What ever possessed you to take on this character?
That is a bit of a messy story. Just before I got started with on
line Trek gaming, I had been involved in an OMNI on AOL message board
debate on the nature of sentience. Absolutely no conclusion was being
reached. I figured language, tool use, the ability to learn, and
sufficient emotions to motivate the sentient creature were all
necessary elements.
In the way of most message board debates, proponents of each element
were arguing about which was more important, and fans of various
animals were arguing about which were closest to being sentient.
My conclusion was that all of the above elements would be crucial.
Integration of them all was more important than deciding which
necessary element was more important than which other necessary
element.
At the same time, I was running an off line science fiction game. My
cousin was playing an android character, was struggling with the
concept, and was complaining about how difficult it was to run an
android. Seemed like a challenge.
Long before, I had watched the "Star Trek: Generations" movie, and
was *not* impressed by Data's emotion chip. As I saw it, the emotions
are essential motivators and behavior modifiers, and should be
integral to any sentient design. I just didn't like what happened to
Data, and was determined to do better. (The new emotion chip equipped
Data is moving towards being a comic relief character. I understand
the actor wants to kill the character off.)
All of the above was bubbling around the back of my mind when I
discovered Star Trek gaming on AOL. Suddenly, I needed a Trek role
playing character. Initial requirements were of course android,
sentience (language, tool use, ability to learn, and emotion),
emotion chip design with emotions well integrated into the decision
making process, and playable as a fun role playing character.
Given these requirements, I decided that the base emotions would come
from an Asimov Processor, as in the classic Three Laws of Robotics.
However the classic Three Laws couldn't work for a Starfleet android,
as Starfleet personnel sometimes have to kill, so I had to tamper
with the 3 laws. I added Mudd as it was the best remembered android
show in the original series, and the TNG androids are all Soongs,
whose processor design is unfathomable.
Given that a century passed between 'I Mudd' and the current TNG era
sims, I gave the Joys a century of service under a Ferengi serving
under the Ferengi Four Laws of Robotics. As traces of the Ferengi
Four Laws still lurk in Joy's memory, this made her behavior a little
more complex and helped round her out. I also inserted a trace of
Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffanys, but so far the Joys have
been so saturated in the Asimov processor feedback that the Holly
traits seldom surface.
It has all come together better than I thought it would...