The Concept of Utility - Behavioral Mathematics for Game AI - page 119

Worse still, if people manage to garner the monopolies without our help, we will
almost definitely lose.
One lesson to learn here is that utility is often not inherent to a particular
item—but in a particular action attached to an item. Marvin Gardens has a value as
listed on the deed in the game. However, its utility in the game is in how it is used—
which may have nothing to do with the values listed. In this case, if trading away
Marvin Gardens could net you a property that you need to complete a trio, then
Marvin Gardens' utility is worth something only in getting rid of it. If you don't do
the action, then the utility is not realized.
To exercise this utility, however, Marci had to take a risk. She was correct in de-
termining that, by trading, she was possibly giving someone else what they needed
to eventually win. However, by focusing only on that aspect of the transaction, she
hamstrung herself. She locked herself into the top row of Figure 7.2, but was only
looking at the top left corner… stalemate. Notice that the stalemate result is the only
one of the four possibilities that doesn't include the word lose . Of course, the top row
is the only row that doesn't include the word win . That word only appears in the bot-
tom row. It is that observation that very much sums up the entire point… in order
to have the possibility of winning, you often have to accept the possibility of losing.

I NTHE G AME The Tortoise and the Harried

Marci's approach in Monopoly is played out in the video game world as well, and it
is often just as frustrating for the opponents. To dip into the vernacular of the play-
ers of our games, the term turtling is used both in strategy games and in team-based
online first-person shooter (FPS) games. In both cases, it represents an approach of
playing almost entirely defensively at the expense of the offense. Obviously, the
metaphor is that of a turtle pulling into his protective shell and hoping to wait out
his attackers. Much as was the case on that ill-fated Monopoly night in the early
1990s, this is an effective strategy (and frustrating for the opponents), but only if all
you are trying to accomplish is to survive. For that reason, turtling is, more often
than not, a pejorative term.
Certainly, depending on the game and the situation, there are times when it is
more appropriate than others. In an online team game where the goal is for one team
to capture the other's territory, then it behooves the second team to be entirely de-
fensive. In a “capture the flag� scenario, however, the strategy of playing entirely
defensively looks a lot like Marci's approach to Monopoly. In fact, if we put this
scenario into a decision matrix such as in Figure 7.3, it will look strikingly like what
we saw in Figure 7.2. If you elect to turtle and only defend, the other team may not
get your flag, but you certainly are never going to get theirs.