From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxa!mhb5b!mjs Newsgroups: net.games,net.ai Title: Re: Could a computer play zork? Article-I.D.: mhb5b.227 Posted: Wed Mar 23 13:28:34 1983 Received: Thu Mar 24 20:42:04 1983 One way a computer (program) could play zork is through a generic "expert system". We have been using such a system called "RITA" (Rand Intelligent Terminal Agent) for a while here, and while the specification of rules is done in a language that very closely resembles English, the "knowledge engineer" (rules author) would have to know (and be able to code) how to play a game like zork or adventure. For instance, the rules would have to be able to recognize whether or not the current location has been visited, whether there are any (movable) objects present, etc. Here's a rule that might be useful in such an agent. rule new_room: if there is not a room whose name is the name of the current_room then create a room whose name is the name of the current_room and whose objects is the objects of the current_room and whose exits is the exits of the current_room and whose description is the description of the current_room; A skeleton of the data structure I would use to represent a room looks something like this: object room: name is "West of House", description is "You are standing west of a white house....", exits is ((direction, room_name), ...), objects is ("mailbox"); In this fragment, things inside parentheses represent members of a list, and exits is a list of 2-element lists. Now that it's been suggested, I may (in my copious spare time (both seconds of it per day)) actually implement an adventure runner. The documentation of RITA and ROSIE, its successor, are available through NTIS, and I can dig up the reference numbers to post to the net if there's enough interest. Martin Shannon, Jr. Phone: (201) 582-3199 Internet: mjs@mhb5b.uucp UUCP: {allegra,rabbit,alice,mhb5b,mhb5c}!mjs USPS: 600 Mountain Avenue Room 5F-120 Murray Hill, NJ 07974