I haven’t updated in awhile. I detailed why on my personal blog.
Due to the intensity and frequency of these migraines I wasn’t able to finish the projects I was working on in a timely fashion. Because I am deeply concerned with quality control I will post Friday when I’ve caught back up on the background information of knapsack algorithms and the psychology behind them. I’m also working on a forum where the issues and theories (among others) can be debated in a high-minded fashion. From this point forward I will update every Monday, Wednesday and Friday sometime in the morning regardless of my personal health. :)
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Knapsack Problem
Recently I’ve been playing Pokemon: Emerald; working on raising my pokemon for transfer to the illustrious Diamond and Pearl. Having long played the franchise I thought I would share one of my favorite ways of looking at the game. It involves a fairly basic math puzzle: The Knapsack Problem.
A knapsack problem is one of the more interesting ways to understand how someone’s mind works. Essentially you have a set number, like the space in a backpack. The goal is to fill the backpack as optimally as possible. It has implications in all fields of gaming: in World of Warcraft it can help determine the optimal raiders for a dungeon, or the best items to take going into a certain area. In Strategy games it can help determine the optimal use of the food/unit limit. But since I’m playing pokemon that is what I am going to use as an example.
If your unfamiliar with pokemon you should find most of the terminology similar to other RPGs. If your unfamiliar with gaming slang… try to keep up; I keep the language pretty clear.
In a pokemon battle the trainer is allowed 6 pokemon with 4 moves each. That is 24 moves total. What is the most effective use of moves? The enemy could literally choose from hundreds of thousands of character possibilities for his team design. When you take moves into consideration the number pushes past anything I care to think about.
While it is possible to account for all the type combinations it would spread your team woefully thin.
I mentioned the knapsack as a method of determining how people think because it’s commonly used to gage applicants for certain lines of work. It’s a problem that requires sacrifice and many people simply can’t/won’t operate under those conditions.
I prefer to think of gamers as falling into two categories in this area: Greedy and Paranoid. Lets give each type of gamer a Swampert and see what they do with it.
A greedy gamer wants to optimize his teams power; He gives his Swampert Earthquake and maximizes his attack statistic. Earthquake is a very powerful move but has no effect on flying enemies. Luckily Swampart learns Ice Beam. (Very effective against flying pokemon.) Because the greedy gamer put all his stats into attack his earthquake is extremely powerful but his ice beam does significantly less damage.
The paranoid gamer on the other hand wants to minimize his chances of being caught off guard; coincidently this is the category I fit into most often. I would take that same Swampert and give it balanced stats with Ice Beam. It’s true that damage output is lower then the greedy gamers… but to compliment it I am useful in more situations. The majority of gamers fit into both categories and sway between them by circumstance. It is a weakness in psychology that can be exploited with sharp eyes.
Lets take my best and most powerful pokemon as an example. The beautiful and powerful: Milotic. The proper way to display him among competitive gamers would look something like this:
Milotic (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Marvel Scale (50% higher defense when suffering)
EVs: 58 Special Def / 252 Special Attack / 200 Def
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
-Ice Beam
-Surf
-Recover
-Mirror Coat
This is a pretty standard build for Milotic. Mirror Coat reflects special attacks back, recover makes up for the damage sustained in those attacks. Aside from that move he has very little versatility, he does pack a water move for extra damage and an ice move for taking out Grass/Flying/Dragon types. His defenses are top-notch (Thanks to marvel scale and a naturally high Special Defense) and his modest nature gives him incredible special attack. (At the loss of attack, but he has no moves that use attack.) Combined with Recover he can take an incredible amount of punishment before going down.
His power comes at expense of his versatility however; and it was a choice I make gladly, under the right circumstances Milotic can finish off two-three enemy pokemon without fainting. Under the wrong conditions he is a deadly liability. The stunning lack of versatility can be made up on other parts of my team. Remember this is 1/6th of the pokemon I have and uses 4/24th of the total moves I have available.
So think of the knapsack problem next time you play something. What would give you the most value? What do you sacrifice? Does it fit your overall strategy? It’s the dynamic values of our choices that make our games so very interesting.
Come back Monday when I discuss the psychology behind Knapsack Problems and how they can be exploited in competition. I will also expand on the basics presented here.
A knapsack problem is one of the more interesting ways to understand how someone’s mind works. Essentially you have a set number, like the space in a backpack. The goal is to fill the backpack as optimally as possible. It has implications in all fields of gaming: in World of Warcraft it can help determine the optimal raiders for a dungeon, or the best items to take going into a certain area. In Strategy games it can help determine the optimal use of the food/unit limit. But since I’m playing pokemon that is what I am going to use as an example.
If your unfamiliar with pokemon you should find most of the terminology similar to other RPGs. If your unfamiliar with gaming slang… try to keep up; I keep the language pretty clear.
In a pokemon battle the trainer is allowed 6 pokemon with 4 moves each. That is 24 moves total. What is the most effective use of moves? The enemy could literally choose from hundreds of thousands of character possibilities for his team design. When you take moves into consideration the number pushes past anything I care to think about.
While it is possible to account for all the type combinations it would spread your team woefully thin.
I mentioned the knapsack as a method of determining how people think because it’s commonly used to gage applicants for certain lines of work. It’s a problem that requires sacrifice and many people simply can’t/won’t operate under those conditions.
I prefer to think of gamers as falling into two categories in this area: Greedy and Paranoid. Lets give each type of gamer a Swampert and see what they do with it.
A greedy gamer wants to optimize his teams power; He gives his Swampert Earthquake and maximizes his attack statistic. Earthquake is a very powerful move but has no effect on flying enemies. Luckily Swampart learns Ice Beam. (Very effective against flying pokemon.) Because the greedy gamer put all his stats into attack his earthquake is extremely powerful but his ice beam does significantly less damage.
The paranoid gamer on the other hand wants to minimize his chances of being caught off guard; coincidently this is the category I fit into most often. I would take that same Swampert and give it balanced stats with Ice Beam. It’s true that damage output is lower then the greedy gamers… but to compliment it I am useful in more situations. The majority of gamers fit into both categories and sway between them by circumstance. It is a weakness in psychology that can be exploited with sharp eyes.
Lets take my best and most powerful pokemon as an example. The beautiful and powerful: Milotic. The proper way to display him among competitive gamers would look something like this:
Milotic (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Marvel Scale (50% higher defense when suffering)
EVs: 58 Special Def / 252 Special Attack / 200 Def
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
-Ice Beam
-Surf
-Recover
-Mirror Coat
This is a pretty standard build for Milotic. Mirror Coat reflects special attacks back, recover makes up for the damage sustained in those attacks. Aside from that move he has very little versatility, he does pack a water move for extra damage and an ice move for taking out Grass/Flying/Dragon types. His defenses are top-notch (Thanks to marvel scale and a naturally high Special Defense) and his modest nature gives him incredible special attack. (At the loss of attack, but he has no moves that use attack.) Combined with Recover he can take an incredible amount of punishment before going down.
His power comes at expense of his versatility however; and it was a choice I make gladly, under the right circumstances Milotic can finish off two-three enemy pokemon without fainting. Under the wrong conditions he is a deadly liability. The stunning lack of versatility can be made up on other parts of my team. Remember this is 1/6th of the pokemon I have and uses 4/24th of the total moves I have available.
So think of the knapsack problem next time you play something. What would give you the most value? What do you sacrifice? Does it fit your overall strategy? It’s the dynamic values of our choices that make our games so very interesting.
Come back Monday when I discuss the psychology behind Knapsack Problems and how they can be exploited in competition. I will also expand on the basics presented here.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Polymath's Welcome
Welcome to my new Blog: Renaissance Gamer. A polymath or Renaissance man excels in multiple fields. Not content to narrowly specializing the artists and scientists of the Renaissance studied everything possible. It was a time of incredible advancement for the human race. The Polymath's were the spearhead of man's upward climb: fast forward to the 21st century.
Books are no longer the foremost method of communicating ideas. Paintings, sculpture and instruments have been replaced with Jpegs, Html and MP3's. Entertainment and science are changing many times faster then any era in human history; Thanks to the Internet and wireless communication: It’s truly a digital renaissance we are all becoming a part of.
To me the most exciting part of a digital renaissance is interactive entertainment or gaming. We can paint a last supper, but what about creating a perfectly accurate interactive last supper? Sit next to Jesus as he eats his last meal. Chat with the disciples for a while. In twenty years it will not only be possible... I promise someone will do it. The Polymath's are going to have their time once more, to unify the science, the art and the spiritual will require men of intellect, creativity and ethical purpose.
I plan to use this blog to explore the mundane and profound aspects of gaming: From sociological issues in MMO's to spiritual experimentation in RPGs; to the physics of First person shooters and the tactical interplay of RTS and Turn-based games. This is a new frontier of human thought for us to explore together.
Books are no longer the foremost method of communicating ideas. Paintings, sculpture and instruments have been replaced with Jpegs, Html and MP3's. Entertainment and science are changing many times faster then any era in human history; Thanks to the Internet and wireless communication: It’s truly a digital renaissance we are all becoming a part of.
To me the most exciting part of a digital renaissance is interactive entertainment or gaming. We can paint a last supper, but what about creating a perfectly accurate interactive last supper? Sit next to Jesus as he eats his last meal. Chat with the disciples for a while. In twenty years it will not only be possible... I promise someone will do it. The Polymath's are going to have their time once more, to unify the science, the art and the spiritual will require men of intellect, creativity and ethical purpose.
I plan to use this blog to explore the mundane and profound aspects of gaming: From sociological issues in MMO's to spiritual experimentation in RPGs; to the physics of First person shooters and the tactical interplay of RTS and Turn-based games. This is a new frontier of human thought for us to explore together.
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