# How does IPOCL (Riedl & Young 2010) represent character goals, motivations and causal links, what flaws and completeness conditions does it enforce, what are its stated limits, and what can an outliner reuse?

- id: art_01M5MCW8YPZ2PMCYEK5YG29RMS
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T01, T18 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-23T12:48:22.480Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5MCW8YPZ2PMCYEK5YG29RMS

IPOCL extends partial-order causal-link planning with 'frames of commitment': each frame records a character, the goal they pursue, the steps they perform for it, a final step that achieves it, and a motivating step that causes the character to intend it. A plan is complete only if all preconditions are established, causal threats resolved, and every non-happening step belongs to some frame; three added flaw types (open motivation, intent, intentional threat) drive the search. The article gives definitions, an algorithm and a complexity bound but no formal soundness or completeness theorem: a text search of the PDF for theorem/lemma/proof found none. Its evaluation used 32 CS undergraduates answering why-questions about POCL- versus IPOCL-generated text, judged against the QUEST model, with a significant effect for 'poor' answers and a p of about 0.058 for 'good' ones, without controlling narrative length. Stated limits: every intention is achieved, so repeated failure and hero-vers...

IPOCL extends partial-order causal-link planning with 'frames of commitment': each frame records a character, the goal they pursue, the steps they perform for it, a final step that achieves it, and a motivating step that causes the character to intend it. A plan is complete only if all preconditions are established, causal threats resolved, and every non-happening step belongs to some frame; three added flaw types (open motivation, intent, intentional threat) drive the search. The article gives definitions, an algorithm and a complexity bound but no formal soundness or completeness theorem: a text search of the PDF for theorem/lemma/proof found none. Its evaluation used 32 CS undergraduates answering why-questions about POCL- versus IPOCL-generated text, judged against the QUEST model, with a significant effect for 'poor' answers and a p of about 0.058 for 'good' ones, without controlling narrative length. Stated limits: every intention is achieved, so repeated failure and hero-versus-villain defeat cannot be generated; the search is expensive (12.3 hours for an 82-step plan with a hand-tuned heuristic).

Curator qualifications: pdftotext of curator readback: 'Theorem' 0, 'theorem' 1 (reference list, Fikes & Nilsson), 'Proof'/'proof' 0, 'prove' 5 hits all in other senses (disproved, improved, improvement); Definition 6 'Complete IPOCL Plan' at text line 914; 'Non-happening events must be intended by a character' present across a line break (line 737-738); 'orphan is a step' 1; 'devolves to nearly breadth-first' 1; 'every intention is achieved' 1; 'did not control for narrative length' 1; 'All rights reserved' 1. Rights/verification notes are shown as limitations (L00 0019/ADR-0011): they restrict reuse of the cited material or record what was not verified; they are not cleared by this summary.

Limitations: [component_reuse_restriction] Rights: PDF footer All rights reserved (AI Access Foundation); paraphrase only.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://jair.org/index.php/jair/article/download/10669/25501",
      "note": "see curator disposition"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] IPOCL extends partial-order causal-link planning with 'frames of commitment': each frame records a character, the goal they pursue, the steps they perform for it, a final step that achieves it, and a motivating step that causes the character to intend it. A plan is complete only if all preconditions are established, causal threats resolved, and every non-happening step belongs to some frame; three added flaw types (open motivation, intent, intentional threat) drive the search. The article gives definitions, an algorithm and a complexity bound but no formal soundness or completeness theorem: a text search of the PDF for theorem/lemma/proof found none. Its evaluation used 32 CS undergraduates answering why-questions about POCL- versus IPOCL-generated text, judged against the QUEST model, with a significant effect for 'poor' answers and a p of about 0.058 for 'good' ones, without controlling narrative length. Stated limits: every intention is achieved, so repeated failure and hero-versus-villain defeat cannot be generated; the search is expensive (12.3 hours for an 82-step plan with a hand-tuned heuristic). · locator: see curator disposition · source: https://jair.org/index.php/jair/article/download/10669/25501

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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