Play 'Star Trek' 20Q

TrekToday · June 18 2008, 03:35 AM

Star Trek fans can help make the programmed AI for the hand-held "mind-reading" 20Q game smarter.

As reported by TrekMovie.com, the online version of the game is designed to help in designing the hand-held version and to give the artificial intelligence engine that runs the hand-held game more details about Star Trek so that it can improve the hand-held version.

The game starts out by asking the player to think of a sentient being, place or thing from the Star Trek world. It then asks the player questions in hopes of gaining sufficient information for the AI to "guess" about what place, thing, or being had been chosen by the player.

If the game beats the player, it says "I win! Another mind read. Who's next!" and it will list questions where the player's answer was different that that of the majority of players. If the player beats the AI, the message is "I didn't get it! How human of me. You win!" and as with the other case, it will list the questions where the player's answer differed with that of the majority.

To read more, head to the article located here. The website for the game can be found here.

ElimParra · June 18 2008, 04:34 AM

Loads of fun. Beat it two times out of three.

AdmiralGarak · June 18 2008, 04:53 AM

Cool!

Somebody's been feeding this thing some dumb answers, though. It's telling me that, according to other participants, Morn would never do business with a Ferengi! Huh???

AdmiralGarak · June 18 2008, 05:17 AM

You are Rom.
...
2. Has it ever been married? You said Yes, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.

This thing's been taught by idiots!

AntonyF · June 18 2008, 08:43 AM

I did Empok Nor and it got it within 17 questions, so I was impressed by that. Although it called it "The Empok Nor". It also told me it was a place, I selected a thing. I guess both are right.

Pioneer · June 18 2008, 10:29 AM

Yep. It's got GIGO problems and there's no way to fix it. No edit function for the IQ automaton.

Pindar · June 18 2008, 03:47 PM

What a stupidly wrong annoying game.

tomalak301 · June 19 2008, 04:51 AM

I wonder who else has done this. I just did the Enterprise C and there are some really wrong answers like:

It's it Brave? you said Yes, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.

Ha?

Dale · June 19 2008, 06:53 AM

Dude... a ship isn't brave. A crew is brave.

The thing has been pretty grossly misinformed, though.

Locutus of Bored · June 19 2008, 09:27 AM

It got Risa in 22 questions. Unfortunately some people seem to be answering only yes or no to questions you can't possibly know the answer to, and incorrectly or overly literally to others.

People said Risa wasn't involved in the Dominion War or any war for that matter. Well, there's no way to know that, and technically as part of the Federation they were peripherally involved at the very least. I said maybe, but most others said no.

It asked if Risa was a good negotiator. I said maybe, but most people said no. Again, how can we know one way or another?

But when asked if it ever compromised the crew's safety, I said sometimes while most people said no. While, obviously the planet itself didn't compromise the crew's safety (but the test was already geared towards asking place questions, so that's irrelevant), in all three episodes revolving around Risa, the crew that were on the planet were placed in some sort of jeopardy.

Considering there was an entire episode revolving around it achieving "paradise" through technological means that were sabotaged by a neo-luddite movement, I took that as being a sign that it was sometimes mechanically inclined, but most people said no.

You are Risa.

1. Was it involved in the Dominion War? You said Maybe, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.

2. Is it a good negotiator? You said Maybe, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.

3. Did it ever compromise a crew's safety? You said Sometimes, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.

4. Is it mechanically inclined? You said Sometimes, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.

5. Has it ever been involved in a war? You said Maybe, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.

tomalak301 · June 19 2008, 09:42 AM

Dale Hoppert wrote:

Dude... a ship isn't brave. A crew is brave.

The thing has been pretty grossly misinformed, though.

Says you. I look at it as the Ship is just as part of the crew as anyone else. I mean you always had Kirk or Janeway have a special bond to either the Enterprise or Voyager, so the ship is the embodiment of everything. Under that premise, I would think a ship that goes into war and comes out of it changing history to avert war (Or goes back through a temporal rift to restore history) is brave.

Dale · June 19 2008, 11:37 AM

Anthropomorphism. A ship is inanimate, a big machine. You're welcome to your (incorrect) opinion, though.

Locutus of Bored · June 19 2008, 12:14 PM

Dale Hoppert wrote:

Anthropomorphism. A ship is inanimate, a big machine. You're welcome to your (incorrect) opinion, though.

The problem is, it's asking questions like "Is it brave?" after he already specified up front that it's a thing, not a sentient being, which leads to confusion because the person responding can interpret it as "Was the ship involved in a brave act?" It really needs separate questions geared towards each individual category.

AdmiralGarak · June 19 2008, 01:10 PM

Locutus of Bored wrote:

It got Risa in 22 questions. Unfortunately some people seem to be answering only yes or no to questions you can't possibly know the answer to, and incorrectly or overly literally to others.

Those are annoying enough, but there are some real fundamental flaws that make the make the questioning rather dumb.

First of all, plenty of answers are completely wrong.
Is Sisko mechanically adept? No -- Except for the fact that he built an entire solar sailing ship as a hobby.

Has Gorkon ever been caught telling a lie? Yes -- Hell if I know when, though.

Would Kor make a good captain? No -- Apparently Martok answered that one.

Does Sarek appreciate music? No -- Sure could have fooled me.

Second of all, the questioning is too random.

Sentient being:
Is it human? -- Yes
Is it reliable with a phaser? Yes
Can it fit in a cargo bay? -- Err... yeah.
Can it be trusted with a phaser? -- You already asked that, dammit.
Is it programmable? -- Whaa... ???
Can it be used to harm somebody? -- I s'pose.
Does it wear a red shirt? -- Yes!
I'm guessing it is Harry Kim. -- You've got to be kidding me.
Is it a planet? -- NO!!! {Head desk}
I'm guessing it is Galorndon Core. -- Yes. Yes, it is Galorndon Core. Good work.

Placebo · June 23 2008, 03:32 PM

I liked the game actually

it's a bit unorthodox asking quirky and sometimes irrelevant questions, but the funny thing is that it still guessed Mr. Homn o_O

Looking through their website I also discovered they have a Dr. Who game under Think in Canadian which didn't seem to show up under Think in American section....