I Introduction.- Introducing the Cast for Social Computing: Life-Like Characters.- II Languages and Tools for Life-Like Characters.- Representing and Parameterizing Agent Behaviors.- Toward a Unified Scripting Language: Lessons Learned from Developing CML and AML.- APML, a Markup Language for Believable Behavior Generation.- STEP: a Scripting Language for Embodied Agents.- gUI: Specifying Complete User Interaction.- A Behavior Language: Joint Action and Behavioral Idioms.- BEAT: the Behavior Expression Animation Toolkit.- Galatea: Open-Source Software for Developing Anthropomorphic Spoken Dialog Agents.- MPML and SCREAM: Scripting the Bodies and Minds of Life-Like Characters.- III Systems and Applications.- Great Expectations: Prediction in Entertainment Applications.- Shallow and Inner Forms of Emotional Intelligence in Advisory Dialog Simulation.- Web Information Integration Using Multiple Character Agents.- Expressive Behaviors for Virtual Worlds.- Playing with Agents — Agents in Social and Dramatic Games.- A Review of the Development of Embodied Presentation Agents and Their Application Fields.- Interface Agents That Facilitate Knowledge Interactions Between Community Members.- Animated Agents Capable of Understanding Natural Language and Performing Actions.- IV Synopsis.- What Makes Characters Seem Life-Like?.- Some Issues in the Design of Character Scripting and Specification Languages — a Personal View.- Online Material.