1. Mixed-Initiative in Computer Games Presenter: Liam Doherty Simon Fraser University Authors: Liam Doherty, Max Whitney, Jurika Shakya, Mayo Jordanov, Patrick Lougheed, David Brokenshire, Shilpi Rao, Samir Menon, Vive Kumar Funded by the LearningKit project (SSHRC-INE) and the LORNET project (NSERC).

2. Background  4 th year undergraduate student in the School of Interactive Arts & Technology at Simon Fraser University  Interested in computer games and AI  Introduced to MI in April 2005…

3. Overview  Why investigate games + MI?  MI in current computer games.  Why are games interesting to MI research?  How are game design ideas useful to MI?  How is MI useful to game design?

4. Motivation  MI does not have a general theory  Computer games need new models of interaction that can support complex communication  Games have many different styles of interactivity, some of which are interesting to MI

5. Hypothesis Computer game design and mixed initiative techniques have commonalities that should be explored.

6. What is MI in Computer Games?  Computer games are about interaction  Player/Agent and Agent/Agent interaction  Implicitly goal-oriented interaction

7. Examples of Implicit MI in Computer Games  Bargaining  Human-like interaction  Tutoring in games

8. Why are Games interesting for MI Research?  Provide case studies  Provides an environment for experimentation  Forgiving of failures  Some similarities between game design theories describing 'interactivity' and the techniques of 'mixed-initiative'.  Commercial / ‘real-world’ applications

9. Applying Game Design Concepts to Mixed-Initiative  Game design provides some interesting ideas for analyzing MI interaction Time-constrained interaction Optimal learning curves

10. MI Techniques are useful to Game Design  Helpful for problem of ‘rich interactivity’  Helpful for building realistic human characters  Game AI is recognized in the game industry as the upcoming focus for game designers

11. Conclusions  Games are an interesting area where MI theories can be applied and tested.  MI can be applied to game design, especially in next-generation game types.  Game design theory and MI interaction have areas of overlap that can yield interesting hypotheses in both fields.

12. Thank You Liam Doherty, Max Whitney, Jurika Shakya, Mayo Jordanov, Patrick Lougheed, David Brokenshire, Shilpi Rao, Samir Menon, Vive Kumar Simon Fraser University Funded by the LearningKit project (SSHRC-INE) and the LORNET project (NSERC).