Free Republic
Browse · Search
Smoky Backroom
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Restaurant Game project
mit.edu ^ | ? | J e f f O r k i n

Posted on 04/14/2008 12:48:14 AM PDT by perfect stranger

Contribute to the first collaboratively authored computer game and earn Game Designer credit!

The Restaurant Game is a research project at the MIT Media Lab that will algorithmically combine the gameplay experiences of thousands of players to create a new game. In a few months, we will apply machine learning algorithms to data collected through the multiplayer Restaurant Game, and produce a new single-player game that we will enter into the 2008 Independent Games Festival. Everyone who plays The Restaurant Game will be credited as a Game Designer. It's never been easier to earn Game Designer credentials!

All contributions are not equal, however. Designers will be ranked based on how well they play their assigned roles, and accomplish their objectives. There will be only one Lead Designer. Remaining credits will be divided into Game Designers and Assistant Game Designers, and within each category individuals will be ranked according to the quality of their performance(s). Quality will be determined computationally, based on a number of factors.

The Restaurant Game takes about 10 minutes to play. It is a two-player game that will automatically find partners for players once you join a server. You are welcome encouraged to play multiple times. In order for this project to be at all successful, we will need to collect a lot of data -- data from over 1,000 10,000 gameplay sessions. Play early, play often, and please spread the word!

This project attempts to address two frustrations I experienced as a professional game developer. 1) Convincing human social behavior is difficult to model with existing hand crafted AI systems. 2) Play testing by people outside of the development team typically comes too late to have a major impact on the final product. This experiment aims to generate AI behaviors that conform to the way players actually choose to interact with other characters and the environment; behaviors that are convincingly human because they capture the nuances of real human behavior and language.


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: gamedevelopment; mit; socialinteraction
This is a fascinating simple game with many possibilities. If you are a Sims type gamer you should experiment with this program.
1 posted on 04/14/2008 12:48:14 AM PDT by perfect stranger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Admin Moderator

If this is inappropriate or disallowed please delete this thread.


2 posted on 04/14/2008 12:52:01 AM PDT by perfect stranger (Nobama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect stranger

http://web.media.mit.edu/~jorkin/restaurant/


3 posted on 04/14/2008 12:53:14 AM PDT by perfect stranger (Nobama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect stranger

AI = “artificial intelligence”.
Those two words may be placed side by side, but that does not describe a reality. If it’s artificial, it’s not intelligence. If it’s intelligent, it’s not artificial.
AI is the scientists’ dream of creating a program that reproduces the human mind. Same delusion as the one that leads scientists to clone a human being.
“artificial intelligence” does not exist and will never exist. The human mind is much too complex for the human mind to understand, let alone simulate.

AI is to be distinguished from expert systems, which employ rules derived from human experts to simplify decision making.


4 posted on 04/14/2008 4:10:48 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Smoky Backroom
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson