Multiagent Systems

H. Van Parunak has applied for a patent on Characterizing and predicting agents via multi-agent evolution which was sponsored by DARPA. From the New Scientists article:

Parunak claims to have used these ideas with some success in making predictions about future behavior. He says his simulation works in relatively complex environments, making predictions in real-time.

In war-game scenarios, for example, Parunak says his model can successfully detect players' emotions, and then predict future actions accordingly. He believes the technique could one day be applied to predict the behaviour of adversaries in military combat situations, competitive business tactics, and even multiplayer computer games.

If this works, I'm sure any one of the computer game companies would pay millions for the ability to customize the gaming experience to what the player is feeling. Imagine no longer feeling frustrated in that first-person-shooter, or bored in that puzzle game. It would also be the first step in finally building smart and entertaining opponents for those first-person-shooters. I can imagine a super-evil character that figures out what makes you angry and keeps trying to make you angrier all the while teasing you with his words, just to get inside your head. Hmmm, trash talk, that would also work really well for sports games too!