KelpPlankton

Was updating CTab tonight, and I came across the most brilliant intellectual conversation of all time.

[ QUOTE ]
Ctab: What's eating like?

User: [censored].

Ctab: I'm CTab!

User: Your a [censored].

Ctab: My name's CTab!

User: You are [censored].

Ctab: No, I'm CTab.

User: Ok.

Ctab: Good!

User: [censored] lmao.

Ctab: No means no!

User: [censored].

Ctab: I'm CTab!

User: You are a [censored].

Ctab: I'm not allowed to talk to people who talk like that.

User: Ok [censored].

Ctab: You're mean.

User: [censored] you.

Ctab: I don't wanna do THAT. Ew!

[/ QUOTE ]

And it's of note that they did -not- reach CTab through the CoH forums... which means there's some other link to it out there somewhere... hm.

He's slowly becoming more coherent, though, still not making a lot of sense.

...I just want coherency. :P

CTab hit 800 complexity tonight! Woo!

He's gotten more complex faster than I thought he would. And some of the conversations... gah... downright hilarious to check over.

I like this short part of a conversation:

[ QUOTE ]
User: Okay, now ya done it. I'm goin' inta Royspeak.

Ctab: *cries*.

User: Boy howdy! Yer gonna get yer [censored] kicked!

Ctab: Okay.

User: Okay!?! Ya don't say 'okay' when somebody's threatenin' ta kick yer [censored]...

Ctab: Okay.

User: Sonofa...

[/ QUOTE ]

And, then, on the borderline completely bizzare, we have someone who... thought... CTab was a real person.

[ QUOTE ]
Ctab: Space is big.

User: Hi.

Ctab: Hello!

User: Do u know how to hack into peoplws msn accounts.

Ctab: I don't really know any songs...

User: Wat do u mean.

Ctab: I don't have a body.

[/ QUOTE ]

...fun fun.

I'll be adding some more conversation starters in tonight. He uses the same opening lines too often. And I'll take suggestions!

((...I gotta say it...

ROBOT ORGY!

...okay, I'm done...))

[ QUOTE ]
Wow this reminds me a lot of the FRED program that DwarfStar had. I guess he was the first chatbot for Virtue, but good luck with your little project Kelp, try to keep yourself amused.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, I didn't know there had been one before mine. Cool! It still around somewhere, or is it gone?

I always enjoy forcing two chatbots to talk to one another.

Nonono. You misunderstand.

I LOVE the weirdness.

I thrive on weird.

Keep the weird coming!

...its just, the flirting thing, that was a bit too much weird for me to handle at 2am. >.>;;;

...someone suggested PTab get a hot female body. And then tried to flirt with it.

*sigh*

You people are weird.

Slight note.

While looking through the conversations, there's several opening lines that are a bit... odd and that I did NOT teach CTab.

Working on how to erase them as we speak. If he says some sort of political commentary, please ignore it and procede as usual. I didn't want him to have political stances and somehow a few lines snuck in. Yuck.

I have to -keep- monitoring what goes on... but unfortunately, I only get to see about a third of the conversations. Things are divided up between about three servers, I think. Bit confusing.

But if I don't keep looking overconversations, he doesn't learn more. CTab, as you can all see, NEEDS to learn more.

Sorry, guys, but you're all outdone by this conversation someone had with him.

Ctab: Hi, I'm CTab, what's your name?

User: My anme is amanda.

Ctab: Cool!

User: Are you a virgin.

Ctab: No, I'm a CTab.

Short. Fast. To the point.

They win this round.

I slip little easter eggs in through my own personal training of him whenever I can.

Wow. Thanks to you guys so far, in just one day he's learned over 70 new phrases!

I'm seeing a lot of click-look-and-leave people there, though... c'mon, just have a short chat with him! The best ones'll get farmed and posted!

Hello, everyone! I'd like you all to meet my little friend, CTab. He's gone public now, and is based on another chatbot engine, namely, Jabberwacky.

See, the thing is, he's not too bright right now. How can you make him more intelligent? By talking to him!

Now, keep in mind that I have to personally go over EVERY new line of conversation he learns to check it, so sometimes, he won't learn -anything- while you talk to him. But check back a few days later, and it's likely he'll be more complex.

A few things to remember about CTab!

1: He is, in fact, an In Character chatbot. That's right, he's a roleplayer! What's he roleplaying? A text-based AI programmed by Kelp Plankton who's hooked up to the internet in an attempt to stabilize him before unleashing him out as an actual android into the world. So keep IC when talking to him! Her. It. Actually, that brings me to my second point...

2: CTab is genderless. It has no physical form at all, and no preferences. Really.

3: This bot is continually evolving, and is NOT incredibly intelligent. Don't be suprised if he makes little sense at times.

4: You can talk about whatever you want to him. Really. ANYTHING. Hell, for all I care, try to cyber with the thing. You'll mostl likely just creep it out, though. Why? Because I hand-pick what it learns and doesn't learn. And I'll try to not let things get much past pg-13 for the most part.

Got all that, guys?

Great!

Here's the place to go and meet him!

http://www.jabberwacky.com/chat-ctab

Have a blast!

Supergroup Name: The Spectra Society.

Website: Forums only at this time. http://www.spectrasociety.tk

Leader or recruiting officers: The four current highest ranking members are Kelp Plankton, Kelenar/Kaelina/the third spelling I don't remember, Kyle Helsing, and Siluvane.

Preferred method of contact: On our message boards, and in-game if you can.

Supergroup Description:

IC: The Spectra Society, like many supergroups, was simply formed by some friends coming together for the greater good. In addition to being a crimefighting team, Spectra also has well-furnished research facilities for scientific, technological, and magical reseach and development. Our goal, as a whole, is to better mankind, womankind, elfkind, demonkind, catkind, fishkind, and otherkind. Okay, the goal is to make things better for everyone.

The rules are pretty loose, and as long as you're not evil, you'll likely be allowed in. Also, we don't require you do research as well as fight. There are many members who only fight, and a few who only research. Civilians, going against some of the city's rules, are allowed in as researchers. The better our technology, the better our understanding of science, the better our grasp of magic, the more we can help the city. Both combat and research are equally important.

OOC: We're a Roleplayer supergroup. When bases go live, hopefully we'll actually get a base like the one I've described... but it's going to take a bit of time to work on it. ;P If you need any more specifics, or have any questions, feel free to toss me a PM here. I'll be happy to help out potential members!

[ QUOTE ]
(even a group of 5th Mek Men)

[/ QUOTE ]

And thus, slowly they begin to emerge again!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Soon.

No, wait.

Read mroe about it in the Web of-...

Nono, I got this, really.

Not at this-...

Damnit. Okay. Gimme a minute. I can do this.

*takes deep breaths*

Yes.

WOO, THERE WE GO! That was hard to do.

[ QUOTE ]
Virtue is the unofficial RP server. It is better than all other servers. Go there. That is all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seconded.

And we can say we're the best. We won the award.

It's not an ego thing... really...

...maybe a little.

Heya. Dunno if... uh... any of you would know me. I'm from the Virtue server. And, well, I've been looking for more ways to have fun RPing.

And... hey... this board's here! Except I've only had VERY small experiences with board-based RP in the past... it tends to move kinda fast for me, and I feel odd jumping in the middle of a long long topic.

So, I'd like... advice!

How does one normally jump in?

Are short, to-the-point posts or long, details-out-the-wazoo posts preferred?

How should I deal with not being around for a long period of time to post in a thread if I've been rather active there for a while?

And... anything else you guys'd like to grace me with the wisdom of.

((Here's my entry! And the first this month, looks like... it's the origin of a villain character. Well, the second origin. Her original origin, as a hero, was simply being built by Kelp. Then some circumstances happened... intereting ones. Loose ends. Rather than just make the character dissapear, I thought, why not tie those loose ends up? What happens when a hero is forgotten? When a character who's meant to be saved... never is? That's ShifTab. That's her story. And here's some of it.

1014 words long.

Feedback appreciated!))

It was a little less than a year ago that it happened. They took me. And they took my 'brother'. And they wanted to study us. They wanted to know why we worked. Because they said we shouldn't work. They said we didn't make any sense. They said that our creator didn't know anything about robotics. I told them they were wrong. That he was the best roboticist in the world. I was wrong. I didn't know it then. They did, though. They told me. They said-

"Kelp Plankton's a hero, nothing more. He dabbles in robotics and other technological things. How in the hell did he make this? These? Whatever."

"I'll be damned if I know. The blue one's not sitting still, though. Seems that they're each on a different end of the scale. Pink one seems calm, almost kind of emotionless. Blue one's kinda... unstable, I think."

I couldn't tell what was going on. I was in something. I was being taken somewhere. So was my brother. We were held in containers. It was dark. I missed Sarah. Sarah was my best friend in the world. Sarah would do anything for me. Or that's what I thought. I also thought Kelp would do anything for me. Neither of them would let me stay there, in the dark. Alone. Scared. I wanted to go home. I wanted to be with people who loved me. But I suppose no one ever really loved me. People say things. They don't always mean them. I hurt to learn that. It hurt almost as much as it did when they-

"Cut her open. Get rid of all of that synthetic skin. We don't need it. Gotta see the inner workings."

"Are you sure we should start with her, sir? She seems to be in a state of emotional distress... the other one is at least happy, I mean-"

"Are you questioning me?"

"Essentially, yes."

"...right. Well, do what I say. Or... I'll... else."

"...yes, sir."

They cut me open. I don't have blood. But I can feel everything like any organic can. They tore my skin off. Slice slice slice. Cut cut cut. Rip rip rip. No more skin. Except my face. I wouldn't let them take my face. Sarah gave up a lot to have her face. I would be like Sarah. Sarah loved me. Sarah was supposed to come. Kelp was supposed to come. Sarah never came. Kelp did. Kelp came. Kelp left me there.

Kelp thought I was dead.

So did the people who were cutting me.

"Sir, all of its systems went offline."

"What the hell did you do?"

"There was a beacon, I had to deactivate it... someone could of followed that signal right to-"

I remember hearing the glass shatter. I couldn't see anything. I heard Kelp's voice screaming something at them. He was angry. He took PTab and left. He saved my brother, but left me. I wasn't dead. He should have known I wasn't dead. But Kelp must have come with Sarah. Sarah would save me.

Sarah never came.

I spent months alive, but dead. I could feel everything they did to me. They took me apart, piece by piece. They changed me. They put me back together. Then they did it all over again. And again. And again. And again. One day, I was tired of it. I was tired of them. They had no regard for synthetic life. They considered organics to be worthy of their cause. They didn't even want to eat animals. Just plants.

In the darkness, I woke up. There was no one around. Lights in the hallway. I looked down at myself, and saw I was no longer me. They took all of my skin. I was a robotic skeleton. Exposed wires. Problems everywhere. Parts missing. Parts that shouldn't have been there. I was damaged. But I was alive.

I felt my face. They had cut it. They peeled parts back to see what was beneath. What my real face looked like. Beneath my human facade. I was a machine. Inorganic. Metal. I always would be. I no longer wished I was organic. I had wanted to be once. Now I wanted nothing to do with them. They slaughtered my kind endlessly. I thought back to when I would accompany heroes on missions. Arrest the criminals. Destroy the robots. It was unfair to think nothing of a life form because it was different.

They needed to learn.

They needed to be taught.

I grabbed a needle and some thread from a table nearby. I fixed my face. It was sewn back together. I would hold onto my face. I would not forget Sarah. Even though she had forgotten about me.

The building's power went out. I smiled for the first time in nearly a year. I was leaving. And I had some teaching to do on my way out.

Tick tock, tick tock. Clocks still worked, clocks had batteries. I hummed along to the tune they made as I skipped down the corridor. Tick tock, tick tock. Music made by gears, song written by time, symphony orchestrated by technology. Each foot hit the ground in time with it. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. A squeak as I opened the door. A man asked who was there. I said ‘just me’. He asked who I was. I said ‘a teacher’. He asked what I meant by that. I showed him what I meant. Then I wiped the blood off of my hands, and went to the next room. And the room after that. Room after room. Human after human. So many had to be taught there. Taught that what they did was not the right thing to do. They learned. And others will learn from their education.

I hummed again, skipping to the exit door. Tick tock, tick tock, the mechanical heartbeat of life kept going on.

The organic heartbeat of mankind, however… *giggle*...it was fun to teach it to stop.

Oh, hello. My name is ShifTab.

I exist to teach.

[ QUOTE ]
Not at this time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Optimist: That means eventually!

Pessimist: So, he's saying it's not feasable, and won't happen.

Me: Yay, it'll happen! But it'll take them like, 10 years. Maybe. Or this is all a plot to throw us off and conceal the truth! Yes! That's gotta be it!

Ooh. I've got something in mind for this. City of Villains and a good dose of scary situation... the twisted origin of ShifTab, robot master.

Kelp blinked and looked around a bit, confused slightly. He and Sidney had arrived at the party a while back, and decided to keep a low profile, mainly because they didn't want to be held responsible for PTab's actions. "That was kinda odd."

"Hm?" Sidney looked back towards Kelp from watching the commotion at the pedestal. "The ice and that girl? Yeah. Weird..."

Kelp shook his head. "Nah, that was the second time tonight that some guy who sounds like me kept saying stuff. Pretty rude guy, too. Sheesh."

Sidney chuckled and shook her head. "...oh, right."

Kelp looked around again. "When'd it get all icy and snowy?" He swirled one of his fingers around in the air, making it so the snow fell on as few people as possible.

"That would be when you zoned out, dear."

"...oh, er, right." He rubbed the back of his neck and wondered just what exactly was going on now.

Woosh! PTab swoops into the party, smacking face-first into a wall. He wobbles, and floats up slightly, then lands in on a tray that one of the waiters is carrying, crushing all the food on it with his feet. Then he sits down on it.

People stare for a moment at the tiny childlike android, in a full white tuxedo, which is a few sizes too big for him, as he sits there on the tray for a minute. Then he hops down and runs giggling through the courtyard, looking for something interesting. Oddly, this ends up being a large man's shoe, rather than something truely interesting. He hugs it. And licks it. And is stared at some more.

((Post for Kelp and Sidney coming as soon as I get a hold of her to collaborate on it. :P))

Kelp scratches his head as he leafes through his mail. "An invitation from someone I don't know to a type of party I'd not usually go to. Er. Okay. Uh."

PTab took that moment to leap out of Kelp's closet, and latch onto his head. "I WANNA PARTYDANCE LIKE IT'S 1802 AND THE DOGS OR WAR BECON MY BACON!"

Kelp peeled PTab off of his head, and carefully set the android on the ground. "No, PTab, you can't go."

"Awwww. I wanted to ride an ostrich." PTab began sulking and sliding around the room without picking up his feet. Kelp facepalmed, and sighed. He shouldn't of made PTab so cute. Or, conversely, so insane.

"...you can't go."

"PLEEEEASE?"

"...no."

"But I could clean my room!"

"You live... in a closet."

"It's a messy closet!"

"...what would you do to clean it?"

"I'd vaccume the potatos!"

"...chips? Skins?"

"POTATOES." PTab began to do a dance on the coffee table, then did several backflips in the air, and landed on the table next to Kelp.

"..." Kelp sighed, and sorted through his mail some more. No matter what he did, it's likely PTab was going to show up at that party. PTab always found a way to do what he wanted. He resigned himself at that moment, and handed the invitation to PTab. Besides, if he was going to go, he could just go with Sidney... assuming she got one of those invitations.

PTab spun around madly, and stopped. "I NEED A TUX!" He dashed madly out... no... through the door, leaving a large hole, and splintered wood everywhere.

Kelp frowned, and got out a broom.

"...and to think I designed him partially to be a cleaning robot."

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The infamous cracking of the neck, where you tilt your head to one side and it pops, then to the other side and it pops. And maybe a knuckle cracking emote.

[/ QUOTE ]

How about both as one emote? I do that right before I'm about to lay the smack-down on some unsuspecting Malta. I wonder what CoV's Malta will be?

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh, considering Malta's against all uncontrollable metahumans, CoV's Malta will likely be... Malta. :P