Personas at the Heart of Simulation
In every social simulation, events set the stage — but it’s the personas who bring the story to life. Without them, a simulation is just a timeline of abstract events. With them, it becomes a dynamic system of beliefs, decisions, and evolving human stories.
Personas are the agents of change in Sundial Sim. They’re the reason macro events ripple down to the personal level, and the reason micro experiences can scale up into cultural shifts.
Each persona carries traits, beliefs, and memories. This makes them unique actors rather than generic variables. When a reform, disaster, or protest occurs, every persona responds differently, based on who they are and what they’ve experienced.
Traits, Beliefs, and Behaviour
At their core, personas are defined by three interconnected layers:
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Traits – enduring qualities, from openness or resilience to stress tolerance and independence.
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Beliefs – shaped by culture, religion, politics, or personal experience; they drive decisions under pressure.
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Behaviour – the outward expression of traits and beliefs, influenced by context, media, and events.
By combining these, Sundial Sim ensures that even when personas face the same event, their responses diverge — creating authentic complexity.
Memory and Drift
Human beings don’t remember everything perfectly. In Sundial, personas experience memory decay and belief drift.
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A traumatic event might stay vivid for decades.
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Everyday details fade or blur.
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Exposure to new ideas slowly shifts long-held convictions.
This models the subtle, long-term changes that shape societies — how collective memory is formed, how misinformation spreads, and how beliefs evolve over generations.
From the Individual to the Collective
When enough personas move together, their small decisions aggregate into cluster-level effects. A protest becomes a movement. An idea becomes ideology. A rumour becomes history.
This is where personas transform a simulation from a mechanical model into a living world.
Why This Matters
For researchers, strategists, and storytellers, personas are the bridge between theory and reality. They let us see not just what happens, but why it happens — and how it might happen differently under alternate conditions.
Personas make Sundial Sim more than a model. They make it human.
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About the author
David Muir
David Muir is a software developer and systems integrator with over a decade of experience building complex platforms in hospitality and beyond. As the founder of Sundial Sim, he combines technical depth with a passion for modelling human behaviour, uncertainty, and societal change.