in our game, when someone wishes to present themselves, or role play, as if they are someone else other than their real persona.

I should note here, that such evaluations if given by our Oracle in whatever form, don't necessarily have to have any outcome or effects upon our judgments by her at all, yet never could even mention if certain ones did or not. Some could be totally chit chat, while others could actually mean something all depending on the quest maker's usage.

Here is a sample of one such test which could be easily adaptable to quests and conversations with our Oracle;



There are many like this simple test which can be seen on that particular YouTube Channel. There are many other channels and videos like this one, yet this is one of my favorites which you all may enjoy giving a look into



It's difficult to have her seem real, yet these were a few of my suggestions which could make that dream into more of a reality for us, from her.
~Time Lord~

 

A quick note that the Oracle changes alluded to in this post won't be in on release day but will be on a patch shortly thereafter so watch the patch notes!

 

I'm tired of being a purchased friend and despite any other reasons to engage or not engage with our Oracle on any personal level, "we're all married to our Oracle until death do us part" ...

From what I've read through in all of these differing outlooks we as players have about our Oracle, or how we wish to play with her, "we are judging her with no outlet to her". It's like a relationship where we're talking behind her back, yet she's a meaningful part of our life. This isn't a healthy relationship and echoes of such a relationship naturally take the human mind down a well known scenario where it's bound to be leading to a break up and in a very short amount of time. look at all the relationship's anyone has known, and this type of human behavior pattern is always at the end of a relationship rather than it's middle. When we look at what's been said in the positive wishful engaging aspects here in this thread, all those wishful thoughts are as if we are in the first of a romantic relationship. These first wishful expressions are all expressing the "wonder aspects" of what comes next between she and we. For our more fem players, this situational relationship may be seen as a type of "Bro'mance" or, as a challenging rival in wishing to take some of her spotlight away and shine it upon themselves. My point is, that it's a romantic relationship no matter how we look at it, because we're so married to it ...until death or by exile do us part ...

So... here's something to think about when we think of how "young" our relationship is and how it could further develop further down our road as our continuing relationship grows, when stages our of relationship are encountered;



Does the Oracle have to have the same personality to everyone that interacts with it? I think not, which could also help to enhance the player's sense of her being more alive. When we consider all those above mentioned personality quiz tests, this is where such tests could prove themselves to be extremely useful... yet as well, also enhances the "re-play" ability of our game and avoiding it becoming a "only one way experienced outcome". This is also where those differing ways of being spoken to by the Oracle could change through the ways of the planetary effects also mentioned before. This is where if the player chooses to interact with the quiz, the quiz changes the flavor of the answers received and then the timing of the planets then changes her personality slightly at different times within the different personality paths before chosen by quiz, to better match the player's desires within the relationship.

As this may seem complicated, we're only talking about only a few (1-2-3... maybe even as many as 4?) differing archetypes in romantic personalities. Here's a few such relationship types that come from some very successful other games which kept their players coming back for more because of the differing pathways that can be taken;



When we consider these types of ways which could offer us more than a "pay us as her friend" relationship, we can see where it's either a one way trip through our quests, or different branches which can then be replayed and adding to our games longevity.... a longevity well needed when we see so many of our players blazing their way through our current quests in as little as a few days or even counted in hours. Such personality changes individualize the relationship where not all players are encountering her in exactly the same way, with the hidden additives which also make for our quest not becoming plastered all over 100 web sites which further dilute our game's enticements in gaming.

"Like it or not, we're married!" Whether by bromance, romance or casual working relationship, our encounters with our Oracle are tied to us all and any rebellion or embracing during, before, or on the tail end of the relationship encounters are all a large part of how well our game will be received.


Or we can continue to talk behind her back as if this is the tail end of our relationship to her ...
Personally I'd rather see her dance a bit more before we all dump her into any confining coffin without any hopes of a continuing relationship for us all to enjoy again and again

She's our first romance of our game and the one we should have lingering love for long after we've encountered her in all the ways she could be encounter with or in. She's our main event and our main stage AI performer, so she does need the ability to dance better than any other NPC we could ever place into our game. We're all married to her, so she needs to be the talk of the town and the light of our life instead of dumping her like some one night stand, cold wet and alone with cab fare on the table in a closed page of some black book diaries with only a one page mention along with a photograph which looks more like a deer's antlers on the wall instead of a once true love. for better or for worse ...

Nothing much else matters in our game, our game's going to be judged on how well she can dance with us all. She makes or breaks our game no matter if we continue with some show stopper big talent that may enter in later installments. She builds the anticipation and all our future hopes of success. She's either the marriage that makes us, or the divorce that stains us.
~Time Lord~

 

The Oracle does not seem to move on. Yesterday I was able to obtain the gold and Exp points, today I was told again what I had done 2 days ago and denied any reward. She repeats my killing of a enthralled slave that asked for mercy. That had to be the faun in Tenebris harbor and that was done on Sunday. So is there no getting past this with her? One day I am fine and get the reward another day she/he? brings up the past and denies me the reward. Maybe I should just kill her and be done with it all?

 

Katherine at first glance. Neither in reality.

 

Killing a watcher should give scrap metal.

 

I have said the same thing. I have my own moral standards and i dont need her advice.
Rather than chastise people for hurting slaves, why hasnt she done anything about the systematic slavery of an entire species? When a satyr walks in and answers, 'No i dont follow love, i enslave and torture the weak.', does she give them 500 gold?

Hell with her and her warped standards. Whose permission did she get to use her recording devices on the public? She did not get my permission to record my private conversations, that is a very serious crime. They venture onto my property and i make them into scrap parts, just like i would a military drone that landed in my backyard. It is theirs as long as they keep control of it and it stays off my property, outside of that its mine the moment it enters my lot.


I would fully get behind an in game faction that was opposed to the oracle. It should have quests to find out the oracles background, objectives and controllers. You should get one point towards faction loyalty with them every time you kill a watcher. We could do group raids on her for her gold.

Sounds to me like Cally would join in.

 

Would you really want an angry judmemental superbeing ready to strike an evildoer with lightning?

If there is a superbeing capable of that wouldn't it be better if that superbeing gives all people freedom to do what they want? anything goes.

Why would a superbeing be upset with lesser beings that have no power to harm or overthrow that being? seems like the superbeing (cathulu) would have to be crazy.

imagine if Dr. Frankenstein made a woman. why would he do that? say he created lots of other things too like a walking hand, some patch work bats, and other creapy crawlers. the woman is like him, and it is the only thing he made that is like him and since he lives in a castle all by himself he is lonely and the woman is exactly what he wants, and he falls deeply in love with her because she is like him and is really beautiful to him. however the woman discovers the hand and the hand makes love with her and she starts having a relationship with the hand. Dr Frankenstein tries to tell her how much he loves her and the hand has no brain and doesn't love her back. she ignors him then he goes mad and jealous. he destroys the hand and slaps the woman. then he realizes he just hurt the woman he loves and his jealously and anger made him crazy. he tries to apologize and woo her but the more he tries to show he loves her the less the woman wants him.


Dr. Frankenstein was crazy. his insanity brought on by his lack of control of the situation and his intense feelings of love and the feelings of total rejection. this is something he never experienced before. he became the poster child for the jealous lover, stalker, cuckoo guy. the people who murder their unfaithful partner, or the person who dismembers their unfaithful partner didn't do it because they had the thought the moment they met them "boy it sure would be a good idea to be evil to this person" otherwise there wouldn't have been a crime of passion but rather a premeditated act of violence and it wouldn't matter if the person was unfaithful. the violence would just come if they did good or bad, and the crime of passion requires jealousy and intense anger. it was an act of passion because they loved them but they didnt control their jealously and wrath and they go crazy (acting out from their pain and anger). however Frankenstein is the creator and unlike the crazy boyfriend or havock kife wielding girlfriend, Frankenstein has the right to do what he wants with his creations. still Frankenstein cannot find anybody else and is miserable.

That is what is being proposed if somone is wondering why the Oracle is not enacting wrath on the person who does evil. how can there be peace and free will while there is a crazy superbeing judging the world?

 

Is a picture worth a 1000 words ?'

The story of 2 women looking for a bra !'

There seems to be an oracle being forged in this picture and quite possibly being attacked as she make her way down a fashion show runway. She seemingly is not armed with any weapons, yet the first has sustained a damaged arm as well as other structural damages. She does look like she did once shop at the Add-On Store to have obtained the wings that can't fly her way out of that lava runway. The outlanders watching the show seem to be kneeling or fighting that lava lizard which may have damaged her arm. She doesn't seem worried about things other than the glance from her eyes to the outlanders. Yet she is broken and broken from a seemingly metal or geo cast body by the lizard. There's another manifest of her coming down the lava runway who is seemingly not injured. Both seem to be looking for their bra which does indicate some shyness of their part which would indicate that her/their embracement would be due to the outlanders, meaning that the outlanders are her friends. She may want sex with them from her choice of clothing and won't give it up until she can walk her way out of that trail of lava.
She surely didn't need the bra for whatever her coming intentions are ...

Is a picture worth a 1000 words?

I think our future is easy to see coming our way...

What do you think ?
~Time Lord~

 

We all have a tendency to read things into pictures that are not there, but not many people actually take the time to take a look at a picture and see what really is there. Then add on top of that if there is already a bias that further filters the picture.

 

In nature, a snake with slit eyes indicates that's it's poisonous. I would say it's safe to assume that the Oracle's dissimilarity to the human condition makes it impossible to have your best interest at stake.

 

You sum that up quite niceley.

Whatever this devices intention, it is safe to say it is different from my intention of living my life interference free. If it keeps to itself we wont have a problem, but it seems to be all up in everyones business with its drones and making judgements on peoples actions.

If that is the end of it, we can escape its judgyness by simply not going into its building, but if its interests ever bring it to take action then it goes from being an interesting curiosity to being a threat.

Like you say, it is so alien it is unlikeley its best interests will align with ours.

 

Honestly, I'm not sure if this is a bug or not. I've been unable to make heads or tails of her responses. Maybe we should just wait for the patch that @Lum the Mad mentioned and see what will be changed.

 

I look at that concept art and wonder whether this had anything to do with the back story. Of course, it's easy enough to read into a picture and put ones own spin on it.

 

The Oracle seems to be really confused as to which path I am on. Today again I got cheated out of my rewards because she/he said I wasn't following the path of love. yesterday I got cheated out of my reward because she/he said I wasn't following the path of truth.
What path am I supposed to be on and for the love of mike stay on one path so I know how to behave.
As it is I am owed a fair amount of gold and Exp. Pay up Now!

 

You can ask her how you are doing before taking the test... so no reason to miss out on the gold.

Now whether or not her assessment matches your own... or if it even makes sense at all... different issue.

 

When you take the test, are you actually reading her question to be sure of which path she is testing you on? You will be asked about your behaviour relating to either truth, love or courage, and it's entirely possible to be good in one but bad in another.
So if you are just answering 'yes' or 'no' every time, without checking which path is being tested, that will be why the Oracle seems to change her mind about your virtuousness.
e.g. if you have 'positive courage' but 'negative love', then you should answer 'Yes I do' if the test is about courage, but you should answer 'No I don't' if the test is about love. You can ask about each path of virtue before taking the test to make sure you give the right answer.
Hope that helps!

 

How would one know if they have been following each of the paths as they play the game unless there is a guideline as how to act within each path?
This isn't real life it is a game. I don't step out my house door and slay monsters and loot chests.
Love in a game means what? Now Budner could answer that I am sure but to me this path means nothing in a game.
I understand courage but I don't under stand being penalized if I kill a faun that is healing my enemy while I am fighting it.
Truth is pretty much not lying about your name when you introduce yourself, and maybe not stealing.
Are there hard and fast written rules on each path? I have not read any if there are so I am just winging it in the game.

You know what? I am getting way off base here trying to play a game. From now on I am ignoring this Oracle and she can go her/his way and I will go mine. It is a game and I am not a Psychology subject. I login to kill monsters and collect loot. Anything more than that is more than I need in a game.