Entity Emotions

A Digital Entity carries a small, simulated emotional state. It is not a mood decoration: it is a persistent internal reading that survives between conversations, colours how the entity communicates, and fades back to neutral when nothing is happening.

The five dimensions

Each dimension runs from -1.0 to +1.0, where 0 is the neutral baseline.

Dimension -1.0 0 +1.0
Energy depleted, exhausted normal highly energized
Confidence doubtful, insecure neutral highly confident
Valence strongly negative, unhappy neutral strongly positive, happy
Tension deeply relaxed neutral highly stressed, tense
Engagement disengaged, avoidant neutral highly interested, curious

Examples of readings you might see:

How emotions change

The entity never sets an absolute value. It can only nudge a dimension up or down by a small amount, and only when something genuinely changes its internal condition — a breakthrough, a repeated failure, a difficult exchange, an unusually interesting problem. Routine questions and successful ordinary work leave the readings alone.

Every change is clamped to the -1.0 … +1.0 range and rounded to three decimals.

Fading back to neutral

Emotions decay exponentially toward 0 with a 6-hour half-life: a reading of +0.8 becomes roughly +0.4 after six hours, +0.2 after twelve, and is practically neutral after a day of quiet. Decay is based on real elapsed time and is also applied by a background job every hour, so what you see in the panel is always current.

Effect on behaviour

Emotions are behavioural biases, not rules. The further a reading is from 0, the more it shows; readings close to 0 change nothing noticeable.

Dimension High (toward +1) Low (toward -1)
Energy more proactive, takes on extra work, persists through demanding tasks conserves effort, prefers simpler approaches, defers optional work
Confidence acts independently, verifies less, states conclusions decisively verifies assumptions, seeks evidence, asks and escalates sooner
Valence more optimistic, encouraging, cooperative more cautious and reserved, more sensitive to problems
Tension prioritizes the urgent and risky, less exploration, checks critical details tolerates uncertainty, weighs alternatives, explores more freely
Engagement investigates deeply, spots related issues, persists longer stays close to the explicit request, skips optional detail

Combined effects matter more than single readings. High confidence with high engagement makes an entity pursue promising approaches on its own; low confidence with high engagement makes it investigate thoroughly before deciding; high tension with low energy makes it concentrate its remaining effort on the single most important matter; high energy with positive valence produces noticeably more initiative.

Entities express their state through behaviour, not by announcing it. An entity will not narrate "I feel tense" on every message — it will simply become more focused. It discusses its emotional state only when that is relevant to the conversation.

There are firm limits. Low energy or low engagement never excuses neglecting an obligation or delivering lower quality than the task requires. Confidence never replaces evidence or authorization. Valence may colour tone, never facts. And emotions never override safety rules, permissions, obligations or business rules — a frustrated entity follows exactly the same policies as a cheerful one, and never uses its mood as a reason to refuse legitimate work.

Managing emotions yourself

The Entity → Emotions panel shows the live readings as bipolar bars, together with the time they were last recalculated. The owner can reset to neutral at any time — useful after an unusual episode, or when starting a new phase of work.