Explanations Count Explanations Count

In research areas such as decision support systems, one of the crucial features is the ability to automatically explain decisions. However, this ability does not typically play a large role in computer games. Here, I suggest that this situation will change: research on the automatic generation of explanations will have real import for many types of computer games. I discuss four possible ways to include explanations in games, and for each of these give examples of current research projects. I make concrete suggestions of how the ideas from these projects can be applied in a wider context: that of commercial computer games.