We are crowdsourcing the creation of socially rich, interactive characters by collecting data from thousands of people interacting and conversing in online multiplayer games, and mining recorded gameplay to extract patterns in language and behavior. The tools and algorithms we are developing allow non-experts to automate characters who can play roles by interacting and conversing with humans (via speech or typed text), and with each other. The Restaurant Game recorded over 16,000 people playing the roles of customers and waitresses in a virtual restaurant. Improviso is recording humans playing the roles of actors on the set of a sci-fi movie. This approach will enable new forms of interaction for games, training simulations, customer service, and HR job applicant screening systems.