Digital character interacting with customer in physical realm

An apparatus for controlling performance of a digital character depicted at a display device located in a physical environment, the apparatus comprising:

• a network communication unit configured to transmit and receive data;
• and
• one or more controllers configured to:
• determine a presence of a first person located in the physical environment;
• in response to determining the presence of the first person, facilitate control of the performance of the digital character depicted at the display device by a second person and an artificial intelligence (AI) game-engine in combination,
• wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to determine the presence of the first person by autonomously determining at least one of a characteristic of an appearance of the first person, an emotional state of the first person, or an audio originating from the first person, and
• wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to facilitate control of the performance of the digital character by the second person by providing at least one option selectable by the second person, for controlling the digital character to, in an interaction with the first person, address the first person according to the determined characteristic or the determined emotional state of the first person;
• and
• during the interaction with the first person, cause a change in the physical environment in which the first person is located, in response to an action by the digital character depicted at the display device, wherein the change in the physical environment corresponds to a physical object different from the display device.

A machine-readable non-transitory medium having stored thereon machine-executable instructions for controlling performance of a digital character depicted at a display device located in a physical environment, the instructions comprising:

• determining a presence of a first person located in the physical environment;
• in response to determining the presence of the first person, facilitating control of the performance of the digital character depicted at the display device by a second person and an artificial intelligence (AI) game-engine in combination,
• wherein determining the presence of the first person comprises autonomously determining at least one of a characteristic of an appearance of the first person, an emotional state of the first person, or an audio originating from the first person, and
• wherein facilitating control of the performance of the digital character by the second person comprises providing at least one option selectable by the second person, for controlling the digital character to, in an interaction with the first person, address the first person according to the determined characteristic or the determined emotional state of the first person;
• and
• during the interaction with the first person, causing a change in the physical environment in which the first person is located, in response to an action by the digital character depicted at the display device, wherein the change in the physical environment corresponds to a physical object different from the display device.