DailyDirt: Games For People… Not Computers
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Computers can be programmed to play all sorts of games, but these machines don’t enjoy playing — or even winning. It’ll be quite the feat to create artificial intelligence that actually understands which games are fun to play… and what games are boring. Game designers aren’t guaranteed to create fun games, so it’s not exactly an easy task for humans to figure out. But when a game is fun, people seem to naturally know it. That’s not to say that every popular game is fun for everyone, but there seems to be some quality of good games that can’t just be replicated easily. Here are a few quick links on games designed just for us humans.
- Gamification should make tasks challenging, so that humans actually feel a sense of accomplishment when they finish them. On the other hand, a bot doesn’t feel accomplishment. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever… [url]
- Humans can try to come up with simple tasks that computers can’t do — and the history of the CAPTCHA apparently starts in 1997. If only CAPTCHAs were more fun to do… [url]
- Game designers are always trying to get into the “flow zone” to make their games more addictive. Hmm. “The famous GRE test is a good example of design based on the concept of the Flow Zone.” [url]
- To find some cool online games, check out what StumbleUpon has found to play. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
Filed Under: artificial intelligence, captcha, fun, games, gamification
Comments on “DailyDirt: Games For People… Not Computers”
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Maybe we need to stop using humans as the standard for which games ought to be played.
Embrace your wirey new masters.
In the end captcha’s will end, because at some point not even people will be able to read them.
Those distorted captcha’s are horrible, I keep having to retype because I get it wrong so many times.
The main problem...
Humans have limits, computers dont. Nuff said.
They will be able to invent new ways to discern capchas faster than we can come up with new defenses. Who knows what that will cause, what issues will unfold. The era of spam shall begin.
But of course, humans have ingenuity, imagination, desire, things that machines will never be able to feel. Because of this, we will always be able to come up with a new defense. Though, skynet seems like more of a possibility every day.
Hmm...
*sigh*
@Jane McGonigal
More people getting confused between games and general competitive behaviour… But then, whoever decided to call game theory such a thing – when it’s purely about competitive behaviour/co-operative behaviour in a competitive environment, is definitely to blame for all this.
Unfortunately for Jane – easy and hard is purely subjective, and therefore has no bearing on the matter at all.
Re:
I think captcha’s will simply become more game-like… so instead of trying to get people to make out distorted letters, they’ll be more like “which of these things is not like the others?” games with pictures.