In 2008, four years after I published it during the 2004 election, I discovered that some research scientists incuding Marc Davies at the University of Essex Digital Lifestyles Centre forked and cloned (or "hacked into") my open source "Dumbold Voting Machine for The Sims 1" virtual agitprop, and reprogrammed it for remotely controlling ubiquitous mixed reality home automation!

It's easy to make a 3d model of your home in The Sims -- that's one of the main points of the game! And it's gotten even easier and more realistic in the 21 years since it was first released in 2000.

https://donhopkins.medium.com/dumbold-voting-machine-for-the...

>Dumbold Voting Machine for The Sims 1

>Just before the 2004 presidential election, I created and programmed a downloadable Dumbold Voting Machine object for The Sims 1, as interactive agitprop to raise awareness about the problems of voting machines. I wrote this article about it, which I’ve now updated and included some new links and videos!

[...]

>Epilogue

>When you put something out there as free open source software, there’s no telling what people will use it for! Flabbergastingly enough, I’m delighted to discover that somebody actually repurposed and reprogrammed the Dumbold Voting Machine for their own nefarious purposes.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4370926_Towards_a_m...

>Towards a mixed reality intelligent campus

>By Marc Davies, Victor Callaghan, Michael Gardner, Digital Lifestyles Centre, University of Essex, UK.

>Abstract: This work-in progress paper summarises our research towards the vision for creating an intelligent university campus (iCampus) based on a mixed reality technology and network based education. The paper brings together earlier work aimed at exploring how simulators and other virtual augmentation can utilised by scientists to enhance the development, testing and demonstration of new ubiquitous technologies and environments with our latest work aimed at creating a simulation of a classroom based on the MPK-20 Project Wonderland Virtual Meeting Office developed by Sun Microsystems. We conclude by outlining our future plans.

>Fig. 4: Sims Object Remote Control Menu

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Sims-Object-Remote-Contr...

>Sims Object Remote Control Menu

>The iSpace simulation was created by modifying an off- the-shelf copy of the Sims computer game, (Maxis/EA Games, 2000). Apart from the 3D graphics and supporting tools, a particularly attractive feature in the Sims was the fairly realistic behaviour of environment inhabitants.

>The simulation consisted of a five room environment modelled on the iSpace [5][6][14]. Each object and person was controlled by at least one thread, placed on a stack and run in sequence by the game. Object threads were used to regulate the animation displayed by the game’s virtual machine [9]. Most objects could only access their own threads, so for example a television couldn’t access information contained in a thread for a lamp.

>To create a Sims-based simulation, the original program code had to be modified so objects could access threads for other devices and any required information contained within. For this stage of the project the most efficient way to achieve this was to program a single Sims object to act as a ‘remote-control’ for other pervasive devices in the environment. The ‘Dumbold Voting Machine’ [12] an add-on device available online, was modified to act as a remote-interface, usable by Sims avatars in the environment. Within the code, for the re-programmed voting machine, the current state of each pervasive device in the environment was stored to memory.

>Agent code, added to specially created classes, ran from the voting machine thread, prompting state changes to objects in the environment as required. Agents determined when to make changes using sensor settings coming into the voting machine thread on each cycle.

>The menus, from the voting machine, were re-programmed to provide a manual interface for researchers, (see Fig. 4). This menu was used to force the priority of actions performed by a Sims avatar.

>The original program allowed a player to design, build and furnish a house to their own specifications, using numerous pre-programmed materials and objects available in the game libraries. Using a game to create a digital home simulator introduced several advanced features that provide a higher level of realism to the environment. These features include avatars that randomly visit the virtual home. Another benefit of using computer games is that researchers can take advantage of the popularity of the original product, as a level of familiarity with the environment could be established in the minds of the observers. Additionally, popular games often spawn myriad online fan-sites, often offering freeware add-ons and/or modifications. This could be exploited by a researcher/developer to further expand the realism or capabilities of their simulation.

>The Sims was programmed using a bespoke language, created by the original game developers which served the needs of an in-house development team very well. […]

Interestingly enough, the University of Essex is where Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle developed the original MUD1 (Multi User Dungeon) on a PDP-10 in 1978!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD1

More related publications by Mark Davies:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marc-Davies-2

iWorlds: Generating artificial control systems for simulated humans using virtual worlds and intelligent environments

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220497559_IWorlds_G...

iWorlds: Building Mixed Reality Intelligent Environments Using Customisable 3D Virtual Worlds

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224207355_iWorlds_B...

Modelling Pervasive Environments Using Bespoke and Commercial Game-Based Simulators

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221093410_Modelling...

Decloaking Big Brother: Demonstrating Intelligent Environments

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224207398_Decloakin...

Towards MMO Intelligent Environments

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266617707_Towards_M...

Social Presence in Immersive 3D Virtual Learning Environments

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270881554_Social_Pr...