Video Game Characters 'Learning'
By MICHAEL WHITE - AP
LOS ANGELES (AP) - In their virtual world, Earl, Eddie and Elliott are losers.
In real life, researchers hope the motley trio can help usurp the violent,
search-and-destroy style computer and video games popular among many young players.
Blue-collar Earl, timid Elliott and Eddie the swinger inhabit ``Void Cafe'' a
virtual reality game that allows players to learn about interactions among people from
diverse backgrounds.
By manipulating movements of the characters, players learn their likes, dislikes
and attitudes toward one another. Direct them to activities they like, and the characters
become joyous. Rub them the wrong way, and they just might storm off the screen.
``If you look at computer games they're all adventure or fighting games: Can I
shoot him before he shoots me?'' said Bruce Blumberg, an assistant professor of media arts
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who directed development of ``Void Cafe.'' ``We
build worlds and put characters in them. We're interested in characters who are
empathetic, who are surprised when things happen,'' he said.
The research, backed in part by a consortium of companies that includes Mattel
Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp., was on display in the emerging technologies
collection at Siggraphics 99, a conference showcasing the latest developments in computer
graphics and interactive methods.
The annual conference, which continues through Thursday, was expected to attract
more than 50,000 people to see exhibits from 325 companies and research institutions.
Americans shelled out $1.8 billion for computer games during 1998, according to
the Interactive Digital Software Association, the lobbying group for the computer and
video games industries. Criticism of computer game violence has grown in recent
months, particularly with the revelation that the teen-agers who carried out the Columbine
High School massacre frequently played ``Doom,'' a game in which the player wins by
killing larger numbers of onscreen characters.
The value of smart characters, said Blumberg, is that they can teach players to
learn about and adjust to people who are different.
``Void Cafe'' begins with Earl, Eddie and Elliott each sitting alone in a diner.
Forks stuck into plastic dinner rolls act as wireless joysticks that players use to make
the characters move to music. As a shy and reluctant Elliott begins to dance, Earl scowls.
Eddie covers his eyes, expecting disaster. If the player finds movements that
Elliott likes, Elliott begins to enjoy music and dances well. Earl and Eddie begin to
respond with smiles. The players remember their experiences. Make a character angry
or embarrassed, and they will response with reluctance or could refuse to play next time
around.
The game is the first step toward more complex interactions. Companies
supporting the project believe such games have commercial potential, said Blumberg.
Researchers, for example, could program a virtual Bugs Bunny who would remember the
players and interact with them based on previous experience. Ideally, humans would
learn, too.
``What we're interested in doing is have it become more of a social experience
with virtual characters,'' said Bill Tomlinson, an MIT graduate student who worked on the
project. But for Blumberg and his colleagues, the goal is not to create a
best-selling game, but to use the research and development process as a means of studying
the nature of intelligence.
``Intelligence is a tangle of motivation and learning,'' he said. ``The only way
to build intelligent systems is to put those factors in and see what develops.''
