Does The Computer A.I Cheat in games? Let's find out:
We've all had that experience whereby the computer A.I had unbelievable and unfair advantages that a human player could not even object or complain. Mostly the developers gave the Computer A.I these "powers" to even out the playing field with the human opponent as the A.I wasn't as skilled. But do you think the A.I really cheats? Let's find out:
Normally when you think of computer A.I you're mind goes to The terminator. If that's true you should know you're not the only one..lol. Funny but the A.I we have in games are not really as smart or as competent as the human player. The game designers added this cheating feature to lessen the hardware and stock restrictions of the computer opponent. The human player in turn cannot perform these actions no matter how skilled he/she might be. That doesn't mean the Computer is unbeatable but.......
Although the players also have advantages also, I mean sometimes the computer opponent doesn't have the perks we get in games. like in Great battles medieval, where the A.I could'nt use the cool battle cards. Also in test your luck type of games (lottery, jackpots) the algorithm was usually fixed to favour the player. Yes it doesn't we were always lucky but just that the game developers put that there to make sure the player enjoys the game. But hey the A.I wasn't the one who bought the game now was It?
For example, I remember playing midtown madness 2 for mobile phones with my big bro. There was a racing delivery mission where we had to take the wheels against the computer opponent called Matilda. This turned out to be our hardest mission as she could literally drive through walls. Man..Me and my bro took days before we could complete it. Not that it was impossible but it provided a different type of challenge.
Also when I first played medieval 2 total war, I noticed the A.I was really poor and often made suicidal actions like declaring war on england as wales and so on. Then I cranked up the difficulty and boom, the A.I would get full stacks of soldiers before I could even build a watchtower. This "Difficulty" setting just gave the A.I a whole lot of cheats while handicapping the human player.
With that said, it's worth noting that in Real Time Strategy games the A.I will always cheat. To our surprise the Computer can have access to your research progress, battle plans and even policies. I've played hearts of iron Iv and man that Veteran button is deadly. I won't even talk about stelaris or Europa universalis.
Racing games might even be the worst. Playing blur and watching how a hopeless truck would overtake your Ford and make insane curves and high precision Drifts and turns. Man I've been playing racing games for years and I still can't make that sharp turn. I would always wonder in the older asphalt titles why the police would just focus on me and I'm like" officer, hope you know I'm not the only one racing you know!"
Even in soccer games especially Pro Evolution Soccer, When set to a higher difficulty the A.I would make unbelievable passes and nearly 99.99% Shot accuracy.
First person shooter games are deadly in their own way. Have you had that feeling that the A.I knows your position in Counter strike??. Just switch on the "expert bots" option and see what I'm talking about. When the Computer knows you're every move and is basically a killing machine, only then can we talk about the cheating A.I.
Those are just my experiences by the way. Now let's evaluate the various way the Computer A.I can "Cheat".
Ways the A.I Cheats:
1: The All seeing A.I:
In this system, the Computer player is granted the special ability to observe and see the player's information which in accordance to the structure of the game, should NOT be seen. In this case, the player usually cannot observe the A.I's moves so therefore is placed at a disadvantage. This one can practically have access to your in-game data and even plan ahead before you recruit a soldier.
2: The strategic resource A.I:
Here the A.I is granted unfair access to stockpiles of in-game resources and loads of rare items at start. Some of which the Human player would have to Farm or grind for days to obtain. Talk of strategy and tactics Android where a small country like Bulgaria would have a 8-stack Tank division.
3: The unbelievable Boss A.I:
This one is literally the worst. The Boss can ignore a lot of game mechanics and break the laws of the game just to appear badass. I believe all of us has encountered this type in the past. Come on Guys Shao Kahn, The sisters of fate and dark souls! We won't forget Dark souls...Man!!
4: Hidden Move A.I:
Here the A.I has secret abilities that improve the accuracy and efficiency of the Computer which the human player would not have. I remember in mortal kombat 4 where the A.I would literally guess every move I try to do and would even get up 100% faster when knocked down.
5: The hero of war A.I:
With A 100% firing accuracy, ability to spot your player even in the unlikiest of places, Health that's obviously twice yours.....Should i say more?
With that said, the cheating patterns of the A.I's of various games seems to fit in those descriptions. But there are some reasons we believe the A.I does not play dirty.
1: The A.I stands to gain nothing:
The Computer does not gain anything from winning. If it wins maybe it'll hang out in the Virtual hotel and sip some champagne.
2: Consumer dissatisfaction:
Developers are at risk of losing potential players if a game is notorious for A.I Cheating. No serious game designer would want that.
To add in a little detail, The lead designer of Civilization 4, Soren Johnson, blogged about the very specific problems that developers face when making single-player games an equal challenge for players.
"Under symmetrical conditions," he Noted, "artificial intelligence often needs to cheat just to be able to compete with the player. Accordingly, designers must learn what cheats feel fair to a player and what cheats do not. As the Puzzle Quest team knows, games need to avoid situations in which players even suspect that the game is cheating on them."
At the end, we can justify the Cheating A.I. It serves as a way to level the playing field as well as provide a challenge on a whole new level. Also we get to fight epic bosses and a have a righteous feeling of victory when we win.
At least we're compensated with Cheat Codes too,Heh? ;)
So that's what we at Tech Templar think about cheating Computer players. Have you had a game where the A.I played a fast one one you?. You could tell us in the comment section.
Normally when you think of computer A.I you're mind goes to The terminator. If that's true you should know you're not the only one..lol. Funny but the A.I we have in games are not really as smart or as competent as the human player. The game designers added this cheating feature to lessen the hardware and stock restrictions of the computer opponent. The human player in turn cannot perform these actions no matter how skilled he/she might be. That doesn't mean the Computer is unbeatable but.......
Although the players also have advantages also, I mean sometimes the computer opponent doesn't have the perks we get in games. like in Great battles medieval, where the A.I could'nt use the cool battle cards. Also in test your luck type of games (lottery, jackpots) the algorithm was usually fixed to favour the player. Yes it doesn't we were always lucky but just that the game developers put that there to make sure the player enjoys the game. But hey the A.I wasn't the one who bought the game now was It?
For example, I remember playing midtown madness 2 for mobile phones with my big bro. There was a racing delivery mission where we had to take the wheels against the computer opponent called Matilda. This turned out to be our hardest mission as she could literally drive through walls. Man..Me and my bro took days before we could complete it. Not that it was impossible but it provided a different type of challenge.
 |
| Midtown Madness |
Also when I first played medieval 2 total war, I noticed the A.I was really poor and often made suicidal actions like declaring war on england as wales and so on. Then I cranked up the difficulty and boom, the A.I would get full stacks of soldiers before I could even build a watchtower. This "Difficulty" setting just gave the A.I a whole lot of cheats while handicapping the human player.
 |
| Medieval 2 Total War |
With that said, it's worth noting that in Real Time Strategy games the A.I will always cheat. To our surprise the Computer can have access to your research progress, battle plans and even policies. I've played hearts of iron Iv and man that Veteran button is deadly. I won't even talk about stelaris or Europa universalis.
Racing games might even be the worst. Playing blur and watching how a hopeless truck would overtake your Ford and make insane curves and high precision Drifts and turns. Man I've been playing racing games for years and I still can't make that sharp turn. I would always wonder in the older asphalt titles why the police would just focus on me and I'm like" officer, hope you know I'm not the only one racing you know!"
Even in soccer games especially Pro Evolution Soccer, When set to a higher difficulty the A.I would make unbelievable passes and nearly 99.99% Shot accuracy.
First person shooter games are deadly in their own way. Have you had that feeling that the A.I knows your position in Counter strike??. Just switch on the "expert bots" option and see what I'm talking about. When the Computer knows you're every move and is basically a killing machine, only then can we talk about the cheating A.I.
Those are just my experiences by the way. Now let's evaluate the various way the Computer A.I can "Cheat".
Ways the A.I Cheats:
1: The All seeing A.I:
In this system, the Computer player is granted the special ability to observe and see the player's information which in accordance to the structure of the game, should NOT be seen. In this case, the player usually cannot observe the A.I's moves so therefore is placed at a disadvantage. This one can practically have access to your in-game data and even plan ahead before you recruit a soldier.
2: The strategic resource A.I:
Here the A.I is granted unfair access to stockpiles of in-game resources and loads of rare items at start. Some of which the Human player would have to Farm or grind for days to obtain. Talk of strategy and tactics Android where a small country like Bulgaria would have a 8-stack Tank division.
3: The unbelievable Boss A.I:
This one is literally the worst. The Boss can ignore a lot of game mechanics and break the laws of the game just to appear badass. I believe all of us has encountered this type in the past. Come on Guys Shao Kahn, The sisters of fate and dark souls! We won't forget Dark souls...Man!!
4: Hidden Move A.I:
Here the A.I has secret abilities that improve the accuracy and efficiency of the Computer which the human player would not have. I remember in mortal kombat 4 where the A.I would literally guess every move I try to do and would even get up 100% faster when knocked down.
5: The hero of war A.I:
With A 100% firing accuracy, ability to spot your player even in the unlikiest of places, Health that's obviously twice yours.....Should i say more?
With that said, the cheating patterns of the A.I's of various games seems to fit in those descriptions. But there are some reasons we believe the A.I does not play dirty.
1: The A.I stands to gain nothing:
The Computer does not gain anything from winning. If it wins maybe it'll hang out in the Virtual hotel and sip some champagne.
2: Consumer dissatisfaction:
Developers are at risk of losing potential players if a game is notorious for A.I Cheating. No serious game designer would want that.
To add in a little detail, The lead designer of Civilization 4, Soren Johnson, blogged about the very specific problems that developers face when making single-player games an equal challenge for players.
"Under symmetrical conditions," he Noted, "artificial intelligence often needs to cheat just to be able to compete with the player. Accordingly, designers must learn what cheats feel fair to a player and what cheats do not. As the Puzzle Quest team knows, games need to avoid situations in which players even suspect that the game is cheating on them."
 |
| Heart's Of Iron IV |
At the end, we can justify the Cheating A.I. It serves as a way to level the playing field as well as provide a challenge on a whole new level. Also we get to fight epic bosses and a have a righteous feeling of victory when we win.
At least we're compensated with Cheat Codes too,Heh? ;)
So that's what we at Tech Templar think about cheating Computer players. Have you had a game where the A.I played a fast one one you?. You could tell us in the comment section.
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