User:TankmanDerz/Stanley 2

Overview
A.I Personification is the process of the Personalisation A.I creating an NPC, which it then controls as if it was a playable character. A.I Personification can serve a variety of purposes in practice, ranging from a more dynamic enemy to fight, to in rare cases behaving as a fully controlled CPU character to mimic a Multiplayer Mode. A.I Personifications often re-use existing character models such as the ones of Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach, although it has also been reported to make custom, simplistic models out of existing character parts.

A common misconception is that the A.I itself is 'sentient' in some capacity, however it is important to note that this is not the case. The A.I, despite being able to mimic human behaviour, is entirely generative in it's behavior; it cannot truly  think  in the method the average "A.I" is imagined to work. It simply does what it believes will appeal to the player.

A.I Behavior
The A.I's personified character can change it's behavior drastically depending on what it believes best suit the player. It is commonly displayed to behave similar to Mario, being able to freely move and jump around a given area, however it can also function as an enemy or boss character, notably Bowser.

There are several "modes" that have been discovered, although their exact nature is unknown. These "modes" control how the A.I moves and how it behaves toward the player. Below as a list of the more common "main" modes that the A.I can use.

Passive Mode
This mode commonly involves the A.I functioning more like a typical NPC. A personified A.I in Passive Mode will wander around a given area, and may attempt to fight off other enemies. It can commonly be interacted with by the player, although this most commonly provides simple dialogue, if it isn't entirely copied from another NPC. It may hint towards the location of a Star or directly lead the player to one, although other interactions are rare.

Enemy Mode
This mode is reported less, although this may be due to it's behavior of mimicking an enemy. While in this mode, the A.I controlled NPC will behave like a dynamic enemy that can move around and fight player. They may function as a mini or full boss, occasionally even including additional Power Stars, unless it replaces an existing level boss.

Generally, their moveset is simple and comparable to enemies such as Bowser, and they can be attacked and defeated with standard attacks and jumping

NPC Mode
This mode mimics the behavior of a standard NPC such as a Toad or Bob-omb Buddy that can be talked to. Normally, the only notable change is more dynamic dialogue that can change depending on a variety of factors such as Star count and player stats. They may give collectibles based on certain circumstances.

Player Mode
While in Player Mode, the A.I's NPC will behave similar, if not identical to a player character. Commonly, they show up as a recolored Mario or as Luigi. In some cases, they may function as a CPU mode for a multi-player mode or simply appear for a certain course or area.

Player Mode has lead to some of the most well known A.I personifications, see the Stanley section below.

Appearance
When the A.I has decided to insert itself more prominently into your copy, it will go through numerous procedures to make sure that there is no suspicion of artificial tampering. Through the act of datamining, there's been some discoveries that may be connected to these supposed procedures. There's only been a few cartridges that have been tampered with that display this data, all from different regions.

The list below is a collected list of names found in data-mined copies that appears to be used by the A.I when personifying.

Stanley
Stanley is the name given to a popular A.I personification. It was the first instance of A.I Personification ever recorded and quickly gained infamy due to it's striking appearance and behavior.

Appearance
Stanley was a recolor of Mario, although lacking textures. It had pure white skin and yellow in place of red on it's overalls. It could move around the area similarly to Mario and exhibited the ability to display dialogue on-screen. It's striking and unique nature quickly elevated it to a popular character among reporters, believed to be THE physical appearance of the A.I.

Stanley on the Community
Over time, more and more NPCs were reported that experienced similar behaviors, and this phenomenon was eventually known as what we now call Personification of the A.I. Several pieces of fan-content has been made for the Stanley character and it has been turned into something of a 'mascot' for the MIPS Hole.

findmeifyoucan
A FANDOM account was later made under the name of 'findmeifyoucan'. It seemed to be some form of ARG based off of the Stanley character, with the account itself acting as Stanley. It is reasonable to assume that this was simply fan-made however, as Stanley himself has only been reported to appear in-game exactly once and the system running it would have no way of accessing the internet or making a FANDOM account. Some have tried to prove that the account is real, however due to the above context it is assumed to be false.

he ARG told the story of Stanley as he was held captive by the nefarious Wario Apparition. Users had to play Super Mario 64 and send screenshots to the findmeifyoucan account to help free Stanley.

Three audio files were uploaded to the wiki during the ARG's run, two for the ending outcomes and one as Stanley's song. Long after the ARG's conclusion on July 31st, the Findmeifyoucan account released one last song with the comment "goodbye", concluding Findmeifyoucan's story. The original three tracks can be found on the MIPS Hole Youtube channel.