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On Randomly Generated Content In Games
Thanks to Skotos.net for their article discussing randomly-generated content in videogames, in which the author discusses pioneering games with random elements, suggesting: "One of the reasons [classic RPG] Rogue was so popular (and spawned so many children) is due to its generation of random content." But he goes on to point out: "Computers don't have the imagination to make good puzzles... asking a computer to create an interesting puzzle is very similar to asking it to tell a story, make up a joke, or create a riddle." The suggested answer is game elements "placed randomly within the [linear] structure", but with recent random level-generating games such as Toe Jam & Earl III striking out, how far should randomness be taken in games?
> Computers can't be creative,
> at least not in the way humans _can_ be.
Oh, poppycock.
We humans have a very nice, cushy, arrogant view of human creativity. I see it in movies, where the humans win over the 'calculating machines' by creativity or love or some hogwash like that. Scifi's traditionally very bad about this as well.
My degree is in psychology with a tendency toward physiology. The brain is a deterministic machine -- or at least, as deterministic as anything else. This hypothesis is as strong as nearly anything else in science: it fits the data well, and has yet to be proven false.
A statement like "computers can't be creative" has the assumption (correct me if I'm wrong) that a deterministic, calculating, "pure-logic" machine like a computer isn't capable of producing the same level of creative work as a human. I would argue that a human is just as deterministic as a computer, though the calculation and logic functions in a very different fashion.
I say the problem is in the algorithms. I've seen properly trained computers draw brand new Picassos and compose fugues as good as anything from Bach. "Oh," the critics would say, "they're just taking the input data and modifying it and reproducing it."
Yes. Yes they are. And so are you. That's why we have a concept of 'inspiration.' Of 'derivative works.' That's why each song that's written, each house that's designed, isn't a completely new, off-the-wall creation. That's why we can categorize things into 'styles' and 'genres.'
A properly trained (read: programmed) computer could generate levels for your-game-of-choice that would be on par with a human designer. And chances are good the computer would take some directions that the human wouldn't have thought of.
By contrast, I doubt Bob off the street would design a very interesting level for Counterstrike. It's all in the input and training.