Nobel Prize awarded to famous Game Theorists

Their mothers must be proud: Professors Thomas Schelling and Robert Aumann have become the latest recipients of the highly prestigious Nobel Prize in Economics for their work and contributions to Game Theory, a branch of Economics and Mathematics where one determines the outcomes of a strategic situation where everyone is playing to maximize their winnings.

The connection to Economics is evident, but how does it apply to videogames? Many ideas of Game Theory are shared with applications of Artificial Intelligence – minimax value functions, for example, which can be used to program computer opponents into making decisions based on your possible reactions and choosing an action that will give it the best possible outcome assuming you play to do the same. It works well in games like Reversi and Chess, especially if the computer can think many moves ahead. You can find more information on the wikipedia page
here.

[via Gamasutra via
The Ludologist]