Computing Reviews
Today's Issue Hot Topics Search Browse Recommended My Account Log In
Review Help
Search
D-Brane: a diplomacy playing agent for automated negotiations research
de Jonge D., Sierra C. Applied Intelligence47 (1):158-177,2017.Type:Article
Date Reviewed: Sep 7 2017

Diplomacy is a board game conceived in the 1950s, set in Europe before World War I. Two to seven players control the armed forces of major European powers, establishing and betraying alliances through negotiation and movement actions. Among its fans were players with major diplomacy and literary credentials, such as John F. Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Isaac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury. Computer-based versions were introduced in the 1980s, and variations are now also available on mobile devices. It has been used as a testbed for multiagent systems, but the need to incorporate multiple aspects like constraint satisfaction, coalition formation, game theory, trust, and psychology make it much harder for computers than board games like chess and Go.

The authors propose to use Diplomacy as a testbed for automated negotiations and introduce a Diplomacy agent that won the first international Computer Diplomacy Challenge in 2015. Its modular design allows the separation of negotiation algorithms from game-playing strategies, thus enabling others to experiment with different approaches to negotiation. The paper contains a formal specification of a simplified Diplomacy version (a more thorough one is in an appendix); describes the design and implementation of the diplomacy-playing agent, D-Brane; and analyzes its performance based on a set of experiments. These experiments test various configurations of D-Brane against other Diplomacy agents, with D-Brane scoring significantly better than the others. In the Computer Diplomacy Challenge in 2015, D-Brane soundly beat three other participants.

While it is tempting to examine D-Brane against human players, or its potential to support real-life diplomacy negotiations, this is probably premature. As a framework for testing out negotiation strategies within the game, it can be very valuable for researchers and Diplomacy players. And maybe it can also be used to assess the validity of negotiation strategies described by a self-proclaimed master negotiator in The art of the deal [1].

Reviewer:  Franz Kurfess Review #: CR145526 (1711-0748)
1) Trump, D.; Schwartz, T. The art of the deal. Warner Books, New York, NY, 1978.
Bookmark and Share
  Featured Reviewer  
 
Games (I.2.1 ... )
 
 
Constrained Optimization (G.1.6 ... )
 
 
Gaming (I.6.8 ... )
 
 
Applications (I.6.3 )
 
Would you recommend this review?
yes
no
Other reviews under "Games": Date
How computers play chess
Levy D. (ed), Newborn M., Computer Science Press, Inc., New York, NY, 1991. Type: Book (9780716782391)
Oct 1 1991
Computer chess
Pachman L., Kühnmund V., Routledge&Kegan Paul Ltd., London, UK, 1986. Type: Book (9789780710097859)
Oct 1 1987
Sums of games born on Days 2 and 3
Moews D. Theoretical Computer Science 91(1): 119-128, 1991. Type: Article
Feb 1 1993
more...

E-Mail This Printer-Friendly
Send Your Comments
Contact Us
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.   Copyright 1999-2024 ThinkLoud®
Terms of Use
| Privacy Policy