Author: Tom Kerrigan
Date: 08:58:55 05/21/03
Go up one level in this thread
On May 21, 2003 at 09:07:24, martin fierz wrote: >On May 21, 2003 at 04:29:31, Tom Kerrigan wrote: > >>On May 21, 2003 at 00:00:11, Russell Reagan wrote: >> >>>As far as I know, computer chess is the most popular computer board game. There >>>are dozens of commercial programs, and hundreds of amateur programs. >>> >>>What do you think are the main contributing factors to computer chess being the >>>most popular? Why not checkers/draughts, or go, or any other game? >>> >>>I think there are two main factors. >>> >>>1. Chess is one of the most popular games in the world, if not THE most popular. >>> >>>2. The computer chess community has created a good environment that is inviting >>>to potential computer chess programmers. >>> >>>One example of #2 can be seen in the nice GUI's that we amateur computer chess >>>programmers have. Between Winboard and Arena, we have nice looking interfaces, >>>and networking support for internet chess servers, and we get it all for free. >>> >>>I also think that chess servers such as ICC and FICS do a great deal to attract >>>potential programmers to chess instead of other board games. >>> >>>For instance, I have tried to make other game playing programs in the past >>>(checkers and amazons), but after a while my program slaughters me, and there >>>isn't anyone to play my program. If I had a nice GUI like Arena that would let >>>me organize a tournament with a dozen other amazons programs, then I would >>>maintain my interest in computer amazons. Or if there was an "Internet Amazons >>>Server", and I had a GUI that would handle the networking for me, I would be >>>much more motivated to continue programming amazons. >>> >>>So what do you think contributes to the popularity of computer chess? >> >>1. It seems the game itself might be the west's most popular board game, and >>computers are more widespread in the west. >> >>2. The rules and complexity of the game are difficult but not prohibitive, so >>it's not too simple to be uninteresting with current compute power (as is >>Connect 4, and arguably checkers) > >connect 4 can be solved on a fast pc in 1 hour. checkers is nowhere near being Really? I didn't know that. Not by "brute force," i.e., only scoring positions as win, lose, or draw. I believe that takes closer to a month. >solved IMO. it's much simpler than chess, and probably will be solved >eventually, unlike chess. but for the moment, programming checkers is still a >challenge :-) I remember maybe 5-6 years ago, Chinook would usually start hitting endgame databases as soon as it got out of its opening book, and it wasn't much of a contest to beat the 2nd best (now best) human player. So it might not be solved, but it's still not the most interesting game ever anymore. -Tom
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