artificial intelligence (AI) player/agent: more patient than real people

“As games become better at adapting to the talent and skill levels of their players, more video games will be decoding the players as much as players are decoding the games.” - Playing with Our Heads, Why Video Games are Making our Kids Smarter-and more obedient, by Chris Suellentrop, Wilson Quarterly,January / February 2007 Issue

Using a computer program to simulate a real/human player.

AI players provide at least two significant advantages over real players: they don't get bored with the player, and they are always available. Therefore, the player can repeatedly practice with them, trying new strategies or honing tactics.

The How

AI players might use a combination of AI states to capture and quantify different moods, fuzzy logic, scripts/rules, adapting, and mirroring.

A large burden of AI is handled in any unit's sensors.

Cheating for Gameplay

The best AI players are given the same action options as the player. They also both simulate real, imperfect behavior, and recognize and adapt to strategies of competitors.

More often, for better and worse, AI’s are designed to cheat to make a sim/game more compelling, such as rubber banding, building free units, and accessing detailed knowledge of the player’s actions.

Other Tools to Augment AI for Creating a Character

AI's might be coupled with level-based triggers and linear scripts to flesh out a character. For example, a sim might show a cut scene of a main character, in order to set up an interactive level. Then the sim transitions to an interactive component with the same character, who is now AI driven. Finally, when the player either completes or fails a task, the sim once again shows the same character in a pre-scripted segment to provide results and closure.

Lowly Tasks

AI's might control other sim systems. Often simpler AI's are used to control all sim units, including those engaged in specialized activities.

AI players, sometimes called 'bots, are ultimately not as clever or interesting as other players, so that as a human player puts in the hours with bots, he or she is increasingly ready to interact with other humans.

Also called a virtual player or computer controlled player.

Similar to an intelligent agent.