An Exploration into Computer Games and Computer Generated Forces

The artificial intelligence (AI) components of computer games often appear to be very complex, possibly having abilities beyond the state of the art in computer generated forces. In this paper we study the similarities and differences between AIs for computer games and computer generated forces (CGFs). We contrast the goals of AIs and CGFs, their behavioral requirements, and the underlying resources available for developing and fielding them, with an eye to how they impact the complexity of their behaviors. Our conclusion is that CGFs are currently far ahead of game AIs, but that this may change soon. We argue that computer games have advantages for doing certain types of research on complex, human-level behavior. We support this argument with a demonstration of research we have done on AI and computer games. We have developed the Soar Quakebot, which is a Soar program that plays the death match version of Quake II. The design of the Soar Quakebot is based on TacAir-Soar, a real-time expert system that flies U.S. military air missions in simulation, and that is used for training in the U.S. Air Force. The Soar Quakebot incorporates complex tactics and the ability of the bot to anticipate the actions of its enemy.