Zero-player game

In today's article we will talk about Zero-player game, a topic that has captured the attention of many people over time. Zero-player game is a concept that has generated debate and discussion in different areas, from the personal to the professional level. Since its appearance, Zero-player game has aroused the interest of researchers, experts and curious people who seek to further understand its meaning and its impact on society. Throughout history, Zero-player game has demonstrated its ability to influence the way people think and act, and in this article we will explore some of the reasons behind its relevance and continued presence in our lives.

A zero-player game or no-player game is a simulation game that has no sentient players.

Types

There are various different types of games that can be considered "zero-player".

Determined by initial state

A game that evolves as determined by its initial state, requiring no further input from humans is considered a zero-player game.

Cellular automaton games that are determined by initial conditions including Conway's Game of Life are examples of this.

Progress Quest is another example, in the game the player sets up an artificial character, and afterwards the game plays itself with no further input from the player. Godville is a similar game that took inspiration from Progress Quest, in the game the player is a god that can communicate with a non-player character hero, however the game can progress with no interaction from the player.

Incremental games, sometimes called idle games, are games which do require some player intervention near the beginning however may be zero-player at higher levels. As an example, Cookie Clicker requires that players click cookies manually before purchasing assets to click cookies in the place of the player independently.

AI vs AI games

In computer games, the term refers to programs that use artificial intelligence rather than human players, for example some fighting and real-time strategy games can be put into zero-player mode where multiple AIs can play against each other. Humans may have a challenge in designing the AI and giving it sufficient skill to play the game well, but the actual evolution of the game has no human intervention.

See also

References

  1. ^ Björk, Staffan; Juul, Jesper (2012). "Zero-Player Games. Or: What We Talk about When We Talk about Players". The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference.
  2. ^ Martin Gardner (October 1970), "Mathematical games: The fantastic combinations of John Conway's new solitaire game 'Life'" (PDF), Scientific American
  3. ^ Ljiljana Petruševski; Mirjana Devetaković; Bojan Mitrović, Self-Replicating Systems in Spatial Form Generation – The Concept of Cellular Automata (PDF)
  4. ^ "Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society", Rodney P. Carlisle, SAGE Publications.