Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
5
Game Theory
While plenty of study from a variety of disciplines has tackled the behemoth
of decision theory, perhaps one of the most successful (and conveniently
relevant to us) forays into this realm is the collection of efforts made in
the area of
game theory
.
Game theory has never been a mainstream subject. Initial references to it date
back as far as the early 1700s. However, the spectacular mathematical genius
John von Neumann is generally credited as being the “father of game theory.� In
1928, he published a series of papers on the subject. A more visible launching point
of the concept occurred in 1944 with the publishing of the topic
Theory of Games
and Economic Behavior
that von Neumann co-authored with economist Oskar
Morgenstern. Not long afterward, in 1951, John Nash took game theory to another
level with his analysis of equilibria. More on that later.
On the whole, however, game theory went through ebbs and flows of interest.
Limited mostly to esoteric, military, or scientific arenas, it has also seen use in the
areas of political science, sociology, biology, computer science, logic, and even phi-
losophy. In the 1980s, it finally caught on in the world of economics—over 50 years
after von Neumann's original papers and more than 35 years after Neumann and
Morgenstern published their massive dissertation on the subject.
Despite its name, game theory is only loosely connected to the concept of
games. In fact, the name “game theory� is something of an unfortunate misnomer
(which may have led to the delay in it being considered seriously by the scientific
community). The core concepts tend more toward a generic analysis of decision
making—some of which can be applied to games. One of the most important tasks
that the field of artificial intelligence is charged with is imbuing agents with the
ability to make decisions—some of which can be applied to games. It would seem,
then, that the ideas that are endemic to game theory would be a natural starting
place for a study on how to create decisions in artificial agents in games.
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