Frank Dignum

Jeffrey Bradshaw

Barry G. Silverman

Willem van Doesburg

Research on multi-agent systems has provided a promising technology for implementing cognitive intelligent non-playing characters. However, the technologies used in game engines and multi-agent platforms are not readily compatible due to some inherent differences in concerns. Where game engines focus on real-time aspects and thus propagate efficiency and central control, multi-agent platforms assume autonomy of the agents. Increased autonomy and intelligence may offer benefits for a more compelling gameplay and may even be necessary for serious games. However, problems occur when current game design techniques are used to incorporate state-of-the-art multi-agent system technology. A very similar argument can be given for agent-based (social) simulation. This volume contains the papers presented at AGS 2009, the First International Workshop on Agents for Games and Simulations, held in Budapest on May 11, 2009. The focus of the workshop was on the particular challenges facing those using agent technology for games and simulations, with topics covering the technical, conceptual and design aspects of the field.

Trends in Techniques, Concepts and Design

Agents for Games and Simulations

Virginia Dignum

This volume analyses, from a computational point of view, how culture may arise, develop and evolve through time. The four sections in this book examine and analyse the modelling of culture, group and organisation culture, culture simulation, and culture-sensitive technology design. Different research disciplines have different perspectives on culture, making it difficult to compare and integrate different concepts and models of culture. By taking a computational perspective this book nevertheless enables the integration of concepts that play a role in culture, even though they might originate from different disciplines. Culture is usually regarded as something vague and qualitative and thus difficult to deal with in a computational and formal setting. Taking a computational approach to culture thus encompasses a twofold risk: taking a too simplistic approach to cultural influence on behaviour; or trying to capture too much, hence not leading to useful computational tools. However, the approaches and insights in this collection show how different perspectives by leading researchers described in thirteen chapters still can form a coherent picture. The book thus illustrates the potential of using computing systems to better understand culture. By describing methods, theories and concrete application results about the integration of cultural aspects into computer systems, this book provides inspiration to researchers of all disciplines alike and presents the start of an interdisciplinary dialogue on culture.

Integrating Cultures

Perspectives on Culture and Agent-based Simulations

Bastin Tony Roy Savarimuthu

Guido Boella

Edith Elkind

Martin K. Purvis

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems, PRIMA 2013, held in Dunedin, New Zealand, in December 2013. The conference was co-located with the 26th Australasian Artificial International Conference, AI 2013. The 24 revised full papers presented together with 18 short papers and 2 invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 81 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on foundations of agents and multi-agent systems; agent and multi-agent system architectures; agent-oriented software engineering; agent-based modelling and simulation; cooperation/collaboration, coordination/communication; hybrid technologies, application domains; and applications.

16th International Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand, December 1-6, 2013. Proceedings

PRIMA 2013: Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems

Carles Sierra

It is now no longer necessary to argue the importance of agent technology. Be- des numerous conferences and workshops on speci c aspects of agent technology there are also many companies that are exploring its exploitation possibilities. In the light of these developments and in order to foster the transfer of agent technology from research labs to business, the EU has funded a \network of exc- lence" devoted to agent technology. This network of excellence, called AgentLink (http://www. agentlink. org/), aims at bringing together research groups from d- ferent countries and industrial developers. The ultimate goal is to create synergy among the di erent projects and groups to improve the competence of European industry and the excellence of academia. In order to achieve this goal, Agent- Link organises educational activities (summer schools), builds agent-related - terature repositories, and facilitates collaboration between member nodes. One of the main activities related to the last point are the regular meetings of \S- cial Interest Groups" (SIGs). At this moment six SIGs are functioning, focusing on topics ranging from agent based social simulation to intelligent agents for telecommunications applications and telematics. The current book combines two results from the activities of the SIG on \Agent Mediated Electronic Commerce". This SIG gathers the main research groups and industrial partners interested in the use of agent technology in el- tronic commerce. First and foremost the book contains a roadmap of research and current technological developments in the area of agent-mediated electronic commerce.

The European AgentLink Perspective

Agent Mediated Electronic Commerce

While today's game engines and multi-agent platforms cross-fertilize each other to some extent, the technologies used in these areas are not readily compatible due to some differences in their primary concerns. Where game engines prioritize efficiency and central control, multi-agent platforms focus on agent autonomy and sophisticated communication capabilities. This volume gives an overview of the current state of the art for people wishing to combine agent technology with (serious) games. This state-of-the-art survey contains a collection of papers presented at AGS 2010; the Second International Workshop on Agents for Games and Simulations, held on May 10, 2010, in Toronto, as well as extended versions of papers from other workshops and from the AAMAS conference. The 14 papers are organized in three topical sections focusing on architectures combining agents and game engines, on the training aspects of the games, on social and organizational aspects of games and agents, respectively.

Frank Dignum

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