Factoids

Overview

Running Reality internally represents the timeline of world events as a collection of objects which have states, transactions, data, etc. However, collecting information about world events to load into Running Reality is rarely so structured. More likely, little pieces of information are collected from a variety of sources. The information may be grouped by source because you are reading a book that references lots of information. Or you are looking at a series of maps. Or looking at a reference book that contains information on the economies of the world in 2007. Regardless, the information Running Reality needs is not going to fit into the nice rigid structure the Running Reality engine requires.

Factoids are small pieces of information, each representing a "fact." Well, the information may not be fact, but Running Reality treats any such factoid as representing the best possible understanding of history. They can be created in any order, from any source.

The anatomy of a factoid

List format:

On 1/1/614BC, [Assyrian Empire][Government] destroyed by [Median Empire]

XML format:

Factoids come in three types: data factoids, event factoids, and special factoids. Data factoids would be in the following formats: <Factoid object="Name" date="date" > [Relationship] has dataname = datavalue </Factoid> <Factoid object="Name" date="date" > [Relationship] is [related object name] </Factoid> <Factoid object="Name" date="date" > [Relationship] exists </Factoid> <Factoid object="Name" date="date" > [Relationship] said "quote" </Factoid> Event factoids would be in the following formats: <Factoid object="Name" date="date" > [Relationship] actionverb preposition [related object name] </Factoid> <Factoid object="Name" date="date" > [Relationship] actionverb preposition [related object name] and [related object name] </Factoid> <Factoid object="Name" date="date" > [Relationship] actionverb preposition [related object name] preposition [related object name] </Factoid> Special meta-data factoids would be in one of the following formats (with or without dates): <Factoid object="Name" > type = the full name of a type, such as City or Nation <Factoid object="Name" > altname = another spelling of this object's name <Factoid object="Name" > color = #FFFFFF

Currently handled factoids

The following factoids are enabled and being handled by the Running Reality engine. All other factoids are currently ignored by the engine. Slowly, as the engine is solidified, the list of factoids it handles will grow rapidly. Note that you can create factoids for future capabilities, but the exact format for these factoids may need to evolve a bit.