Jeff Orkin, a game-developer-now-in-academics is doing some cool stuff and is looking for help with The Restaurant Game. To see how you can contribute, go to Jeff and Andrews' posts (1. 2. , 3. ). The sound-bite:
...(I)t will algorithmically combine the gameplay experiences of thousands of players to create a new game. In a few months, we will apply machine learning algorithms to data collected through the multiplayer Restaurant Game, and produce a new single-player game that we will enter into the 2008 Independent Games Festival.
Take a look.
Now, to move into the realm of speculation.
A while ago I commented on Luis von Ahn's work. If games like The ESP Game are algorithms based on a symbiotic human-machine relationship, then that was one kind of symbiosis (games with a purpose). Another kind of symbiosis could be based on learning and mimicy.
Let us suppose an Artificial Intelligence (AI) were possible that could understand you better than you might understand yourself (especially when contextualized in your virtual world). In other words, given the tools, would you better trust yourself to create the perfect game (to your tastes) than a hypothetical AI observing you in your play? Or do you recall poorly that game you once designed and tried to play.
