Using Ai in Games That Adapt to Users

An academic researcher is using ideas from artificial intelligence and other types of computer science, as well as narrative theory, in an effort to make video games more engaging. R. Michael Young, assistant professor of computer science at North Carolina State University, is studying various ways to use technology to generate games that react to players and provide different challenges and situations based on users’ actions, interests, and preferences. This would create a new experience every time they play. Typically, designers determine all choices players might make in a game and establish in advance a set number of playing paths that will be entertaining. However, this limits the playing options and story lines. In contrast, much of Young’s research focuses on ways to provide an initial story and then on-the-fly plots that a game can customize as it unfolds for a particular player. The researcher said he is working with AI planning: “the process of representing and reasoning about action and how you might piece together action to achieve a set of goals.” Young said a game can use this technique to build abstract models of all appropriate actions available. The program then searches for action sequences that could provide a narrative that fits in with what has happened so far. This has been difficult to implement, Young said, because there is no computational model of narrative structure. He is thus using techniques such as computational linguistics to figure out how best to tell a story created by an AI planner. Analyst Jay Horwitz at Jupiter Research, a market analysis firm, said AI has already been used in some games to bring to life characters not controlled by players. However, he said, “I don’t think AI is the key business factor when it comes to producing games. It’s one of many elements of developing a game that are very important.” Nonetheless, Young expressed hope his research will be commercialized in the next few years. He said this will be more likely as processing power increases and can better handle his techniques. In addition, he noted, a lot of past game development has focused on improving graphics. Now, Young said, graphics are much better and faster than in the past, so developers can consider how they might improve other aspects of the games, such as the content. —Linda Dailey Paulson Mediator