Re:Grandmaster level in StarCraft II using multi-agent reinf...
by the_af on Friday November 01, 2019 @10:10AM
(#21419011)
> Yes, and the current game AIs are completely and utterly incompetent at it. AI in video games only provides a challenge when the mechanics of the game are challenging or the AI is cheating.
I wouldn't say "incompetent", but yes, the mechanics of the game must be challenging and/or (often) the AI must cheat. I'm saying this is enough most of the time; there's really no incentive to build a better AI for videogames because (my hypothesis) most gamers don't care. The illusion of challenge is enough, most of the time. The goal of videogames is to entertain, not to really challenge (again, with the exception of tournaments and competitive gamers, who are a niche within a niche).
You mentioned Heroes of Might & Magic in another comment. I played the heck out of HoMM2, some of (I think) HoMM3 and got bored with the rest. But I wasn't bored with the AI; I got bored because it was the same formula again and again. The genre itself soon felt like a tired formula. Note that the "AI" -- cheating or not -- of HoMM felt horribly difficult to me. I lost battles more often than I won; the only trick that reliably worked was to start the fight with a lot more troops than the computer enemy, and that's not much of a trick! Not a lot of places to learn effective tactics back then either, maybe the hellpit that was GameFAQs?
I wouldn't say "incompetent", but yes, the mechanics of the game must be challenging and/or (often) the AI must cheat. I'm saying this is enough most of the time; there's really no incentive to build a better AI for videogames because (my hypothesis) most gamers don't care. The illusion of challenge is enough, most of the time. The goal of videogames is to entertain, not to really challenge (again, with the exception of tournaments and competitive gamers, who are a niche within a niche).
You mentioned Heroes of Might & Magic in another comment. I played the heck out of HoMM2, some of (I think) HoMM3 and got bored with the rest. But I wasn't bored with the AI; I got bored because it was the same formula again and again. The genre itself soon felt like a tired formula. Note that the "AI" -- cheating or not -- of HoMM felt horribly difficult to me. I lost battles more often than I won; the only trick that reliably worked was to start the fight with a lot more troops than the computer enemy, and that's not much of a trick! Not a lot of places to learn effective tactics back then either, maybe the hellpit that was GameFAQs?