Introduction to the special issue on games: Structure and learning

The universality of strategy games suggests that they reflect some basic insights into the nature of human intelligence. Computer game playing continues to be a central concern because it addresses the fundamental issues in artificial intelligence. Furthermore, the multi-agent nature of games makes game playing an excellent forum for addressing core issues such as contingency planning and reasoning about actions and plans of other agents, while competition between programs and with humans provides useful benchmarks and encourages progress. Some of the recent innovative works by a broad spectrum of researchers and practitioners are described. These works indicate three different approaches to computer game playing.