Consoling Virtual Humans

A game currently under development will allow players to interact emotionally with a virtual human. Is it the end of human connections or the fortification of our innate emotional sense? “At the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford, games designer Peter Molyneux demonstrated his studio’s latest project: a virtual human being. In the game, currently titled Milo and Kate, the player can interact with a boy called Milo on the screen, ask him questions, go fishing together, catch snails and, most astonishingly, offer Milo comfort when he’s feeling sad and be understood…For people with an apocalyptic bent, the creation of Milo might suggest a future in which, increasingly isolated from one another, human beings interact mostly with artificial people.”