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Games can already play themselves :) You used to be able to set the
Left 4 Dead bots to "play without humans" and just move themselves. The
AI director there already plays the zombie side if it isn't versus :)<br>
<br>
Oh, going back further, bots in anything from quake-times onwards also
count :D<br>
<br>
I like the AI research areas though - things are a bit more abstract
and puzzle-like in Mario etc. - and involve more complex timing (rather
then just letting a pathfinding algorithm tell the AI where it needs to
jump etc.).<br>
<br>
As for where it puts games - squarely in the academic arena for these
purposes. Self-playing won't be fun, however cooperative and
competitive play will be - I'd love non-rubberband AI opponents in
racing games (rarely done, but is possible), better informed and
competent AI allies and opponents in anything that involves any kind of
cooperation too (especially strategy and management games which don't
usually feature highly adept AI). Personally, I'd also like AI's to be
able to play as a human would - as much of the kind of research
progression intends (ie; AI's playing singleplayer levels), but that is
more my interest in AI then any real world application besides "yay, we
can do it!".<br>
<br>
Andrew<br>
<br>
Devin Monnens wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:9d1cf2d50908090924k7642c41bp4fc09395b69c83fc@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">First there was the team of researchers who created an
algorithm to play Pitfall.
<div><br>
</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3174930">http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3174930</a></div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://paul.rutgers.edu/%7Ecdiuk/papers/OORL.pdf">http://paul.rutgers.edu/~cdiuk/papers/OORL.pdf</a>
- paper documenting it</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Now, someone has created a Flash program that builds its own
Mario levels. Someone ELSE created a program that plays those levels by
itself:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1918634">http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1918634</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>With Nintendo's announcement of games that will play themselves,
this is an interesting trend. What might this hold for the future of
games as well as preservation? And what might it tell us about learning?<br
clear="all">
<br>
-- <br>
Devin Monnens<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.deserthat.com">www.deserthat.com</a><br>
<br>
The sleep of Reason produces monsters.<br>
</div>
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