Michael Zyda

• Professor at University of Southern California

Given over 3.2 billion people game, including multiple generations of digital natives, we present the opportunity to use advancements in cognitive and perception-based metrology to transform any game into a recruiting tool for Gen Zs.

Generative artificial intelligence is starting a new industrial revolution that is global in scope. The global desire for that technology maybe has started Cold War 2.0.

In a previous “Games” column, I raised the question of whether OpenAI’s Sora could generate the complete Pixar animated film Toy Story. We discuss how to think about the computational requirements of such an endeavor.

Expensive attempts at solving the challenge of streaming AAA game content from the cloud have not been as successful as hoped. A new approach—streaming the underlying graphical assets and not pixels in frames—presents many opportunities.

Generative AI is all the rage for its ability to “imagine” artistic single images and 17-s “photorealistic” videos, without interacting with a single real artist. It looks cool but is currently just a parlor trick.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a miserable reputation regarding promises made and results delivered. Last century, there were many AI winters. The hype surrounding large language models and generative AI could join this trend, we do not hope.

The desire for the founding of a games industry in unserved parts of the world is growing dramatically. In this article, I discuss how to create a games industry where there is none.

The film industry is being changed dramatically by game and computing technologies. Soon there will be the position of chief scientist at all of the major film studios. This article discusses the scope of technology with which the chief scientist must portend.

The Metaverse is now just a software layer, and Neal Stephenson has nothing to say about it …

Gesture-based interactions have been widely applied in Human-Computer Interaction areas. As Extended Reality technology (XR) has grown rapidly, gesture has also grown in importance as a way of interaction in XR. Although there have been many efforts on gesture taxonomy in HCI, there is a lack of works that classify gestures focusing on their applic...

This month’s hubris: The Metaverse is dead, ChatGPT is the bomb diggity, and it’s TikTok’s Time of Tribulation.

With the recent pandemic, university professors got scant notice and instruction on how we would move to fully online teaching. We somehow survived Zoom and started questioning whether there was much future for universities seeing that we could do almost everything online in a virtual space.

One of the questions most often asked of me has always been, “How did you get here?” This is an attempt to explain the breadcrumb trail to my life as a professor.

The metaverse that is being created is starting from games but is not limited to games. There are scant educational programs to support this growing field. In this article, we propose the founding of The Metaverse University.

Virtual Reality (VR) enables users to interact with a simulated environment through a head-mounted device (HMD) and two hand controllers. These help in tracking the user’s head and hand locations and movements but have no references to the rest of the body. Though these movements can be tracked using additional equipment like trackers and bodysuits...

I am not an attorney but a professor of engineering practice who has a large amount of experience in the patent litigation space as an expert witness in the game and computing industry domains. This column covers my understanding of patents and some of my experiences as an expert witness.

This article describes research into computational human perception’s potential to be the core of a human-intelligent metaverse, a sensed world that interacts with our physical, emotional, and mental states.

The U.S. Army’s recruiting game, America’s Army, is shutting down after 20 years of operation. In this article, I reminisce about that game’s development and its purpose in support of recruiting.

We propose a multi-modal approach to manipulating smart home devices in a smart home environment simulated in virtual reality. Our multi-modal approach seeks to determine the user’s intent in the form of the user’s target smart home device and the desired action for that device to perform. We do this by examining information from two main modalitie...

The term ‘storage’ in real life typically refers to a container that occupies physical space, such as rooms, closets, warehouses, etc. Our interactions with items stored within are constrained by physics in real life. However, Virtual Reality allows us to ignore certain rules. Inspired by a Bag of Holding from Dungeons & Dragons and other entertain...

Virtual Equipment System is a system in extended reality that provides the user with equipment slots and equipment that serve as an interface for further interactions. The equipment slots are storage locations for equipment that is associated with the user spatially (egocentric). Due to the virtual nature of the system, these egocentric equipment s...

Text Entry is a significant topic in human-computer interaction in Virtual Reality. Most common text entry methods require users to interact with a 2D QWERTY keyboard in 3D space using a ray emitting from their hands or controllers. This requires the user’s head and hands to be in a specific position and orientation to do text entry. We propose a n...

The question most often asked of me at all levels is, “How do I get a position in the games industry?” I will attempt to answer this in the kindest way possible using my sage years of experience.

A long time ago, Bell Laboratories was the dream research position for many a computer scientist—new technologies were invented daily, with some of them even turning into products. Currently, the games industry has no real research organization developing the next generation technology for building games. In this article, we discuss how we should c...

A long time ago, Bell Laboratories was the dream research position for many a computer scientist—new technologies were invented daily, with some of them even turning into products. Currently, the games industry has no real research organization developing the next generation technology for building games. In this article, we discuss how we should c...

All of the different Metaversi currently cannot share your friends list, your avatar, or any in- game experience you have had. This needs to be engineered in from the start for the Metaverse to succeed.

Many people are wondering whether we can replace in-classroom teaching with educational games. In this column are my thoughts on this possibility.

In this, the second “Games” column, we look at the possibility of developing sensor-based games. We do this from a high level, pointing out that all the pieces exist but have not yet been put together.

The “Games” column is a new bimonthly column in Computer. The focus of this column is on new technology in and around the development of games.

Virtual Equipment System (VES) is a body-centric 3D User Interface design framework built to advance the development of interfaces that capitalize on user’s proprioception in immersive environments. In a previous poster paper submitted to HCII last year, we focused on the application of this framework in developing a series of virtually embodied in...

The game industry is moving into an era where old-style game engines are being replaced by re-engineered systems with embedded machine learning technologies for the operation , analysis and understanding of game play. In this paper, we describe our machine learning course designed for graduate students interested in applying recent advances of deep...

The game industry is moving into an era where old-style game engines are being replaced by re-engineered systems with embedded machine learning technologies for the operation, analysis and understanding of game play. In this paper, we describe our machine learning course designed for graduate students interested in applying recent advances of deep...

The game industry is moving into an era where old-style game engines are being replaced by re-engineered systems with embedded machine learning technologies for the operation, analysis and understanding of game play. In this paper, we describe our machine learning course designed for graduate students interested in applying recent advances of deep...

Sequential reasoning is a complex human ability, with extensive previous research focusing on gaming AI in a single continuous game, round-based decision makings extending to a sequence of games remain less explored. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), as a round-based game with abundant expert demonstrations, provides an excellent environmen...

Sequential reasoning is a complex human ability, with extensive previous research focusing on gaming AI in a single continuous game, round-based decision makings extending to a sequence of games remain less explored. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), as a round-based game with abundant expert demonstrations, provides an excellent environmen...

In this paper, we take the first step towards building comprehensive bots capable of playing a simplified version of League of Legends, a popular 5v5 online multiplayer game. We implement two different agents, one using Reinforcement Learning and the other via Supervised Long Short Term Memory Network. League of Legends provides a partially observa...

Sequential reasoning is a complex human ability, with extensive previous research focusing on gaming AI in a single continuous game, round-based decision makings extending to a sequence of games remain less explored. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), as a round-based game with abundant expert demonstrations, provides an excellent environmen...

Skeuomorphism in virtual reality can provide more than just visual cues for quick recognition, it can also provide spatial information. A Virtual Equipment System is a system that takes advantage of the spatial information from a user’s body by equipping them with virtual counterparts of common wearables. It provides ways to quickly adjust a suite...

Analyzing player experience often requires collecting lots of gameplay data from human players, which is labor-intensive. In this paper, we present an approach to classify player experience using AI agents. A deep Reinforcement AI agent is deployed to learn abstract representation of game states. Then, machine learning models are trained with the a...

Player-Game interaction can be viewed as a sequence of game events between game systems and players. In each event, a piece of information (for example, a game challenge) is presented to the player, and the player responds to that information by executing proper in-game actions. Since different games have different systems and mechanics, it is diff...

In this article, the authors discuss the development of the SUDAN GAME, an interactive model of the country in the time period leading up to the Sudanese referendum on the secession of the South. While many simulations are designed to educate about their subjects, the SUDAN GAME is intended to be a prototype for policy making via gameplay. It is im...

The community aspects of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) are an exciting opportunity for studying social and behavioral models. For that purpose we have developed Cosmopolis, an MMOG designed to appeal to a wide variety of player types, and that contains several key research-oriented features. The course of development has revealed sever...

Human error is one of the most common causes of vulnerability in a secure system. However it is often overlooked when these systems are tested, partly because human tests are costly and very hard to repeat. We have developed a community of agents that test secure systems by running standard windows software while performing collaborative group task...

Since the reinvigoration of emotions research, many computational models of emotion have been developed. None of these models, however, fully address the integration of emotion generation and emotional effect in the context of cognitive processes. This paper seeks to unify various models of computational emotions while fully integrating with work d...

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), in their aspect as online communities, represent an exciting opportunity for studying social and behavioral models. For that purpose we have developed Cosmopolis, a free MMOG containing several key research-oriented features. First, Cosmopolis consists of an outer game for larger-scale social modeling, as...

A critical part of social science is the development of new theory to explain social interactions and the formation and uses of social networks. Paired with this problem is that of testing such theory to ensure its validity. These problems are hampered by a lack of operationalized concepts in human interactions (e.g. identifying a "unit" of knowled...

The role played by computer science in the transition from information age to conceptual age in the US is discussed. It is essential to change the direction of the field or continue an unwelcome slide toward irrelevance in the conceptual age. The conceptual age of technology is defined by cognitive and creative assets, with the design side being be...

The WarPipe massively multiplayer online game engine promises to enhance games and more serious applications.

The use of speech recognition in gaming applications is not entirely new. The growth of voice as a part of gaming has exploded largely due to the popularity of online player matchmaking services such as Xbox Live. Yet, the majority of its use is only limited to communications between players to coordinate game play activities through the use of a h...

Massively multiplayer online games (MMO) are at the height of interest and growing in popularity in the commercial video game market. New development studios are vying for the position of top MMO, both in the number of users and market value. Recently, interest in online games has entered the realm of educational practitioners and researchers. It w...

The USC Department of Computer Science is in its second year of operating its BS in Computer Science (Games) and MS in Computer Science (Game Development) degree programs. We have developed an interesting educational architecture inside of that degree program that allows the students to become strong game developers, strong computer scientists, str...

Summary form only given. Networked and mobile entertainment requires an R&D agenda that has importance for both the entertainment and serious games industries. In this presentation, we will discuss that research agenda including infrastructure, network and mobile games; cognition and games, MMOG analysis and interaction; immersion, novel input devi...

Mobile gaming is one of the fastest growing segments in the video game industry. The $680 million acquisition of JAMDAT by Electronic Arts to form EA Mobile in 2006 is indicative of how lucrative this seg- ment is becoming to game development and publishing companies. The attraction lies in the huge, accessible market of mobile phones: it is estima...

The current revolution in videogaming used for both entertainment and serious purposes engenders a strong requirement that we advance the state of the art of game technology and design through our university research and education programs. To make this happen, many universities have begun new degree programs focused on game design and development....

During the past decades, the virtual reality community has based its development on a synthesis of earlier work in interactive 3D graphics, user interfaces, and visual simulation. Currently, the VR field is transitioning into work influenced by video games. Because much of the research and development being conducted in the games community parallel...

Program managers want games for their next training simulator or combat-modeling system. Corporations want their messaging put forward in game form. These desires are sharpened by the enormously successful career of the America's Army game, the first "serious" large-scale game ever produced. In this chapter, we discuss why people want their next-ge...

Summary form only given. The MOVES Institute's mission is research, application and education in the grand challenges of modeling, virtual environments and simulation (MOVES). The institute's focus is on 3D visual simulation, networked virtual environments, computer-generated autonomy, human performance engineering, immersive technologies, defense/...

Event management must balance consistency and responsiveness above the requirements of shared object interaction within a Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) system. An understanding of the event traffic during collaborative tasks helps in the design ...

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This presents the latest design and implementation of the magnetic, angular rate, and gravity (MARG) sensor module. The MARG sensor module is designed for measuring 3-DOF orientations in real time without singularities. Each MARG sensor contains orthogonally mounted triads of micromachined rate sensors, accelerometers, and magnetometers for a total...

Maximum 200 words.) The MOVES Institute s Computer-Generated Autonomy Group has focused on a research goal of modeling intensely complex and adaptive behavior while at the same time making the behavior far easier to create and control. This research has led to five new techniques for agent construction, which include a social and organization relat...

How is it that nothing more than a bunch of drawings --- each slightly different than the last --- can make us laugh, or bring us to tears? The answer lies in our own internal wiring, as well as a bag of tricks developed by actors, craftsmen, and animators ...

If you go strictly by the number of young adults playing it at all hours, it's a success. But how does America's Army, the US Army's free PC game strategic communications tool, fare in the real world of costs and benefits? The answer is gratifying and the quality is award winning.

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First Page of the Article

Emotion is a key component for sound design in movies and videogames. We believe that it is also a key component in virtual environments and simulation. The following paper summarizes work at the MOVES Institute's Immersive Audio Laboratory which demonstrates the emotional impact of sound in interactive media and also shows that emotionality evoked...

In 1997, the National Research Council issued a report indicating the possibility of joint research between the Department of Defense and the entertainment industry. Since that time, the Moves Institute and other research organizations have adopted the research agenda specified and attempted to fulfill the report's promise. The "America's Army" PC...

maximum 200 words) The Department of Defense relies on modeling and simulation for a variety of purposes, including joint exercise training, developing and evaluating doctrine and tactics, and studying weapon system effectiveness. Advances in technology have made the achievement of technically and visually accurate simulations possible, but little...

This report contains project summaries of the research projects in the Institute for Defense Systems Engineering and Analysis (IDSEA), Institute for Information Superiority and Innovation (1251) and The Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation (MOVES) Institute. A list of recent publications is also included, which consists of conference prese...

The High Level Architecture's (HLA) Data Distribution Management (DDM) services are the most recent in a succession of systems designed to reduce the amount of data received by individual simulations in large-scale distributed simulations. A common optimization in these interest management systems is the use of multicast groups for sending data to...

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Rigid body orientation can be determined without the aid of a generated source using nine-axis MARG (Magnetic field, Angular Rate, and Gravity) sensor unit containing three orthogonally mounted angular rate sensors, three orthogonal linear accelerometers and three orthogonal magnetometers. This paper describes a quaternion-based complementary filte...

This paper presents an extended Kalman filter for real-time estimation of rigid body orientation using the newly developed MARG (Magnetic, Angular Rate, and Gravity) sensors. Each MARG sensor contains a three-axis magnetometer, a three-axis angular rate sensor, and a three-axis accelerometer. The filter represents rotations using quaternions rather...

Emotion is a key component for sound design in movies and videogames. We believe that it is also a key component in virtual environments and simulation. The following paper summarizes work at the MOVES Institute's Immersive Audio Laboratory which demonstrates the emotional impact of sound in interactive media and also shows that emotionality evoked...

The availability of inexpensive and powerful graphics cards as well as fast Internet connections make Networked Virtual Environments viable for millions of users and many new applications. It is therefore necessary to cope with the growing heterogeneity that arises from differences in computing power, network speed and users' preferences. This pape...

The availability of inexpensive and powerful graphics cards as well as fast Internet connections make Networked Virtual Environments viable for millions of users and many new applications. It is therefore necessary to cope with the growing heterogeneity ...

This report contains project summaries of the research projects in the Interdisciplinary Academic Groups: Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence; Information Systems; Information Warfare; Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation; Space Systems; Special Operations; and Undersea Warfare. A list of recent publications is als...

Maximum 200 words)14. SUBJECT TERMS17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATIONOF REPORT18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATIONOF THIS PAGE19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATIONOF ABSTRACT15. NUMBER OF PAGES16. PRICE CODE20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT5. FUNDINGiiMcGhee, Robert B., Bachmann, Eric R., and Zyda, Michael J.