Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Quidditch and Directed Evolution

A pdf on an interesting attempt to use the robocup soccer model to make proficient software quidditch agents.

It looks like the model suffers from the lack of detail in JK Rowling's published Quidditch rules. But the overall concept appears to be complex enough to get some really interesting behaviors. In general, I would tend to think that this is such an evaluative shifting game, that really good software agents will be hard to come by. But then, the way it's described, I don't think that humans would be very good at quidditch either. We're basically flat earth creatures. True 3D problems would confuse and tire us, likely. But then, we're playing against other humans, so, there would be a balancing effect.

Most players would spend a lot of time nursing bludger wounds, I think.

The idea of creating a sport that is inherently difficult for humans is somewhat appealing, making it interesting and fun to play is difficult, and making it actualizable is even harder. Ah for a decent virtual environment and some decent design tools.

so very interesting...


No comments: