Abstract
Format-Store is a serious game application designed for training salesmen and managers in the context of a retail store or a larger supermarket. In this paper, we argue that a relevant way to train a salesperson to their daily activities (e.g. customer relationship management, store management and stock control) consists in immersing them in a 3d environment populated with realistic virtual customers. The first part of this paper presents the multiagent approach we apply to the design of the intelligent customers. Specifically, we analyse the contribution of the interaction-oriented methodology Ioda in facilitating the conception of a game for non computer-scientists by means of a user-friendly design tool and the automated implementation of the conceptual model. The second part describes the organisation of the game around scenarios modelled with respect to the pedagogical requirements. We discuss how the multiagent simulation is wrapped by several modules for the purpose of controlling the learning experience of the player.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Arthur, W.J., Holland, B., LeBaron, R., Palmer, T.P.: Asset pricing under endougenous expectations in an artificial stock market. Economic Notes 26, 297–330 (1997)
Bonabeau, E.: Agent-based modeling: methods and techniques for simulating human systems. In: Proc. National Academy of Sciences, vol. 99, pp. 7280–7287 (2001)
Bousquet, F., Le Page, C.: Multi-agent simulations and ecosystem management: a review. Ecological Modelling 176(3-4), 313–332 (2004)
Brooks, R.A.: Intelligence without reason. In: Proceedings of the 1991 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pp. 569–595 (1991)
Desmeulles, G., Bonneaud, S., Redou, P., Rodin, V., Tisseau, J.: In-virtuo experiments based on the multi-interaction system framework: the RéISCOP meta-model. CMES, Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences (2009)
Epstein, J.M., Axtell, R.: Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up. Brookings Institution Press, Washington (1996)
Gibson, J.J.: The ecological approach to visual perception, Hillsdale, New Jersey, London (1979)
Kolb, D.A.: Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey (1984)
Kubera, Y., Mathieu, P., Picault, S.: Everything can be agent! In: der Hoek, et al. (eds.) Proceedings of the 9th International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, Toronto, pp. 1547–1548 (2010)
Kubera, Y., Mathieu, P., Picault, S.: IODA: an interaction-oriented approach for multi-agent based simulations. Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent systems (JAAMAS) 23(3), 303–343 (2011)
Kubera, Y., Mathieu, P., Picault, S.: Interaction-oriented agent simulations : From theory to implementation. In: Ghallab, M., Spyropoulos, C., Fakotakis, N., Avouris, N. (eds.) Proceedings of the 18th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI 2008), pp. 383–387. IOS Press (2008)
Maïm, J., Haegler, S., Yersin, B., Müller, P., Thalmann, D., Van Gool, L.: Populating Ancient Pompeii with Crowds of Virtual Romans. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archeology and Cultural Heritage - VAST (2007)
O’Sullivan, C., Cassell, J., Vilhjalmsson, H., Dingliana, J., Dobbyn, S., McNamee, B., Peters, C., Giang, T.: Levels of detail for crowds and groups. Computer Graphics Forum 21(4), 733–742 (2002)
Panzoli, D., Peters, C., Dunwell, I., Sanchez, S., Petridis, P.: Levels of Interaction: A User-Guided Experience in Large-Scale Virtual Environments. In: Proceedings of the Second Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES 2010), Braga, Portugal, March 25–26, pp. 87–90 (2010)
Querrec, R., Reignier, P., Chevaillier, P.: Humans and autonomous agents interactions in a virtual environment for fire figthing training. In: Virtual Reality International Conference, pp. 57–63 (2001)
Rao, A.S., Georgeff, M.P.: Modeling rational agents within a bdi-architecture. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, pp. 473–484 (1991)
Resnick, M.: Turtles, Termites and Traffic Jams. Explorations in Massively Parallel Microworlds. MIT Press, Cambridge (1994)
Reynolds, C.W.: Flock, herds ans schools: a distributed behavioural model. In: SIGGRAPH 1987. Computer Graphics, vol. 21(4), pp. 25–34. ACM Press, Anaheim (1987)
Shao, W., Terzopoulos, D.: Autonomous pedestrians. Graph. Models 69(5-6), 246–274 (2007)
Shoham, Y.: Agent oriented programming. Journal of Artificial Intelligence 60(1), 51–92 (1993)
Singh, M.P.: Conceptual Modeling for Multiagent Systems: Applying Interaction-Oriented Programming. In: Goos, G., Hartmanis, J., van Leeuwen, J., Chen, P., Akoka, J., Kangassalu, H., Thalheim, B. (eds.) Conceptual Modeling. LNCS, vol. 1565, pp. 195–210. Springer, Heidelberg (1999)
Vygotsky, L.: Mind in Society. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1978)
Wooldridge, M., Jennings, N.R.: Intelligent Agents: Theory and Practice. Knowledge Engineering Review (1994)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mathieu, P., Panzoli, D., Picault, S. (2013). Virtual Customers in a Multiagent Training Application. In: Pan, Z., Cheok, A.D., Müller, W., Liarokapis, F. (eds) Transactions on Edutainment IX. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7544. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37042-7_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37042-7_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-37041-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-37042-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)