Massively multiple online role playing games as normative multiagent systems

The latest advancements in computer games offer a domain of human and artificial agent behaviour well suited for analysis and development based on normative multi agent systems research. One of the most influential gaming trends today, Massively Multi Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG), poses new questions about the interaction between the players in the game. If we model the players and groups of players in these games as multiagent systems with the possibility to create norms and sanction norm violations we have to create a way to describe the different kind of norms that may appear in these situations. Certain situations in MMORPG are subject to discussions about how norms are created and propagated in a group, one such example involves the sleeper in the game Everquest, from Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). The Sleeper was at first designed to be unkillable, but after some events and some considerations from SOE the sleeper was finally killed. The most interesting aspect of the story about the sleeper is how we can interpret the norms being created in this example. We propose a framework to analyse the norms involved in the interaction between players and groups in MMORPG. We argue that our model adds complexity where we find earlier norm typologies lacking some descriptive power of this phenomenon, and we can even describe and understand the confusing event with the sleeper in Everquest

Towards a Design Framework for Controlled Hybrid Social Games

We propose a framework for designing and deploying games where social behaviour is kept under control. This framework may also be used for designing other dynamic coordinated social spaces.We would like to thank the referees for their comments which helped improve this paper. This research was partly funded by SINTELNET FET Open Coordinated Action (FP7-ICT-2009-C Project No. 286370) and Consolider AT project CSD2007-0022 INGENIO 2010 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.Peer Reviewe

Employee shirking and overworking:modelling the unintended consequences of work organisation

Underworking (i.e. shirking) and overworking of employees can have detrimental effects for the individual and the organisation. We develop a computational model to investigate how work structure, specifically the way in which managers distribute work tasks amongst employees, impacts work intensity and working time. The model draws on theories from economics, psychology and management, and on empirical observations. The simulations show that when managers correctly estimate task difficulty, but undervalue the employee’s competence, opportunities for shirking are provided due to longer deadlines. Similarly, if managers overvalue the employee’s competence, they set tighter deadlines leading to overwork. If task difficulty is misjudged, initially only influence on employee working time is observed. However, it gradually generates competence misjudgements, indirectly impacting the employee’s effort level. An interaction between competence misjudgement and task uncertainty slows the manager’s ability to correctly estimate employee competence and prolongs initial competence misjudgements. The study highlights the importance of applying dynamic modelling methods, which allows for testing theory assumptions in silico, generating new hypotheses and offers a foundation for future research. Practitioner summary: A computational model was developed to investigate how the structure of work allocation influences opportunities for shirking and overworking by employees. The paper demonstrates how dynamic modelling can be used to explain workplace phenomena and develop new hypotheses for further research. Abbreviations: KSA: knowledge, skills, attitudes; MIT: motivation intensity theory

Exploring tensions in Responsible AI in practice. An interview study on AI practices in and for Swedish public organizations

The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems has sparked discussions regarding developing ethically responsible technology. Consequently, various organizations have released high-level AI ethics frameworks to assist in AI design. However, we still know too little about how AI ethics principles are perceived and work in practice, especially in public organizations. This study examines how AI practitioners perceive ethical issues in their work concerning AI design and how they interpret and put them into practice. We conducted an empirical study consisting of semi-structured qualitative interviews with AI practitioners working in or for public organizations. Taking the lens provided by the In-Action Ethics framework and previous studies on ethical tensions, we analyzed practitioners’ interpretations of AI ethics principles and their application in practice. We found tensions between practitioners’ interpretation of ethical principles in their work and ethos tensions. In this vein, we argue that understanding the different tensions that can occur in practice and how they are tackled is key to studying ethics in practice. Understanding how AI practitioners perceive and apply ethical principles is necessary for practical ethics to contribute toward an empirically grounded, Responsible AI

The Challenge of Artificial Socio-Cognitive Systems

This paper is an invitation to carry out science and engineering for a class of socio-technical systems where individuals ¿ who may be human or artificial entities ¿ engage in purposeful collective interactions within a shared web-mediated social space. We put forward a characterisation of these systems and introduce some conceptual distinctions that may help to plot the work ahead. In particular, we propose a tripartite view that highlights the interplay between the institutional models that prescribe the behaviour of participants, the corre- sponding implementation of these prescriptions and the actual performance of the system. Building on this tripartite view we explore the problem of developing a conceptual framework for modelling this type of systems and how that framework can be supported by technological artefacts that implement the resulting models. The last section of this position paper is a list of challenges that we believe are worth facing. This work draws upon the contributions that the MAS community has made to the understanding and realization of the concepts of coordination, norms and institutions from an organisational perspective.The authors wish to acknowledge the support of SINTELNET (FET Open Coordinated Action FP7-ICT-2009-C Project No. 286370) in the writing of this paper.Peer Reviewe

07122 Abstracts Collection -- Normative Multi-agent Systems

From 18.03.07 to 23.03.07, the Dagstuhl Seminar 07122 ``Normative Multi-agent Systems\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Design heuristics for ethical online institutions

A major challenge in AI is designing autonomous systems that capture the values of stakeholders, and do so in such away that one can assess the extent to which that system’s behaviour is aligned to those values. In this paper we discuss our response to this challenge that is both practical and built on clear principles. Specifically, we propose eleven heuristics to organise the process of making values operational in the design of particular class of AI systems called online institutions. These are governed systems of interacting communities of human and autonomous artificial agents

Ten Challenges for Normative Multiagent Systems

In this paper we discuss the shift from a legal to an interactionist view on normative multiagent systems, examples, and ten new challenges in this more dynamic setting

Reconsidering the Geographical Flows of the Global Knowledge Economy The Example of Indian ICT-Based Knowledge Flows to Sweden

Abstrac

Towards a Design Framework for Controlled Hybrid Social Games

We propose a framework for designing and deploying games where social behaviour is kept under control. This framework may also be used for designing other dynamic coordinated social spaces