I've been working through the file called 'atomic.aiml'. By the way, the name is coincidental, it's not a reference to my character called Atomic. As the primer to AIML explains, ""Atomic" categories are those with atomic patterns, i.e. the pattern contains no wild card "*" or "_" symbol. Atomic categories are the easiest, simplest categories to add in AIML" (http://www.alicebot.org/documentation/aiml-primer.html). There are some 3412 categories in the original file. My version will contain far fewer. The more work I do on the files the more of the original I want to strip out. Something, as yet undefined and ill-formed, in my mind is telling me to just go with what feels right. Less is better.
One thing I'm getting more of is attitude; a whole lot more attitude. For example, in the original file the input MY MOTHER DIED is dealt with by a consoling statement. In my version, from the point of view of Atomic, this input generates the response "She was alive when I left her". Tasteless? Sure. Offensive? More than likely. Inappropriate? No. Atomic is dead and has, due to this unusual point of view, a less than sympathetic reaction to death and a whole range of human emotions.
I'm going to have to add a disclaimer to the site about the offensive language. There is some - in truth, there could be a lot depending on the topic suggested by the viewer. As a character in the original play he was self-obsessed, opinionated, ruthless and often offensive. The more of this stuff I write more Atomic is coming to the fore as a character. He is not nice. In fact, the suggestion that he is 'nice' or 'not being nice' is met with a responses ranging from, "Nice - damned with faint praise!" through, "Nice - I hate 'nice' with a vengeance", to "Boo-fuckin-hoo". Romeo, as the comic feeder, will need to temper and balance this tendency.
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