Wendy can’t be made to grab the sword
Read the SympolTalk story about Peter Pan. Note the crucial turning point in the story: Wendy grabs the sword and kills Captain Hook. That’s a great plot development, isn’t it? The problem is, it can’t be programmed in any plausible interactive storytelling system.
Why not? Consider the mental process that leads to this decision:
Wendy realizes that she’s in a serious predicament.
Wendy tries to determine a course of action that will get her out of her predicament.
Wendy considers attempting to change Captain Hook’s mind.
Wendy assesses the possibility of appealing to Captain Hook’s goodness, and rejects it.
Wendy assesses the possibility of threatening Captain Hook, and rejects it.
Wendy assigns that option a low probability of success.
Wendy considers attempting to offer Captain Hook a deal.
Wendy evaluates the possible deals that she could offer Captain Hook.
[How in the hell can she conjure up all possible deals?]
Wendy assigns that option a low probability of success.
Wendy considers overpowering Captain Hook.
Wendy assigns that option a low probability of success.
Wendy considers escaping from Captain Hook.
Wendy assigns that option a low probability of success.
Wendy considers recruiting somebody to help her.
Wendy sees that there’s nobody else on the stage, so she rejects that option.
Wendy considers incapacitating Captain Hook.
Wendy looks for a weapon to incapacitate Captain Hook.
Wendy sees the sword.
Wendy assigns this option a good probability of success.
Wendy grabs the sword.
How in the world is this computable?