Sep 10
85433749
The Beeb seems to be amazed that philosophy is influencing the development and gameplay of computer games. This is news? Game designers have been trying to use philosophy and strategy for their AIs since the dawn of computer games (such as Sun Tzu, Clauswitz and Crowley). Another big influence on game dynamics and the AI is Nietsche, ranging from in the awesome Deux Ex to titles like Kingpin.
If you are trying to design an AI that properly behaves as close to a human as possible one needs a grounding in philosophy and behavioural sciences, with a little dash of chaos theory. I know many gamers, including me, who get annoyed with a game when it does something uncharacteristic to the role the AI is suppose to be playing. AIs that are too perfect, too stupid or too predictable detract from a game and can even make a game unplayable.Furthermore, with the advent of online/multiplayer gaming (except where prohibited like Greece), gamers are demanding so-called “bots” that can help them practice for vs. human play. Games like Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 have bots that can be quite a challenge and can be a great training ground for would-be online gamers.
