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        Arimaa >> Off Topic Discussion >> The ICGA
        
(Message started by: Stanley on Nov 22^nd, 2006, 1:58pm)

Title: The ICGA
Post by Stanley on Nov 22^nd, 2006, 1:58pm

The 2007 Arimaa Challenge specification mentions: "If a program wins the Arimaa challenge, it must be described in a paper submitted to the ICGA technical journal after winning the challenge in order to receive any prize."

I googled ICGA and found ..

1. Illinois Corn Growers Association
2. Islamic Center of Greater Austin
3. Independent Craft Galleries Association
4. Irish Colleges Golf Association (ICGA)

.. then ..

5. International Conference on Genetic Algorithms

that's closer, and ..

.. The International Computer Games Association. (Funny, I have never seen that before and I am in the game development business.)

(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Computer_Games_Association)

Their website http://www.icga.org/ returns a PHP error.

* Is this the place?
* How long does the selection process take?
* What happens if the paper is not selected?

This condition may be impossible to accomplish even if the author has good will. I suggest it should be changed by something more "accomplishable", such as: "The author must provide a description of the program in English including, at least, pseudocode of the main program structure and the explanation of all innovative ideas. That paper may be reproduced freely and will be available at the Arimaa website." As it is now, it may be interpreted as something that may make the price unclaimable even if the challenge is won.

My 2 cents.

Title: Re: The ICGA
Post by Fritzlein on Nov 23^rd, 2006, 10:35am

on 11/22/06 at 13:58:55, Stanley wrote:

Yes, that's the one.

Quote:

Their website http://www.icga.org/ returns a PHP error.

That's weird. I've never before had trouble visiting www.cs.unimaas.nl/icga/journal/ but now I am getting a "page not found" error. I wonder if they lost their sponsor or something. Maybe Omar will have to find a new technical journal...

Quote:

* What happens if the paper is not selected?

Don't worry about that. They would love to have a paper about the bot that wins the Computer Championship, even if it doesn't win the Arimaa Challenge. As an example of how inclusive their standards are, last year they accepted my general tournament report on the 2006 Arimaa Computer Championship, even though it contained hardly any technical information. If some program actually won the Arimaa Challenge, they would be desperately eager to get their hands on a technical description of the winning program. If the ICGAJ still exists, that is...

Quote:

This condition may be impossible to accomplish even if the author has good will. I suggest it should be changed by something more "accomplishable", such as: "The author must provide a description of the program in English including, at least, pseudocode of the main program structure and the explanation of all innovative ideas. That paper may be reproduced freely and will be available at the Arimaa website." As it is now, it may be interpreted as something that may make the price unclaimable even if the challenge is won.

Good point. I don't think it is a practical issue, but in theory the ability to claim the prize should be in the bot author's hands.