Connectionists: NIPS*07 Workshop: Machine Learning and Games (MALAGA)

[Joaquin Quiñonero Candela]

Announcement and call for contributions:

=====================================================

NIPS 2007 Workshop on Machine Learning and Games (MALAGA)

http://research.microsoft.com/mlp/apg/malaga.aspx

Saturday 8 of December 2007, Whistler BC

=====================================================

----
Organizers:

Joaquin Quiñonero Candela
Thore Graepel
Ralf Herbrich

Applied Games, Microsoft Research Cambridge
----

----
Description:

Computer games sales are three time larger than industry software sales, and on par with Hollywood box office sales; Halo 3 has become the biggest entertainment launch in history, with $170 Million in sales in the US alone in the first 24 hours! Modern computer games are often based on extremely complex simulations of the real world and constitute one of the very few real fields of application for artificial intelligence encountered in everyday life. Surprisingly, machine learning methods are not present in the vast majority of computer games. There have been a few recent and notable successes in turn-based two-player, discrete action space games such as Backgammon, Checkers, Chess and Poker. However, these successes are in stark contrast to the difficulties still encountered in the majority of computer games, which typically involve more than two agents choosing from a continuum of actions in complex artificial environments. Typical game AI is still largely built around fixed systems of rules that often result in implausible or predictable behaviour and poor user experience. The purpose of this workshop is to involve the NIPS community in the exciting challenges that games - ranging from traditional table top games to cutting-edge console and PC games - offer to machine learning.
----

----
Call for Contributions:

We invite the submission of relevant work for oral presentation at the workshop.

Format: 2 page long extended abstract in either Letter or A4.
Deadline: Friday November 2nd, 2007.
Talk duration: 15 minutes for the presentation, 5 minutes for discussion.
----


-------------
Joaquin Quiñonero Candela, Associate Researcher, Applied Games Group<http://www.research.microsoft.com/mlp/apg/>, Microsoft Research Ltd., 7 J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0FB, UK, Tel: +44 (0)1223 479 700, Fax: +44 (0)1223 479 999