TY - GEN
T1 - May the best man win
T2 - 2011 Winter Simulation Conference, WSC 2011
AU - Ryzhov, Ilya O.
AU - Tariq, Awais
AU - Powell, Warren B.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - We consider the problem of automated match-making in a competitive online gaming service. Large numbers of players log on to the service and indicate their availability. The system must then find an opponent for each player, with the objective of creating competitive, challenging games that do not heavily favour either side, for as many players as possible. Existing mathematical models for this problem assume that each player has a skill level that is unknown to the game master. As more games are played, the game master's belief about player skills evolves according to a Bayesian learning model, allowing the game master to adaptively improve the quality of future games as information is being collected. We propose a new decision-making policy in this setting, based on the knowledge gradient concept from the literature on optimal learning. We conduct simulations to demonstrate the potential of this policy.
AB - We consider the problem of automated match-making in a competitive online gaming service. Large numbers of players log on to the service and indicate their availability. The system must then find an opponent for each player, with the objective of creating competitive, challenging games that do not heavily favour either side, for as many players as possible. Existing mathematical models for this problem assume that each player has a skill level that is unknown to the game master. As more games are played, the game master's belief about player skills evolves according to a Bayesian learning model, allowing the game master to adaptively improve the quality of future games as information is being collected. We propose a new decision-making policy in this setting, based on the knowledge gradient concept from the literature on optimal learning. We conduct simulations to demonstrate the potential of this policy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84858016029&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1109/WSC.2011.6148111
DO - 10.1109/WSC.2011.6148111
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84858016029
SN - 9781457721083
T3 - Proceedings - Winter Simulation Conference
SP - 4234
EP - 4245
BT - Proceedings of the 2011 Winter Simulation Conference, WSC 2011
Y2 - 11 December 2011 through 14 December 2011
ER -