Dialogue structures for virtual worlds

We describe a software architecture for virtual worlds, built on a base of multiple processes communicating through a central event-driven user interface management system. The virtual world's behavior is specified by a dialogue composed of modular subdialogues or rule sets. In order to achieve high flexibility, device remappability and reusability, the rule sets should be written as independent modules, each encapsulating its own state. Each should be designed according to its purpose in a conceptual hierarchy: it can transform a specifie device into a generic device, or transform a generie device into an interaction technique, or, at the top level, map interaction techniques to actions. ©1991 ACM.