Poll #24: 9/06/01 - 10/01/01


The Next Advance in Game AI (2001)
Where do you think the next innovation in game AI will come from?
  
First-person shooters? (35)
16%
  
Real-time strategy games? (41)
19%
  
Turn-based strategy games? (7)
3%
  
RPGs? (49)
22%
  
Sports games? (7)
3%
  
"Classic" games of some kind (checkers, chess, etc.)? (12)
5%
  
The academic world and their research projects? (22)
10%
  
The military research world and their cutting-edge simulations? (27)
12%
  
I don't forsee any real innovations coming for quite some time yet. (11)
5%
  
Other (type in your own genre after picking this one). (10)
5%

Total Votes: 221

FINAL RESULTS

Steve's Comments: Interesting results which, for the most part, seem on par with similar polls taken in the past (especially 2000 vs. 2001). The top three vote getters this time around--RPGs, real-time strategy games, and first-person shooters--got nearly the same vote in exactly the same order in the 2000 poll. Only the 1999 poll shows any real difference and it didn't offer as many genres. More weight was given to miliary and academia this time around at the expense of "none" and "other", which shows a certain optimism overall I reckon.

One question we must ask ourselves--are the top three categories the winners because they're actually the most likely to spawn new advances in game AI, or because they're also the top three most popular game genres? Or is it the same--you can't have advances in AI without the commercial success that comes with the right genre?

Some of the user-provided genre suggestions and responses ("other") included:
  • Space based team combat FPS (pretty specific, but okay -- Ferretman)
  • Adventure games (a category I didn't provide; I should do so -- Ferretman)
  • Multi-agent systems (a technology rather than a genre, I think -- Ferretman)
  • "I think that the next innovation in AI will come from Thief 3 or Deus Ex 2, both in production at (currently) Ion Storm Austin." -- Drom_Editor