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VanessaSalinas
ProfessorAdler
STACCEnglish1A#32475
6April2016
ArtificialIntelligenceinGames
DiscourseCommunitiesareavitalaspectofanycareerandunbeknownsttomany,they
areeverywhere.InErikBorgsarticle,
DiscourseCommunities
,hedescribesthemasgrouping
thatiswidelyusedtoanalyzewrittencommunication(Borg,398).Inotherwords,discourse
communitiesaregroupsofpeoplewhousespecificlanguagetoachievetheircommongoals.In
JohnSwalesarticle,
TheConceptofDiscourseCommunity
,heexplainswaystoidentifya
discoursecommunityandhowthesecharacteristicsdefineit.SwalesstatesthatAdiscourse
communityhasabroadlyagreedsetofcommonpublicgoals,...hasacquiredsomespecific
lexis,and...hasmechanismsofintercommunicationamongitsmembers(Swales,471473).
I
ngamedevelopment,thereareplentyofdiscoursecommunitiesthathavebeenformedsincethe
creationofthefirstvideogame.However,ifIweretonameadiscoursecommunityinthe
gamingindustry,itwouldhavetopossessthetraitslistedbySwales.Forexample,artificial
intelligence(orAIprogramming)isabroadcategory,notaspecificgroupwithapurpose,lexis,
orcommoncommunicationbetweenitsmembers.
Accordingtothesethreestandardssetby
Swales,The
IEEEConsumerElectronicsSocietyortheCESociety
canbeclassifiedasa
discoursecommunitybecausetheypossessacommonsetofgoalsamongstitsmembers,away
ofintercommunication,andspecificjargon.


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First,TheIEEEConsumerElectronicsSocietyisadiscoursecommunitybecauseithasa
commonsetofgoals.Accordingtotheiraboutpage,theCESocietystrivesfortheadvancement
ofthetheoryandpracticeofElectronicEngineeringandofthealliedartsandscienceswith
respecttothefieldofConsumerElectronicsandthemaintenanceofahighprofessionalstanding
amongitsmembers(
AboutIEEEConsumerElectronicsSociety).Thissocietyhasaclear
missionstatementwhichistocontributeandshareknowledgethathasthepotentialtochange
andadvanceconsumerelectronics.Notonlyisitclear,theirgoalisalsopublicallyaccessibleso
thatmorepeopleinterestedinbecomingamembercanbemoreinformedandpossiblyinvolved.
TheirmissionstatementisimportantbecausethisprovesthattheCESocietyhasatleastoneof
thethreetraitslistedbySwales.Althoughthiscommunityhasanoverallmissionstatement,they
alsoaremadeupofmultiplepublications.Onesuchpublicationistheir
IEEETransactionson
ComputationalIntelligenceandAIinGames
(orTCIAIG).
Next,theCESocietyhasmultiplejournalpublicationstoallowcommunicationwithits
members.Ontheirwebsite,theCESocietyhasatabthatdirectsmemberstoalistoftheir
journalsthattheypublish.The
IEEETransactionsonComputationalIntelligenceandAIin
Games
isonesuchjournalthatfocusesonthedevelopmentofartificialintelligenceofcharacters
inavideogame
.Asexplainedinhisbook,ProAndroidwebgameapps:usingHTML5,CSS3
andJavaScriptbyJuriyBura,Artificialintelligence(orAIforshort)iswhatmakesthe
computercontrolledcharactersbehavelikerealcreatures:chaseprey,findtheirwaythrough
thelevel,planassaults,exposeemotions,orevenlearnfromtheplayer(Bura,513).Thisisan
essentialaspectofagamebecauseitimmersestheplayerandhelpscreatesanenvironmentthat
ismorecomplexandrealistic.Inhisarticle,JohnSwalesgivesanexampleofwhat


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intercommunicationinadiscoursecommunitywouldbelike.Hedescribesthreecafesthatareall
apartofthesamefranchisewouldnotbeadiscoursecommunitybecausetheywouldhaveno
waytocommunicatebetweeneachstoreexceptwithintheirownstore.TheCESocietydoes
infacthaveacommonwayofcommunicationwhichispublishingwritingsfromitsmembersin
theirjournal,TCIAIG.AlongwiththeTCIAIG,theCESocietyalsohasmultipleconferences
throughouttheyearandsendsoutanewslettertoitsmembers.ThisiswhytheCEalsofulfills
Swalessecondrequirementofadiscoursecommunity.
Third,themembersoftheCESocietiesjournal,TCIAIG,allhaveaspecializedlanguage
thatmostprogrammersareabletounderstandeveniftheydonotknowthesameprogramming
languages.
LanguageisjustasavitalpartofprogrammingasisAItovideogamesbecauseit
makescommunicationbetweenhumans,computers,andpeoplewhodonotknowhowtocode
possible.

Mostprogrammerswouldknowwhatastringisandhowtogettheusertoinput
somethingintotheirprogram,however,thewaythattheywritethecodewouldbedifferent
dependingontheirskilllevelandwhichlanguagetheyareusing.Althoughtheymaybefocusing
onaspecificlanguage,readersoftheTCIAIGarestillabletounderstandthelexisusedbythose
whoareinterestedinAIprogrammingingamestoacertaindegree.Asaresult,thisfulfillsthe
thirdrequirementgivenbySwalestobeconsideredadiscoursecommunity.
Programming,ingeneral,revolvesentirelyaroundlanguage.Itisessentialbecause
programmershavetotranslatepseudocode(adetailedandreadabledescriptionofwhatan
algorithmorprogramshoulddo)intoanactualalgorithmthatthecomputerwillbeabletorun.
Theyusedifferentversionsofjargoninordertoteachorcommunicatewitheachother.
Dependingonwhattheprogrammerisworkingon,theyhavetodecidewhichtypeoflanguage


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theyaregoingtousetoachievetheirgoal.Therearenumerousprogramminglanguages,for
example:Python,HTML,Javascript,C++,C#,andUNITYarejustaglimpseoftheever
increasinglistofcomputerprogramminglanguages.
Inthebook,
FoundationGameDesignwithActionscript3.0.
writtenby
Rexvander
Spuy
,hewritesachapterteachingthereaderhowtomakeaguessthenumbersgame(agame
thatletstheuserguessarandomnumbergeneratedbythecomputerbetween0and99).Thisis
AIprogrammingbecauseheismakingthecomputerchooseanynumberbetween0and99andis
givingtheillusiontotheuserthatthecomputerhassometypeofintelligenceorperhaps
personality.DerSpuyusesalanguageknownasAntiScript3.0,however,heusesjargonthatis
understandableandapplicableinotherprogramminglanguages.Forexample,hewrites,You
addthesamecheckGameOvermethodcall...(DerSpuy,249).Inthisexample,derSpuyis
explaininghowtomakeamethod(whichisasectionofcodeusedasreferenceforthemain
chunkoftheprogramthatactuallycalculatesandputseverythingtogether).Thisisalsoknown
asafunctioninpython.
AnotherexampleofthelexisofAIgameprogrammingisgiveninthisbook,
Artificial
Intelligence:TheoriesandApplications

writtenby
VassileiosMariosAnastassiou,Panagiotis
Diamantopoulos,StavrosVassos,andManolisKoubarakis.Inthisbook,thereisachaptercalled,

iThink:ALibraryforClassicalPlanninginVideoGames,whichexplainsaspecificlibrary
knownasiThinkwhichisawaytomakeclassicalplanning(whenthecomputertakesinits
environment,[i.e.thecurrentworld,theplayerschoices,etc]andfiguresoutawaytosolvethe
problemthatitisgiven)easier.Alibraryisacollectionofprewrittensetsofcodeaprogramer
cancallorreferbacktointotheirprogram.Thislibrary,iThink,ismeanttomaketheNPCsof


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thegamefigureoutaplantosolveaproblemdependingontheworldstatethatitisbeingused
inatthatmoment.ThecreatorsofiThinkmadethissothatitcouldbeusefulforgamedevelopers
andinanacademicenvironmentusingorlearningaboutclassicalplanning.Thewritersexplainit
as,Classicalplanninghasproventobeusefulforachievingadynamic,emergentbehaviorfor
NPCsinvideogames(
Maglogiannis
etal.
,113)
.Everycomputerprogramminglanguagehas
itsownlibrarythataprogrammercanuseandthefactthatthedevelopersofthislibraryare
tryingtomakeitmoreaccessibleandusableindifferentlanguagesisanexampleofpotential
futurespecifiedlanguagethatAIprogrammerswillhavetheoptionofusing.
ThefirsttimeIeverplayedavideogamewaswhenmyunclebabysatmeinthefirst
gradeandletmeplay
TombRaider
onhisPlaystation1.However,Ifirstfellinlovewith
videogameswhenIplayed
SuperMarioBros
.onahandmedown,translucentpurple
Gameboy
Color
.TheideaofvideogameprogrammereventuallyoccurredtomewhenIwasajuniorin
highschool.IknewthatIwantedtomakevideogames,butIdidnotknowwhichtypeof
programmerIwantedtobe.Ieventuallystumbledacrossartificialintelligenceprogrammingand
knewrightawaythatwaswhatIwantedtodo.
AsaresultoftheresearchIhaveconducted,AIprogrammingingamesdefinitelyfeels
liketheperfectfitforme.AlthoughIamjustfinishingmyfirstcomputerscienceclassand
learningmysecondprogramminglanguage,IknowthatwhenItakemoreclassesandstart
developinggamesonmyown,Iwillgainmoreexperiencethatwouldbebeneficialtothe
IEEE
ConsumerElectronicsSociety.IfIweretobecomeamemberoftheCEsociety,Iwouldgeta
greaterexposuretopeoplewithmoreexperienceandknowledge.Mostpeoplewouldassociate
programmingasamoreintrovertedactivity,however,itisactuallywaymoresociablethanmost


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wouldthink.Programming,forgamesinparticular,islargelydependentonteamwork.Iknow
thatovertime,Iwillhavethepotentialtofitintothisdiscoursecommunity.


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WorksCited
"AboutIEEEConsumerElectronicsSociety."
About
.N.p.,n.d.Web.17Mar.2016.
Borg,Erik."DiscourseCommunity."
DiscourseCommunity
(n.d.):398400.Web.25Mar.2016.
Bura,Juriy,andPaulCoates."ProAndroidWebGameAppsUsingHTML5,CSS3and
JavaScript."
SpringerLink
.Berkeley,Calif.:ApressBirmingham:Computer
Bookshops[distributor],2012.,2012.513540.WorldCat.Web.20Mar.2015.
Maglogiannis,IliasG.,VassilisPlagianakos,andIoannisVlahavas."ArtificialIntelligence:
TheoriesandApplications7thHellenicConferenceonAI,SETN2012,Lamia,Greece,
May2831,2012.Proceedings."
ArtificialIntelligence:TheoriesandApplications7th
HellenicConferenceonAI,SETN2012,Lamia,Greece,May2831,2012.Proceedings
.
BerlinNewYork:Springer,2012.,May2012.

106113.WorldCat.Web.15Mar.
2016.
Swales,John.TheConceptofDiscourseCommunity.
GenreAnalysis:EnglishinAcademic
andResearchSettings.
BostonCambridgeUP,1990.2132.29Feb.2016.
DerSpuy,van,Rex."FoundationGameDesignwithActionscript3.0."
FoundationGameDesign
withActionscript3.0
.FriendsofEd,2012.209284.WorldCat.Web.15Mar.
2016.