"What's more striking about the latest generation is the appearance of unscripted, emergent behavior - the AI stumbling on new ways of responding to the world, strategies and behaviors that weren't deliberately planned by the designers." -Steven Johnson

Good Places to Start

Redefining the Power of the Gamer - The first Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment conference explored a future where games are driven as strongly by characters as combat. By Seth Schiesel. The New York Times (June 7, 2005; subscription req'd.). "Standing outside the apartment on Thursday, Walter could hear the barbs and retorts of a failed marriage's final throes. Walter's friends, Grace and Trip, had invited him over. ... This is the future of video games. In their modern riff on 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' Walter was the only human. Grace and Trip were virtual characters powered by advanced artificial intelligence techniques, which allowed them to change their emotional state in fairly complicated ways in response to the conversational English being typed in by the human player. It was one version of the future here this past week at the first Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment conference. It is a future where games are driven as strongly by characters as combat, where games are as much soap opera as shooting gallery and as much free-form construction set as destruction arena. The apartment drama, a 15-minute interactive story called 'Facade' that is scheduled to be released free next month (interactivestory.net), was one of the demonstrations offered to the roughly 120 game makers and academic computer experts who attended. 'As we try to create more immersive experiences, these artificial intelligence techniques are helping drive games forward and this is one of the areas that could really explode,' Bing Gordon, chief creative officer at Electronic Arts, the No. 1 video game company, said after his talk Wednesday night. 'We hope that the folks here start thinking about artificial intelligence as a feature, like graphics is a feature or sound is a feature.'" [Go here for more info about the conference.]

Two reports from Discovery Channel Canada's AI mini-site by Vanessa Ho (July 27, 2001): Giving video games a brA.I.n: "Like the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, computer video games have been in search of a brain since their inception. Enter artificial intelligence (A.I.) Essentially, A.I. allows a computer character to think for 'himself' or 'herself' instead of being based on pre-programmed actions." & Video games that use A.I.: "For years, artificial intelligence has helped make games from chess to poker more of a challenge. More recently, video game designers have been using A.I. to liven-up some of the newest interactive games on the market. Here are a few examples:...."

AI - the smart way to go. By Paul Hyman. HollywoodReporter.com (August 26, 2005). "Artificial intelligence -- or 'AI' -- is the Rodney Dangerfield of video game design. It gets no respect when it's working great, as when it contributed to 'Halo 2' and 'Half-Life 2' becoming the hugely successful games that they are. But when game characters start walking into walls, everyone knows to blame the AI. According to John Funge, high-quality graphics may be what attracts a player to a game, but it's the AI and the gameplay that holds their attention. ... In a chat with Hollywood Reporter columnist Paul Hyman, Funge talks about why designers ought to think about AI when turning their IP into games, and how AI has the potential to become the new driving force behind video game innovation. ... THR: When people talk about the next generation of console games, they always have a laundry list of what's going to make them better than today's games: more intense graphics, better sound and music, more realistic action. But you don't hear much about AI. Is that because no one expects AI to improve in next-gen games? Funge: No, that's not true at all. It's just that, for whatever reason, AI hasn't really captured the public's imagination to the same extent as graphics. Partly because it's a harder thing to appreciate. The graphics are very obvious to the player. Interestingly enough, that is changing. Nowadays, it's difficult to see the difference between this year's game graphics and last year's, so you're getting into an area of diminishing returns. Which is why I think AI will start to become more and more important as a way to differentiate games."

Wild Things -They fight. They flock. They have free will. Get ready for game bots with a mind of their own. By Steven Johnson. Wired (March 2002/10.03). "It is the year 2002. After an explosion of R&D; funded by software giants and startups, more than a third of US households are populated by sophisticated artificial intelligence bots - their decisionmaking guided by complex neural nets and simulated emotions, their perceptual systems honed to detect subtle changes in their environment. Every day millions of Americans interact with these creatures, encountering advanced technology from nuanced natural language routines to gesture recognition to machine learning. Perhaps most impressive: As the AIs have grown smarter, they have begun to communicate among themselves, sharing new ideas and collaborating on group tasks. This is not some hopelessly optimistic sci-fi scenario from 20 years ago. It is reality. Consumer-grade artificial intelligence is alive and well in the world of games. ... What's more striking about the latest generation is the appearance of unscripted, emergent behavior - the AI stumbling on new ways of responding to the world, strategies and behaviors that weren't deliberately planned by the designers."

The Video Game Revolution. KCTS Television & PBS. "From Fad to Phenomenon This is the story of how a whimsical invention of the 1960s helped spawn the computer industry as we know it. Video games have influenced the way children live and play, forever altered the entertainment industry, and even affected the way wars are fought. See how it all began and find out what it means for the future. The Video Game Revolution premieres Wednesday, Sept. 8th, [2004] at 9:00 p.m."

• "Code: ... Another important aspect of the code is the artificial intelligence component. This is the logic of the game, and it also establishes the physics of the game world...." - from Inside the Games: How a Game is Made
• "Major Milestone of 1952: A. S. Douglas creates the first documented computer game, Naughts and Crosses...." - from History of Gaming: Interactive Timeline of Game History
• "How Video Games Are Changing Our World: It's only a game, right? Games seem innocent enough when they're sitting on the store shelf, but what are we really bringing into our lives? Explore how this form of entertainment influences our culture." - from Impact of Gaming

The shape of playthings to come - Today's toys are more technologically advanced than ever. What will toys of tomorrow be like? By Chip Walter. The Boston Globe (December 24, 2002). "'You're going to see what 10 years ago we would have defined as science fiction,' says Randy Pausch, co-director of Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center. 'Toys that know where they are, that can recognize people and respond to them; toys that build up a mental state of the things around them; toys that talk to each other and interact with the television set or the computer. You can envision all kinds of scenarios.' ... What are the downsides as toys grow more intelligent and networked? Privacy is a big issue because of the vulnerability of children. ... The ultimate question may be this: Will the electronic sophistication of tomorrow's toys enhance the way children play or blunt their imaginations?"

• See what's happening at the Entertainment Technology Center.
• Also check out :
  • The Toy Robots Initiative which "aims to commercialize robotics technologies for human-robot collaboration in education, toys, entertainment and art. ... We operate out of the Mobile Robot Programming Laboratory in Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute."
  • Interactive Animatronics Initiative (IAI), "a joint initiative between the Field Robotics Center (FRC) and the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)."
    • "Our goal is to create technology that enables animatronic figures to become conversationally interactive. Further goals include allowing these characters to become aware of their environment, and react accordingly. The goals were met by combining a multitude of technologies (speech recognition, synthetic interview, discussion engine, audio, vision, and animatronic technologies) resulting in a new medium for interactive entertainment."

AI for Your PC - New games Fable and the Sims 2 further the cause of agent-based play. By David Kushner. Popular Science (March 2004). "Peek behind the graphics of two new games and you'll find the same artificial intelligence that's at work in Pentagon-sponsored war simulations."

Video games without frontiers. By Mark Ward. BBC (January 31, 2003). "Keen gamers can rejoice as US scientists are working on ways to make computer games that never end. The researchers are adapting AI techniques used for robot navigation to manage game worlds that constantly present fresh challenges to players. Games created using these techniques will be less like scenes from a film and more like a reactive and interactive world that players can explore almost endlessly. Already the researchers have created several virtual environments overseen by their story management system. ... Many settle for a linear storyline that forces players to plod through it step by step. R Michael Young, head of the Liquid Narrative Group at North Carolina State University, said this was because of the way many computer games are written. Typically, he said, games creators write computer code for every event, action and object in the game to pre-script what is going to happen. 'As a result,' he said, 'there are a reasonably small number of paths through the story space.' ... Professor Young said his group steps back from the scene-scripting approach and instead creates an over-arching system that develops the story around the player's actions."

• Also see: Computer games learn new tricks. Yves Guillemot is boss of French game studio Ubisoft and has been involved in the games industry since its earliest days. Here he gives his views on the way that the industry has to change to keep players interested. By Mark Ward. BBC (December 30, 2003). "'You should at least have the same game experience even if you are not as good,' he says. Ubisoft is working on ambient AI that watches what a player does and adapts the game and how the plot plays out to their skill levels, he says. 'We should be able to improve the game for particular kinds of people,' he says. 'It is about making sure you can understand the reactions of the players to give them the things that will really work for them. It is about AI reacting to your abilities. If you cannot do something after 20 tries it makes sure you still progress.'"

Emotionware. Lynellen D.S. Perry. ACM Crossroads Student Magazine. (1996) "Expressing emotion to convey the thought process of the agent 'helps us know that characters really care about what happens in the world, that they truly have desires. In contrast, the fighting characters of current video games show almost no reaction to the tremendous violence that engulfs them.'"

Stepford Child. By Sonia Zjawinski. Wired (August 2002). "Even though she's just 5 years old, Cindy Smart speaks five languages. She's a good reader. She can tell time and do simple math, including multiplication and division. She's not a prodigy. She's just good programming. Cindy looks like an average doll - 18? inches of blond hair, baby-blue eyes, and a button nose. But loaded with a digital camera, microprocessor, and voice recognition software, Cindy is the first doll that can see, think, and do as she's told. That makes her both surprisingly precocious ... and a little creepy. When introduced by Toy Quest at conventions around the nation earlier this year, the doll spooked viewers as she read and counted out loud."

"The ROBOTA dolls are a family of mini humanoid robots. They are educational toys. They can engage in complex interaction with humans, involving speech, vision and body imitation." From the Small Humanoid section of the University of Southern California Humanoid Robotics site.

AIBO - The Entertainment Robo-Dog from Sony.

• Four-Legged Robot League: one of the RoboCup competitions.
  • 2005: Osaka
  • 2004: Portugal
  • 2003: information about the Padova contest, plus links to results & movies from 2002
  • 2002: check out the teams that competed in Fukuoka/Busan
  • 2001: information about the event held in Seattle
• Smart Robot Pet Tricks - Tap into a mechanical dog’s brain and give it whatever personality you like. By Steven Johnson. Discover (February 2004; Vol. 25 No. 02). "Not all of the personality swapping is frivolous. One of Sony’s goals in providing programmers with the tools to modify AIBO was to encourage academic institutions exploring artificial intelligence and robotics to use the 'dog' as a research platform."

If you kick a robotic dog, is it wrong? By G. Jeffrey MacDonald. The Christian Science Monitor (February 5, 2004). "How should people treat creatures that seem ever more emotional with each step forward in robotic technology, but who really have no feelings? ... If Aibo did have true emotions and self-awareness, philosophers generally agree, then it would require humane treatment. But as machines, robotic pets with sad eyes can nevertheless be legitimately neglected, a fact that some people find troubling, while others welcome both in its practicality and moral significance." Also see the two related articles.

Readings Online

Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Entertainment. Papers from the 2002 AAAI Spring Symposia include Damian Isla and Bruce Blumberg's New Challenges for Character-Based AI for Games.

• Check out the other symposia in this series.

Tribes - Vengeance Designer Diary. Irrational hopes to make your enemies seem smarter than the average bear. By Marc Atkin. IGN.com (December 3, 2003). "Artificial Intelligence (AI) - the art of making computer controlled characters look smart. In games, though, the goal isn't so much to give them human-like intelligence (which is one of the Holy Grails of computer science research and is what mad scientists are currently working on in their labs around the world), but to make them entertaining to play with and against (which is still 'difficult', but certainly more doable). ... Before I joined Irrational, I actually used to be one of those aforementioned mad scientists, and I'm intrigued by the idea that it might be possible to bring some of the state of the art AI techniques currently being worked on in research labs to our game. ... So why aren't AI's smarter? Well, there's the obvious reason that it takes lot of effort to write good AI. There's also the issue that even a reasonably sophisticated AI takes a lot of CPU time - CPU time that is often desperately needed by the graphics engine, for example. But a more fundamental reason is that when you try to add all the special cases and events to the AI that you would like it to react to intelligently, the code gets very complicated very fast. ... I don't believe it has to be this way, though, and I spent the first part of the project designing and implementing a general AI engine that makes it easier to set up a lot of different behaviors for an AI. One of its central features is that it allows our designers to tell an AI not to do just one thing, but a large number of things."

Game Intelligence AI Plays Along. By Tracy Baker. Computer Power User. Volume 2, Issue 1 (January 2002): pages 56-60 in print issue. "While most games use a combination of several AI techniques, designers rely on some techniques more than others. Scripted AI, also called rules-based AI, is by far the most common AI found in games today. ... The other nice thing about games that use scripting is that most incorporate extensible AI that lets players directly edit the game's behavior. ... ALife (Artificial life) techniques are used to create AI that is based on real-world behavior instead of a list of rules."

Robot Dog 'Bugs' Inventor. By Jeffrey Benner. Wired News (November 2, 2001). "A mechanical bug toy is fighting a robotic dog for more than just space under the Christmas tree this year. The two toys represent rival schools of thought vying for supremacy in the quest for artificial intelligence. ... Enter the upstart B.I.O. Mechanical Bugs from Hasbro ... Despite the rivalry between traditional and behavior-based robots, experts agree that, ultimately, the robots of the future will be a combination of the concepts underlying the B.I.O. bugs and the Aibo."

Four Cool Ways to Use Neural Networks in Games. By David M. Bourg and Glenn Seeman. ONLamp.com (September 30, 2004). "For games, neural networks offer some key advantages over more traditional AI techniques. First, using a neural network may allow game developers to simplify the coding of complex state machines or rules-based systems by relegating key decision-making processes to one or more trained neural networks. Second, neural networks offer the potential for the game's AI to adapt as the game is played. This is a rather intriguing possibility and is a very popular subject in the game AI community at this time."

• Also see their book: AI for Game Developers (O'Reilly; 2004). "Written for the novice AI programmer, AI for Game Developers introduces you to techniques such as finite state machines, fuzzy logic, neural networks, and many others, in straightforward, easy-to-nderstand language, supported with code samples throughout the entire book (written in C/C++). From basic techniques such as chasing and evading, pattern movement, and flocking to genetic algorithms, the book presents a mix of deterministic (traditional) and non-deterministic (newer) AI techniques aimed squarely at beginners AI developers." Code examples from the book can be downloaded.

AI gets down to business. By Matthew Broersma. ZDNet UK. (January 23, 2001). "One very big business in which AI plays a key role is the video-game industry, comparable to the film business in size. Unlike in the movies, it's often up to a computer or game console to create a sense of reality for the gamer, and standards of realism are going up all the time."

• From the same special issue of ZDNet: AI in games reaches new level. "Current developments in artificial intelligence are not confined to the laboratory, or to high-brow efforts at making the next sentient race of beings. Ask Steve Grand, the inventor of Lucy. His first efforts at artificial intelligence spawned Creatures, a first glimpse at basic AI in games."

Talking Up a Good Game - Computer Simulation to Stimulate Soldiers to Speak in Tongues. By Paul Eng. ABCNEWS.com (March 9, 2004). "Computer science professors at the University of Southern California, with funding from DARPA, have been working on a simulation program designed to help military personnel perform a more prevalent -- and difficult -- task in the international war on terrorism: communicating peacefully and correctly with foreigners in their own native tongues. ... The program is based on the graphics capabilities of Unreal Tournament, a consumer computer game that has been popular with game players for its team-based approach to virtual combat. But, Johnson and his team of researchers have tweaked the game by adding a 'speech recognition' engine and their own 'intelligent agents,' software code that 'reacts' to how a user speaks and what he says. ... 'We videotape one cadet using it and noted that -- as many have hypothesized -- that motivation is key to learning,' says LaRocca. 'And there is something motivating about the video game format.'"

Entertaining Agents: A Sociological Case Study. By Leonard N. Foner, MIT Media Lab. Abstract: "Traditional AI has not concerned itself extensively with sociology nor with what emotional reactions might be produced in its users. On the other hand, entertainment is very concerned indeed with these issues. AI and ALife programs which are to be used in entertainment must therefore be viewed both as AI/ALife endeavors and as psychological and sociological endeavors. This paper presents a brief description of Julia [Mauldin 94], an implemented software agent, and then examines the sociology of those who encounter her, using both transcripts of interactions with Julia, and direct interviews with users. Julia is designed to pass as human in restricted environments while being both entertaining and informative, and often elicits surprisingly intense emotional reactions in those who encounter her."

• The article also provides an overview of a MUD experience. ("A MUD is a text-only, multiperson, virtual reality.")
• Also available is a version as published at Agents '97: PostScript or PDF

Tough Love Between Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Entertainment. By Andrew S. Gordon. Proceedings of IE2004: Australian Workshop on Interactive Entertainment (Feb 13, 2004). "In this IE2004 invited talk, I’ll explore the relationship between AI research and the Interactive Entertainment field, from its seductive courtship through its rocky marriage, and offer some relationship advice for the future. ... The marriage between AI and Interactive Entertainment is one that is full of promise, where each side brings remarkable yet different strengths and problems to the relationship. With some caution toward the rocky road that lies ahead, there is every reason to believe that a wealth of new research problems will arise, yielding innovative new designs and techniques that expand our understanding of intelligence, interaction, and entertainment."

How Game AI Works In FPS Games. By Mark Hachman. ExtremeTech (September 6, 2005). "Recently, at the European Game Developers Conference in London, Arjen Beij & Remco Straatman, two AI designers who worked on the video game Killzone described the process by which AI soldiers try and hunt the player."

Real-Time Goal-Orientated Behaviour for Computer Game Agents. By Nick Hawes of The Cognition and Affect Project at The University of Birmingham School of Computer Science Cognitive Science Research Centre. (September 2000) "This paper discusses the CogAff architecture as the basis for an agent that can display goal orientated behaviour under real-time constraints."

A Practical Guide to Building a Complete Game AI: Volume I by Geoff Howland. GameDev.net. "Artificial Intelligence (AI) in games has taken the backseat in development for a long time for many reasons but the future of games is definitely going to be weighted heavily with increasingly detailed game AI. If your game's AI is not up to the current level that game player's expectations demand then your game will feel dated and suffer for it in their opinions. Game AI is not just neural networks and learning systems and complex mathematical structures, although it can be, but primarily game AI is about creating an environment and the appearance of thought from units. Game AI is behavioral, not scientific."

The New Pet Craze: Robovacs. By Leander Kahney. Wired News (June 16, 2003). "Just as owners of robot pets like Sony's Aibo develop emotional attachments to their mechanical companions, people are acquiring similar feelings for their robot vacuum cleaners. The two leading robovac manufacturers -- iRobot and Electrolux -- report that owners treat their robovacs somewhat like pets. ... Scientists believe that robot pets trigger a hard-wired nurturing response in humans. It appears robot vacuums tap into the same instincts. MIT anthropologist Sherry Turkle, one of the leading researchers in the field, is conducting studies on how children perceive smart toys like the Aibo, Furby, Tamagotchi and My Real Baby. She says humans are programmed to respond in a caring way to creatures, even brand-new artificial ones."

Interactive Computer Games: Human-level AI's Killer Application. By John Laird and Michael van Lent. AI Magazine 22(2): 15-26 (Summer 2001). This paper is based on the authors' presentation at the Twelfth Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence Conference (IAAI-2000).

• more of John Laird's papers
• their AI game web sites
• Using Interactive Play to Explore How We Think. By Alex Pham. Los Angeles Times (December 6, 2001). "Without advancements in artificial intelligence, or AI, enemies in action games couldn't dodge or shoot back. Opponent teams in football games would call the same play over and over. Populating games with realistic computer-controlled characters is a critical component of fun." The article ends with an interview with Professor John E. Laird.

Now the clucky get clackity. By Sue Lowe. The Sydney Morning Herald (December 23, 2002). "Not sure you want kids? By mid-next year, hesitant couples with a spare $80,000 may be able to have a trial run with a child-like robot. ... Like the Aibo dog, Sony's first biped can interact with its 'carers', expressing emotions through a combination of words, songs and body language. It can recognise up to 10 human faces and voices and adapt its behaviour according to the way it is treated. ... The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe has predicted 700,000 useful robots - lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners and window cleaners - will have been bought by 2005, as well as up to a million entertainment robots. Sony claims to have sold more than 100,000 Aibo dogs worldwide, mainly in Japan, Hong Kong and America. ... But Sony's move from pet replacement to child replacement could be contentious. Some researchers believe children, in particular, are at risk of developing emotional attachments that the robots cannot live up to. Teams at Washington University and Purdue University are studying the effects of life-mimicking toys on young children and the elderly. In the latter case, they are looking at whether the Aibo dogs could have the same mental health benefits as real pets. 'In the coming years robotic pets will become more technologically sophisticated, more animal-like,' says researcher Batya Friedman. 'As they do, our research suggests that they will evoke more and more psychological responses from humans. Is that a good thing?'"

A PhD in Mortal Kombat - A pioneering USC group tries to get into the heads of players to learn if the pastime harms or can help. By Mary McNamara. The Los Angeles Times (June 6, 2004; no fee reg. req'd.). "[T]hese three and others like them are using their knowledge of games like Mortal Kombat and the Sims to further their education. As members of USC's Computer Games project, they are the local vanguard of a new academic discipline: video game scholarship. ... The research at USC focuses on the gamer rather than game design or development, and much of what they are doing is groundbreaking. ... In the past years, it's developed or launched studies into areas as diverse as the effect of violent games on brain activity, the motivation of gamers, the benefits of interactive learning, and the role of narrative and character development in the games themselves. ... In one study planned for this summer, researchers will test the conventional wisdom that interactive learning is more productive than rote. 'Everyone assumes children will learn more if they are playing a game,' [Ute] Ritterfeld says. 'But we do not know that because it has never been tested.' ... Here is what is known about computer games: They are the fastest-growing area of the entertainment market; last year, when games sales reached $11.4 billion, which surpassed U.S. box office figures...."

Artificial Life meets Entertainment: Lifelike Autonomous Agents. By Pattie Maes of the MIT Media Lab. In: Clicking In, Hot Links to a Digital Culture, edited by Lynn Hershman Leeson, Bay Press, Seattle, 1996. "Apart from the more standard research questions, the design of entertaining agents also requires more novel (to a large degree to the Artificial Intelligence community and definitely to the Artificial Life one) questions to be dealt with, for example, how to model emotions, intentions, social behavior and discourse."

Video games not necessarily turning kids' brains to mush. Kevin Maney's Wednesday Technology column (July 13, 2005). USA Today. "Video games might be about the best thing your kids can do to ensure their future success. Better, even, than reading. At least that's what two books (ironically enough) and a growing chunk of conventional wisdom are saying. Yes. Right. If you want your offspring to pay your Florida condo bills when you retire, better start telling them to put down that stupid Faulkner novel and get back to Halo 2. Which feels a lot like the moment in Sleeper when Woody Allen finds out that in 2173, cream pies and hot fudge are health foods. ... 'With most video games, at every point you have to make decisions,' [author Steven] Johnson says. 'You have to think about patterns and long-term goals and resources, and then you make decisions and get feedback from the game, and use that to adjust your decisions.' Which is exactly what a Silicon Valley entrepreneur does every day on his or her way to becoming a multibillionaire. ... Isn't the violence bad in video games? ... [T]he authors are challenging the belief that books are automatically better than video games. Johnson writes a funny bit about what critics would say if video games had been around for 300 years and books were just invented. The send-up calls books 'tragically isolating' and says libraries 'are a frightening sight: dozens of young children, normally so vivacious and socially interactive, sitting alone in cubicles, reading silently, oblivious to their peers.'"

• Also see:
  • Is it just a game? - Virtual violence has parents and politicians worried about real-world aggression. The science behind those fears hasn't made it to the next level. By Melissa Healy. Los Angeles Times (September 12, 2005). "Los Angeles father and screenwriter Gregg Temkin calls it his 'constant conflict' -- this wavering between fear and complacency about violence in video games. Temkin's 14-year-old son, Josh, plays a slew of nonviolent games, but he also likes to get together with friends and play the fantasy-violence game 'Halo 2' and the graphically violent 'Grand Theft Auto.' Temkin says he has read plenty about these games' purported effects -- both good and bad -- and finds that the experts are as confused as he is. ... Research published in recent months hasn't helped clarify the risks, or benefits, of these games. ... If there is one partial antidote for the potential risk of violent video games, say psychologists, it is family -- in particular parents or trusted adults who are aware of what their children play, understand its content and speak up against -- or at least about -- it."
  • Play and learn. By David Stonehouse. The Sydney Morning Herald (August 27, 2005). "Jane Healy, an educational psychologist in Colorado, is much more wary. Healy isn't against video games but she is concerned about overuse and an increasing reliance on computers in schools. The author of Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds, she argues that children have to be supervised properly both at home and at school to make sure they are, indeed, learning and don't fall into dangerous territory.
  • Kids get aggressive after video games. Psychological association calls for less violence in games. By Jennifer Wild. news @ nature.com (August 19, 2005). "The American Psychological Association (APA) has adopted a resolution to reduce violence in children's interactive media. This follows an in-depth review confirming that violent video games can make kids aggressive in the short-term, they say. The long-term effects are still unknown."
  • Is pop culture good for your brain? By Peter Ellingsen. The Age (August 7, 2005).
  • Chasing the dream. The Economist (August 4, 2005).

Experts Use AI to Help GIs Learn Arabic. By Eric Mankin. USC News (June 21, 2004). " To teach soldiers basic Arabic quickly, USC computer scientists are developing a system that merges artificial intelligence with computer game techniques. The Rapid Tactical Language Training System, created by the USC Viterbi School of Engineering's Center for Research in Technology for Education (CARTE) and partners, tests soldier students with videogame missions in animated virtual environments where, to pass, the students must successfully phrase questions and understand answers in Arabic. ... 'Most adults find it extremely difficult to acquire even a rudimentary knowledge of a language, particularly in a short time,' said CARTE director W. Lewis Johnson. 'We’re trying to build an improved model of instruction, one that can be closely tailored to both the needs and the abilities of each individual student,' Johnson said." Read the story and then watch the video!

How To Start with Gaming AI. By James Matthews. From Generation5. "Gaming AI is definitely one of the most interesting areas of Artificial Intelligence, since it can have immediately noticeable effects. Yet, the biggest problem with programming game AI, is that you often have to program a game to go with it! This is too much trouble for many people, so this article will help you look at various ways to overcome these difficulties."

Artificial Intelligence in Computer Games - State of the Art and Future Directions. By Alexander Nareyek. ACM Queue 1:10 (February 2004). Abstract: " If you follow the game development scene, you have probably heard many phrases like 'The main role of graphics in computer games will soon be over; artificial intelligence is the next big thing!' over the last years, and while you should hardly buy into such statements, there is some truth in them. The quality of artificial intelligence (AI) is a high-ranking feature for game fans' purchase decisions, and an area of incredible potential to increase the players' immersion and fun. However, if you have taken some classes on AI in university, it is likely that you paint yourself a very misleading picture of the AI methods used in games. It has hardly anything to do with what is called artificial intelligence in academia. After a brief discussion of the role of AI in game development, I will give you an overview of the current state of the art, discuss the future of this game development area, and provide some links to further information."

• Also see one of the author's projects: Excalibur - "Our goal is to develop a generic architecture for autonomously operating agents, like computer-guided characters/mobiles/items, within a complex computer-game environment. These agents must be able to find the right actions to pursue their given goals and adapt their behavior to new environments or opponents. But not only the actions of the individual agent have to be intelligent, agents should also be able to communicate and perform coordinated group actions."

Blame Game - Gamers say social problems, not video games cause violence. By Annalee Newitz. SF Gate (January 14, 2002). Links to several online discussions are contained within the article.

• Also see our Ethical & Social Implications resources.

Video Games Grow Up. Radio broadcast of NPR's Talk of the Nation (November 16, 2004). Hosted by Joe Palca. "Video or electronic games have long stopped being just for kids. The average age of game players today is 29 according to the Entertainment Software Association. Another sign of the industry's coming of age is the amount of money it generates. The electronic game industry made $10 billion last year, compared to Hollywood's $9.5 billion. Guests: Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of Wired; John Singleton, director of the film Boyz n the Hood; Sherry Turkel, professor of social studies of Science and Technology at MIT. Has been studying computer culture and games for 20 years. Author Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet."

• Excerpt: "Palca: ... I'm sure there's no simple answer -- but is there any way to judge whether these video games are good or bad for us? Professor Turkel: Well, I think the point is not that they're good or bad; I think that they're powerful and they're very different in their effects on different kinds of people. For example, if you're a loner and yet you don't want to be alone, games can offer you the illusion of companionship without the threat of intimacy. ... On the other hand, there are some people who start to play a game like The Sims or The Sims Online -- the game where you create a character and build a character and form a parallel life; it's a little bit like being a god, says my daughter -- and you get a chance to work through issues or to act out issues. Some kids construct families that are like their families and get a chance to do things differently in the new families they create. Some kids get a chance to take their greatest fear and live it out in the game. In other words, it's very constructive. So I think that what -- I think you raised the issue of parents and how to think about it; I think that with the game form as with all forms you have to know your kids, you have to know the game, you have to look carefully at the match and really say what's happening...."

Game sequel takes leaps in AI technology. By Dean Takahashi. Mercury News (September 13, 2004). "What's remarkable about this computer game, being released worldwide Tuesday , is that the domestic drama is not scripted. The characters act the way they do because that is what naturally unfolds. It's a quality dubbed 'emergence,'' based on the history of the characters' relationships and their own artificial, or preprogrammed, intelligence. Electronic Arts, which is publishing the sequel to the bestselling 'The Sims,'' believes this leap forward in artificial intelligence is what will keep gamers by the millions entranced with their virtual Sims. That's why the 140-person team that developed the game over four years took great pains to make the Sims, as the virtual characters are called, act and feel smarter. ... For EA programmers, a character appears to possess intelligence if it behaves intelligently. Behavior is a collection of actions and each action is governed by a choice. And so the Sims face a web of inter-connected choices. If they make a friend, they have the option to hug the friend. If the friend accepts the hug, they have the option to kiss. Each choice leads to other choices. The Sims make choices and therefore they seem intelligent."

Research examines robot-assisted therapy. United Press International (December 5, 2002). "Computerized 'pets,' such as those coming from Japanese electronics makers, could approach their flesh-and-blood counterparts in providing people with social interaction stimuli, scientists said Thursday."

Computer games start thinking. By Mark Ward. BBC (September 5, 2002). "This work looks frivolous but it could be profoundly important. Wittgenstein thought that human society, knowledge and language was hollow, little more than a tentative agreement that we all accept. Both Heidegger and Wittgenstein were influential on the existentialists who asserted that man was alone in making his way in the world. It could also mean that AI in computer games could help us realise that the world has no meaning except that which we choose to impose on it. We may be nothing but the imagination of ourselves. Suddenly computer games are looking very serious indeed."

Fast forward to the future of games. By Mark Ward. BBC. (August 30, 2002). "David Braben, co-creator of the legendary Elite game and now head of Frontier Developments, said better-looking games had to be matched by improvements in the way in-game characters were handled. 'Once you have characters speaking to each you realise how shallow the things are driving these things,' he said. Mr Braben said that game designers had to develop new skills that made in-game characters more intelligent and capable of meaningful interaction and even conversations. 'Once you move away from shooting games, when you are face to face with characters and you are not necessarily blowing their brains out the speech part becomes much more important,' he said."

What Sticks: Robo Sapiens. By Wendy Wolfson. Information Week (Nov. 26, 2001). "New computers will be sensitive to your emotions, which leads Wendy Wolfson to wonder about our relationship with robotic pets -- especially when combined with the human tendency to hack."

Related Web Sites

"AIIDE [Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment] is intended to be the definitive point of interaction between entertainment software developers interested in AI and academic and industrial AI researchers. Sponsored by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), the conference is targeted at both the research and commercial communities, promoting AI research and practice in the context of interactive digital entertainment systems with an emphasis on commercial computer and video games."

• Also see:
  • the Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Entertainment symposia
  • this related article

CRESS. Centre for Research on Simulation in the Social Sciences. "Many computer games are, in effect, artificial societies, although they are of course constructed for entertainment rather than for analytical understanding. Some artificial life simulations are also mainly of interest because they are artificial societies." -from their Overview

John Funge's "links to online information and resources covering many of the topics mentioned in the associated chapter [of his book, Artificial Intelligence for Computer Games: An Introduction (2004)] . For example, there are links to pages about the history of video games, links to pages about Game AI, links to path planning code, links to articles about finite-state machines (FSMs), links to online resources for machine learning, and many more. On the right-hand side of each page you will also find links to books that are either mentioned in the chapter or are otherwise relevant. ... You should also be sure to look at the Bibliography page. If an online version of a paper referenced in the book is available, then there should be a link to it."

The Game AI Page. "These pages are dedicated to the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in games, a factor in game design which I'm pleased to say is being taken more seriously by game developers and producers than ever before. We've seen a huge increase in interest over the past few years on the part of both game developers and game players, and I think the trend is only going to continue. Hopefully, these pages will help." Maintained by Steven M. Woodcock.

• Games Making Interesting Use of Artificial Intelligence Techniques. "This is where I try to maintain a list of games that have used--or which promised to use--particularly interesting AI approaches."

GameDev.Net Forums - Artificial Intelligence. And don't forget to check out the other resources they offer at this interesting site.

IGDA - AI SIG: International Game Developers Association Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence. " main activity of the Artificial Intelligence Special Interest Group (AI SIG) is its Artificial Intelligence Interface Standards Committee (AIISC). In addition, we maintain a newsletter on game AI and will further enhance this page with general game AI links and information soon. The IGDA also hosts online discussion forums to faciliate peer-to-peer communication and the sharing of knowledge."

"NERO is the result of a joint project between the Digital Media Collaboratory (DMC) and the neuroevolution group at the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin (UTCS). NERO utilizes state-of-the-art academic artificial intelligence research in order to demonstrate its effectiveness in a game environment. The game uses AI to allow simulated robotic agents to cope with changing environments and situations, and form adaptive tactical solutions. The end result is a game that adapts itself to the strategies desired by the player, while still allowing the AI-controlled entities to operate as autonomous agents. NERO introduces a new genre of video game that is only possible with machine learning technology...."

ScriptEase - Scripting Language for Computer Role-Playing Games. From the University of Alberta. "Creating realistic artificially-intelligent characters is seen as one of the major challenges of the commercial games industry. Historically, character behavior has been specified using simple finite state machines and, more recently, by AI scripting languages. These languages are relatively 'simple', in part because the language has to serve three user communities: game designers, game programmers, and consumers - each with different levels of programming experience. The scripting often becomes unwieldy, given that potentially hundreds (thousands) of characters need to be defined, the characters need non-trivial behaviors, and the characters have to interface with the plot constraints. We are currently developing a model for AI scripting called ScriptEase. The model is pattern template based, allowing designers to quickly build complex behaviors without doing explicit programming."

Wany Robotics, headquartered in Montpellier, France: "Wany Robotics software brings artificial intelligence to mass market products, giving manufacturers unprecedented potential to provide new levels of innovation and differentiation." "New technologies can quite literally change the way your products behave.... Wany Robotics will help you benefit from robust software and electronic designs that add smart mobility and autonomy features to everyday products, such as robot vacuum cleaners, home surveillance cameras, and interactive toys." And speaking of toys, meet Zig Zag Zog and check out this slot car racing system with an autonomous training vehicle!

Related Pages

• Artificial Life
• Assisitve Technologies (including robotic pets for the elderly)
• Drama & Storytelling
• Emotion
• Ethical & Social Implications (also see the related news collection which is where you'll find articles such as: What Are Video Games Turning Us Into? - and - Toys getting high-tech bells and whistles)
• Games & Puzzles , an AI Topic, with the following subtopics:
  • Bridge
  • Checkers
  • Chess
  • Crossword Puzzles
  • Othello
  • Poker
  • Scrabble
  • Traveling Salesperson & NP-Complete Problems
  • More Games & Puzzle
• General Index to AI in the news: Applications
• Industry Statistics
• Intelligent Tutoring Systems
• Multi-Agent Systems
• Robots
• Software Development
• Software & Hardware: Robots

More Readings & Resources:

The AAAI Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Entertainment symposia: "Interactive, computer-based forms of entertainment, such as computer games, interactive fiction, and software toys, represent a large, technologically-savvy industry that is actively seeking powerful artificial intelligence techniques. Until recently there was little communication between the interactive entertainment industry and the AI research community. As a result, the interactive entertainment industry may be overlooking useful AI techniques developed by the research community and the research community may be overlooking interesting problems and constraints faced by the interactive entertainment industry."

• Papers from 2002 AAAI Spring Symposium. The table of contents is available online.
  • Also see the web site for this event.
• Papers from the 2001 AAAI Spring Symposium. The table of contents is available online.
• Papers from 2000 AAAI Spring Symposium. The table of contents is available online.
• Papers from 1999 Spring Symposium [Artificial Intelligence and Computer Games]. The table of contents is available online.
• Also see: the Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment conference.

Virtual war turns real - Quicksilver Software develops war game exclusively for U.S. Army use. By Tamara Chuang. The Orange County Register (May 7, 2003). "Major Brent Cummings, an instructor at Fort Benning, said the 'Full Spectrum Command' game is effective because Army trainees enjoy computer games. 'The students I'm getting, they're guys. They already play these games,' he said. '(Class) is usually from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. But the guy, if he's having fun with the simulation, he takes it home and plays all night.' ... Players pick weapons for each unit, direct platoons to their targets and build attack plans. Only then does the animated portion of the game begin and users can watch their troops follow orders. With help from a massive dose of artificial intelligence, the game's virtual soldiers defend themselves when attacked and don't shoot innocent bystanders. ... For 'Full Spectrum Command,' Quicksilver enlisted five of its artists, seven programmers and project director Mancuso, who had produced 'MechWarrior 3.' ... The game developers visited Camp Pendleton to observe war games and training exercises. They interviewed experts such as Cummings to make sure their ideas about military strategy and doctrine were correct."

It's Come to This: Dolls Acting Like Real Babies. By Katie Hafner, New York Times Service (November 20, 2000) / available through the International Herald Tribune. An interview with Rodney Brooks, director of MIT's AI Lab, in which he answers the questions: "What would you say is the most fundamental piece of robotics or artificial intelligence underlying [My Real Baby] ? and "Do you think it's good for children to have a doll like this when a lot of experts stress the importance of fantasy play?"

Building a Better Cat. By Saul Hansell. The New York Times (December 5, 2002). "When engineers set out to create a robotic toy, their calculations go beyond the mechanics. A look at how a Hasbro engineer tried to build emotion into a hit toy."

The History of Video Games. By Leonard Herman, Jer Horwitz, Steve Kent, and Skyler Miller. GameSpot. "The world of video games continues to evolve. By reading about the past, perhaps you'll also get a glimpse of the future."

Teenager gets with programs. By Justin Hoeger. Sacramento Bee (May 30, 2003). "At first glance, Maneesh Sethi is much like other high-achieving teenagers. The Bella Vista High sophomore holds a 4.44 grade-point average, is an honors student in English and chemistry, and is involved in community service and numerous campus clubs. But not many 15-year-olds are also published authors, let alone authors of books about video game programming. But Sethi's first book, 'Game Programming for Teens' (Premier Press, $29.99), hit store shelves this month as part of the Premier Press game development series. The 13 chapters in the book give readers a step-by-step guide to making simple games in the Blitz Basic programming language. ... 'Game Programming for Teens' starts out small, teaching readers the very basics of Blitz Basic before moving on to writing simple programs. From there the book progresses, new chapters building off the lessons of the older ones, showing how to program collision detection, artificial intelligence and animation, and finally how to put it all together into a final game program called 'Invaderz,' a space-themed shooting game."

Playing Around with Genetics. By Steven Johnson. FEED Magazine (April 14, 2000). "A new breed of video game lets you experiment with virtual evolution - and sociology as well. Breeding software used to be the stuff of science fiction and esoteric artificial intelligence research. Now it's coming to a video game store near you. What happens when Darwin meets Mario?"

Robots bring dubious cheer to the lonely elderly. By Graeme Kerr. Asahi Shimbun (April 23, 2002). "The 80-cm tall robots do everything from bidding a cheery 'good morning' to checking response times to maths riddles to keep old people alert. Initial feedback is positive, with 60 percent of elderly users saying they prefer the robot's voice to a human one. 'They are a good substitute for grandchildren, many of whom live far away,' says Kuniichi Ozawa, director of the Sincere Kourien nursing home. 'They've definitely helped cheer up the atmosphere.' Unlikely though it seems, there is growing evidence that robots-like pets have a therapeutic effect on old folk. ... While sales of pet robots are still small, the Japan Robot Association predicts that the market will grow to 1.5 trillion yen in 2010 and 4 trillion yen in 2025. And with the number of people aged 65 or over in Japan set to rise from 22 million to 30 million by 2005, or a quarter of the population, firms like Matsushita, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Secom Co. are feverishly working on robotic aids to care for the graying population."

The Computer World Could Use More IT Girls - The industry is still mostly a guy thing, and that's a major drawback for women and society. Commentary by Jane Margolis ["researcher of education at UCLA, is co-author of 'Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing' (MIT Press, 2002)]. Los Angeles Times (May 21, 2003; no fee reg. req'd.). "Computer games are often the spark that ignites the interest of males to learn more about the technology itself. Many boys get hooked on the games and then want to learn how to reprogram them, manipulating the games' machinations to their liking. From this initial attraction, they go on to learn how to design and create technology. Often it is the intense fascination with games that turns young gaming wizards into accomplished computer scientists. They become the technologists in our society, leading us through the seismic change of the Information Age, redesigning our economy and our culture. Where are the girls?"

Toys of Tomorrow. "The MIT Media Lab's Toys of Tomorrow special interest group officially ended in November 2002. But Media Lab researchers continue to work on toy-related projects, developing new technologies that transform the ways kids play and learn. The most current information about these and other projects at the Media Lab can be found in the Lab's Research section or by using the adjacent links. In the past, new technologies were born in the workplace, and ended up in toys. In the future, toys will be the trend-setters, setting the standard for a digital infrastructure that really works and really plays. Old toys will become smarter; new toys will become possible; all toys will become connected."

Wired magazine's Gadget Lab: "the newsletter that gives you the 411 on the latest tech toys. Gadget Lab hustles a first look at the dozens of products hitting the market each week."

A Furby's burbles, a kid's heartstrings. By Martha Woodall. Knight Ridder Newspapers / avaiable from The Record (December 2, 2001). "Does your child truly love her Furby? Should she?... Now [Sherry Turkle] is examining how children and others are being affected by digital pets.... 'This is a new direction for the old field of artificial intelligence,' Turkle said. 'It is now not just trying to make machines with certain kinds of intelligence, but to make machines that, even if they don't have a lot of smarts ... make us feel something. I call these things 'relational artifacts.'"