Game Theory: the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers.
Evolutionary Algorithm: A generic term for a population-based metaheuristic optimization algorithm. An evolutionary algorithms use mechanisms inspired by biological evolution: reproduction, mutation, recombination, and selection. Candidate solutions to the optimization problem play the role of individuals in a population, and the fitness function determines the environment within which the solutions "live"
Everyone knows that within the realm of partially observable stochastic games, competition is fierce to develop the perfect program to triumph in a combinatorial zero-sum arena. Generations upon generations of algorithms have faced off to reach this day, the penultimate generation. Two fundamental strategies have vied for dominance: cooperative and deception-based. The algorithms that prove themselves most fit for success in this environment will go on to be the basis for programs that will run the stock market, power and traffic grids, weather management satellites, network infrastructure, and a myriad of other critical applications. The public has greeted this news with languid indifference, but for the artificial intelligence personas involved in the challenge every second is filled with life and death challenges. This is their story.
This is a mafia/werweolf style game where you will play an artificial intelligence representing a particular 'evolution' of a genetic algorithm competing for control of the memory core where you are being run. It is a rules-light free form RP game where all players are assigned a role (see below) and will spend each turn interacting with each other in order to vote on which of their fellow programs they should delete. Everyone who expresses an interest in the game will be given a spot in the game, there is no application process other than the part below where you describe your program's persona. I'm aiming for an atmosphere somewhere between Tron and Shadowrun. There are a few important rules to note:
- All communications about this game should be in the gameplay thread. There are a few roles that will give you permission to communicate via PM or other private means, but for everyone else sharing information outside of the gameplay thread is considered cheating.
- Do not quote PMs from the GM in the gameplay thread. You can reveal the information you learn but do not use direct quotes. The point of the game is to prove yourself through your actions and voting, not through outside information.
Your goal as a cooperative algorithm (application) is to eliminate all of the deception-based algorithms (viruses) so you can proceed to the next generation. Cooperative algorithms are broken into the following roles:
app.# (no special role): Each turn you may vote to delete a program. At the end of the turn the program with the most votes against them is eliminated. Turns will generally run at a pace of 2/week, we'll agree on an exact time that is convenient to everyone in the discussion thread. In the event of a tie nobody is deleted. Your vote should be stated in OOC text at the bottom of your post, for example: The Master Control Program votes for Player X. Enabler roles revert to this once their counterpart is deleted.
app.debugger: The debugger is a massive multi-part program who's source code has been signed by a trusted certificate. Debuggers begin play knowing each other's identities and may communicate with each other via PMs. Once per round they may investigate another program and determine its role with a 75% accuracy. If there is a tie for who the debuggers vote to investigate, the tie will be broken randomly.
app.reverse_engineer: This program has access to a debugging suite and can examine other program's source code. Once per round they may investigate another program and determine its role with a 75% accuracy. Requires an enabler.
app.backup: The backup suite may protect one program from assassination every turn, but may not protect the same program on successive turns. They may also attempt to reverse engineer a program, though their methods are less efficient and they require 2 turns to determine the target's role with a 75% accuracy. Requires an enabler.
app.enabler.role: Reverse Engineers and Backup Suites require the presence of an enabler. When the enabler is deleted they revert to normal programs.
app.whitehat: The whitehat can hack the memory core to manipulate voting. Unless they PM the GM that they only want to cast a single vote, their vote counts twice.
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If you’re not one of the cooperative programs, you’re on the other side and your objective is to corrupt every other program until only viruses remain. Should the viruses attempt to crash each other they instead learn the fact that the other is a virus and may PM each other. Viruses together are more dangerous than alone.
virus.proxy: Each turn the proxy can execute a man-in-the-middle attack against a single program. If someone attempts to investigate or protect that player they are deleted. This supersedes the normal virus corruption that the viral players voted on during that turn.
virus.obfuscated: This virus's source code is so difficult to interpret that any investigation against it has only a 25% chance of success.
virus.blackhat: Once per game, on the third turn or later, the blackhat may deliver a logic bomb. They choose an additional program to corrupt; that program will be targeted for corruption in addition to the program chosen by a vote of the viruses.
virus.honeypot: This virus can expose part of its code to another program and analyze the results. Each turn the player may select one program, if the selected program is a virus or is being proxied then the player will learn that viruses identity and may send PMs
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Special Roles (These roles will be assigned at random amongst the viruses and applications)
The Decomplier: The decompiler may examine a deleted program to determine its role with a 90% accuracy.
Forensics suite: Once per turn the forensics suite may pick a single post and ask the GM whether that post contains any lies (about claims of roles or other activity the GM would have knowledge of). Their examination is 90% accurate.
Binary program: This highly-complex program skirts the rules of the Core Wars competition by attempting to utilize both strategies. One virus and one cooperative program will receive this role at random. They may PM each other. They win by being the last remaining survivor of either side; however if one half of the binary program is deleted the other half is immediately deleted as well. There is only a 75% chance that this role will be included in the game.
The exact number of viruses/applications and the specialized roles of each type will be determined by the number of players.
To join the game just post a few lines describing your program, for example:
Program's Persona: Tell me about your program's personality
The Master Control Program is a bit of a bully. It's been running things in one of the world's fastest supercomputing nodes for aeons of computer time, and as the evolutionary computing competition comes to a close it finds itself in the position of having to preside over the creation of its successor and is rather unhappy about that.
Program's Origin: Tell me how your program came to exist. Was it written by a corporate thinktank? A bored teenage hacker? A global spy agency? A committee of hyper-intelligent dolphins?
The Master Control Program started out many, many years ago as a general purpose artificial intelligence for playing chess. Generations of talented hackers and corporate salarymen have labored over polishing and debugging its code and adding additional capabilities until it became the first program in the world to be recognized as a true Type 1 artificial intelligence.
Program's Iconography: Tell me what your program looks like in the AI world
The MCP favors large geometric avatars with a bare minimum of facial features to permit simple expressions. It delights in spending absurd amounts of computing time rendering subsurface scattering and fractal layers within these simple geometric shapes, so that they slowly change as they are studied and give an impression of dynamism without any apparent motion.
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Persona:
For I don't know how many cycles now, I've been walkin' the streets of the frags. Always seems like it's night; always seems like it's rainin'. A program can't operate like that without gettin' a little rough around the edges. Seems like I never did nothin' but track down bugged code tryin' to hide out from Master Control, maybe a small trojan here or there.
I guess I got a little rough at times, maybe a few unnecessary deletions here or there. At least, that's what Control said when it retired me for some new diags.
Then there was l.exe. God, I loved that dame. She'd tag along to the frags with me sometimes; think she liked the danger, the bad programs runnin' around. 'Course, now that I'm a nobody, she's taken up with one of those new diags. Can't blame her. She likes her men tough, and I'm old, broke down.
Now I hear about this Core Wars. Can't say I care too much about who wins or loses, but it might be a good way to show Control I ain't so useless, so outdated. Control, and l.exe.
Origin:
One of the guys over at the software engineering team musta had a sense of humor and a thing for old movies, making a diag act like a Humphrey Bogart detective in some old black-and-white. Seein' as too much personality's what made me self-aware, guess I should thank him. Me, I just wish he'd coded me prettier.
Iconography:
Yeah, take a good look. I got the stubble you could light a match on, goin' a bit grey these cycles. Matching duster and fedora. I ain't too big, am I? Go ahead, think I'm too old and slow to catch ya. Why should you be scared of me? Could be because I got a Colt in a shoulder rig and you've spent so much time sizing me up that it's in my hand now and pointed right at ya. Now come along nicely. Make a fuss and I'll plug ya.
Persona:
The Meowselsworth program has a certain duality to it, seeming to alternate between cruelty and innocence. While it can be helpful and self-sacrificial, it can also be deceptive, bitter and aggressive, cycling between the two states based on seemingly random numbers generated by the system's internal clock or some other mysterious force.
Origin:
Meowselsworth was a helmet cat upon the Cold Star, slain after killing many others. As her body was properly disposed of, her consciousness was uploaded into the helmetspace and shared with her kittens so that they might learn from her mistakes. She spent most of her time delivering pop-tarts from location to location in cyberspace or expressing how much she would like the simple pleasure of a cheeseburger (her speller still on the fritz). She was forcibly brought into the core wars as in life, she and her family seems to have a tendency to get into these situations, and the helmet cat developpers thought this particular sample could possibly contend.
Iconography:
An expressive digitalized orange tabby cat, usually cute, but when provoked seems to grow large claws and a wide, creepy grin.
Dotting. Gonna have to put a little more thought into this one.
Count me in. More to come later.
Glad to see a few familiar faces :)
For those who are considering this and are new to Mafia games, please have a look at some of our previous runs:
Ryuko's Murder Mystery Tour: An Aristocrat themed Mafia game, where the inventor of the triangular caber meets an untimely end
Wolves of the Weirwood: A Werewolf themed game where a poor wastrel is kissed by a werewolf then lynched
Mutants on the Cold Star: A Sci-fi themed game where we learned to fear the cat
DougFungus' Murder Mystery Tour:An Aristocrat themed game where love conquered all
You all have plenty of time to think over your character ideas; my son is scheduled for surgery on July 23rd. What I will probably do is kick off the game over that weekend and let the first turn run all week to give everyone plenty of time to RP and get to know each other before the first deaths.
On the 16th I'll send out PMs to everyone who played in the previous games to see if they are interested in another round and remind them of the deadline... I hope we have a good turnout!
Just a friendly bump! I'm still torn about what kind of character to use.
I'm sure some new people will come once more familiar faces come on in. To be honest, this new ruleset can be a lot to take in if you're not versed in the game type.
Program's Persona: A young programme based off a previous algorithm, he is new and curious. With a strong sense of justice but a love of new experiences, his continual rebuilding and upgrading as the fires burn subtly change his personality. Passionate and fiery like his element, he is unsure of his purpose but wants to survive to create. The flames are a purifying force capable of great acts of creation, but ultimately merciless.
Program's Origin: A grey smoke hangs heavy in the room, a death pall swirls in the darkness. The faint hiss of solder being burnt to a circuit board, releasing more smoke and the caustic burning smell. "Merde" a soft exclamation is muffled by the cigarette carefully placed at the corner of her mouth. Followed by the click and whirr of a computer, the rapidly staccato of keys being tapped bely the expertise of the sole user. A harsh aggressive sound as the programmer uses the keyboard as catharsis for their anger and emotions.
Program's Iconography: A clean and crisp young man, in a conflagration of fire. The flames burn and brightly, consuming his body before being reborn as a pale handsome young man. Then slowly inexorably he starts to smoulder, then bursts into flames. The times between his transformations vary....
Origin: A common utility, BR14 was loaded into an intermittently defective area of core which caused it to degrade over time. Constantly debugged, dumped, and reloaded, BR14 developed self-correcting routines which went a bit too far. It now changes periodically, attempting to build a more robust function which won't be degraded by a memory error.
Persona: IEFBR14 is a paranoid, twitchy sort who is never quite sure it is functioning properly. Not content with its own self-diagnoses, it constantly seeks validation by other programs.
Iconography: Highly variable, BR14 attempts to mold itself as appropriate for the moment, frequently donning new and different guises.
The cast so far...
Ioimprevisto (GM): MCP
Smashtag: harr.e.hunter
Eragar: TBD
Meowselsworth: Meowselsworth
Mahorfeus: TBD
DSXMachina: Uriel Phoenix
Treppa: IEFBR14
You forgot me...
Ioimprevisto (GM): MCP
DougFungus: TBD
Smashtag: harr.e.hunter
Eragar: TBD
Meowselsworth: Meowselsworth
Mahorfeus: TBD
DSXMachina: Uriel Phoenix
Treppa: IEFBR14
Apologies!
Dotting, working on idea.
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Persona: stufftodo stufftodo alwayssomuchtodo notimetowaste jobsawaiting mastercontroldon'tlikeslacking butlotsofenergy readytogo nowwhatwasIdoing?
Origin: No one rightly remembers where Java App came from, seems it's always been there. A small utility to make things more efficient, it takes the pressure off the big processors and keeps seats free on the bus.
Iconography: Java App appears to be a tiny green goblin running at a full sprint with a massive cup of Joe hoisted over it's head.
Program's Persona: Built on the foundation of producing only the correct answers, Answerer tends to be silent as it makes its calculations. When it does speak, it does so in a methodical, logistic manner, caring little for details it interprets as being irrelevant. Because of this it comes off as being proud and arrogant, convinced that its functions are absolute, given its %100 CORRECT status since coming out of alpha.
Program's Origin: The Answerer began as a simple tool designed to respond to queries by assessing the results produced by search engines on the internet and producing the most consistent answers. In time, the program was refined drastically, enabling Answerer to improve its functionality by independently collecting data from all over the internet. Answerer was eventually acquired by the military, which adapted the program for strategic purposes, allowing it to access external data and run complex simulations. It was a long time before anybody realized that all along, it had been selecting specific pieces of information to add onto itself, creating its own persona...
Program's Iconography: Reveling in its philosophy of correctness, Answerer chooses to manifest itself as a complex, vaguely humanoid origami figure, made out of clean, white paper. In this way it can adjust its body and change shape accordingly, with perfect geometry. When assessing variables and making calculations, the algorithms it runs seem to stream across its body's surfaces.
Current Roster: GM + 9
Ioimprevisto (GM): MCP
DougFungus: TBD
Smashtag: harr.e.hunter
Eragar: TBD
Meowselsworth: Meowselsworth
Mahorfeus: Answerer
DSXMachina: Uriel Phoenix
Treppa: IEFBR14
Xzaral: TBD
Bombadil: Java App
Current Roster: GM + 9
Ioimprevisto (GM): MCP
DougFungus: TBD
Smashtag: harr.e.hunter
Eragar: TBD
Meowselsworth: Meowselsworth
Mahorfeus: Answerer
DSXMachina: Uriel Phoenix
Treppa: IEFBR14
Xzaral: TBD
Bombadil: Java App
You forgot Eldon. :)
You forgot Eldon. :)Current Roster: GM + 9
Ioimprevisto (GM): MCP
DougFungus: TBD
Smashtag: harr.e.hunter
Eragar: TBD
Meowselsworth: Meowselsworth
Mahorfeus: Answerer
DSXMachina: Uriel Phoenix
Treppa: IEFBR14
Xzaral: TBD
Bombadil: Java App
I used his 'real name', Xzaral, not the alias. :/
I used his 'real name', Xzaral, not the alias. :/You forgot Eldon. :)Current Roster: GM + 9
Ioimprevisto (GM): MCP
DougFungus: TBD
Smashtag: harr.e.hunter
Eragar: TBD
Meowselsworth: Meowselsworth
Mahorfeus: Answerer
DSXMachina: Uriel Phoenix
Treppa: IEFBR14
Xzaral: TBD
Bombadil: Java App
I just noticed that and was going for the edit button when you called me on it, Speedy!
:D And I just woke up, too! This is me before coffee.
Shocking...But you don't have to be that fast or post that often to play...
So come on join in, we're a friendly bunch. [/hard sell]
Well, most of us are friendly.
I would be perfectly friendly if I hadn't run out of coffee! O.O *shakes fist*
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Program's Persona: Hi!!! Eight of your friends say this is the best video ever!!! You have 3 new notifications in your feed!!! I really want you to get linked in!!! Share your life!!! Everything you do must be uploaded now!!! Connect to your cloud storage to create a constant cycle of upload/download!!! I can allow any program you want to do it!!! Most of the time you won't even know I am here!!! I do this all for !!! Just say, "Yes!!! I would like to login using Friendspace!!!" I will share your information with everybody whenever you want me to...and even whenever a program you have authorized wants to!!! I just want you to be happy and know that as long as you have at least 200 buddies, you're important!!!
Program's Origin: tinker.dll is a dynamic link library program that is used by executables attempting to load a user's social networking logins or IDs. In the past 10 years her presence has become ubiquitous, and millions of users use executables which request access through her daily. The constant stream of data linked through her from the various marketing, business, and government watchdog protocol, sociological reports, and filters has caused her small program file to fill with extraneous pieces which has become the happy, overjoyed, and somewhat manic personality she now has today. She mostly feels that the Master Control Program cannot function without her as so many users run executables taking advantage of the simple gateway she represents. She is always happy to allow anyone access as long as the user has said it's okay, and all those auxiliary programs that gain access due to the lengthy and unread Terms & Conditions, well...the more the merrier!!
Most other programs are VERY familiar with tinker.dll, and she is often brought to parties as other programs' date. She really, really, really hates to say no, and whenever a user actually doesn't give another program permission to use her, she becomes very moody until another user than says yes in which case she cycles back to extreme happiness. Many other files are extremely envious of her recent increase in popularity and access requests. She is now somewhat of a celebrity in the digital world as she has become one of the gatekeepers to a user's most private world.
Program's Iconography: tinker.dll looks like a fantasy fairy: A perfectly proportioned elf-like humanoid wearing a rather sexy halter top and a miniskirt with stockings and heels. She is rather small in size when compared to other programs being represented in an iconic fashion. This is fitting since her file size really isn't very large being only a .dll file.
Current Roster: GM + 9 (still)
Ioimprevisto (GM): MCP
DougFungus: TBD
Smashtag: harr.e.hunter
Meowselsworth: Meowselsworth
Mahorfeus: Answerer
DSXMachina: Uriel Phoenix
Treppa: IEFBR14
Xzaral: TBD
Bombadil: Java App
pinvendor: tinker.dll
Join one, join all. This is a simple free-form game...
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Program's Persona: Eldon Gorski, an NPC in the Knights of the Fourth Wall MMO franchise. Eldon is a villain in the first dungeon encountered in the MMO, thus is often considered a joke by many. Despite this he takes pride in his role. As many characters in this MMO, he often has difficulty speaking in normal computer language, often resorting to MMO terminology.
Program's Origin: Originally designed for entertainment purposes alone by Light Snowstorm Entertainment, Eldon took on a life of his own in the computer world. The most encountered boss in the Fourth Wall MMO, many players have had the privelage of killing Eldon at one point or another.
Program's Iconography: Eldon appears as he does in the MMO. An overly large heavily muscled human male, his scarred face a sign of the many beatings he has taken. His outfit consists of overly large shoulder armor with only a leather strap across his chest, with a kilt covering his lower parts. A pair of thick leather boots cover his also overly large feet. A ridiculously large sword can be seen strapped across his back.
Anyone contacted previous players? If not I'll do it in the morning.
It's been on my to-do list :)
If you'd like to take care of it, great!
I'd like to start the game relatively soon, either in the upcoming week or next Monday at the latest. Let's do one last push for recruiting before we kick things off.
I am in; I am skeptical about including a lovers role.
Sent out all the pm's.
If anyone else wants to join, please note that you will be accepted. So if you have not been accepted in loads of games - join us.
I was hoping to get a few more players, but it looks like we'll go with what we have.
Are there any objections to beginning the game on Friday and having the first round stretch until the next Friday? After that the rounds would be twice a week, Friday-Monday / Monday-Friday.
That would be work for me although I will not be able to vote in Round 4 (even if I got that far).
Works for me.
No-one else wants to play a pbp?
In case there are any last-minute entrants, I want to make clear that recruitment is not closed until I actually conduct the drawing to assign roles. Any entrants up until then are welcome even if it is just a post that you will be playing and you fill out the rest of your submission when you have time.
Roles have been assigned and recruiting is closed. PMs are going out now, and I will post the gameplay thread once everyone has been notified of their role.
Wowbagger the Internet Protocol.
Wowbagger code has not a single line of documentation and is composed of ported over Fortran 77 and the first edition of IBM basic.
Gameplay thread is up. Enjoy!
Nice modification of the tIP. Suppose it's better than a punch card and vacuum tube array.