Visual Simulators – A graphic window lets us observe and play with systems. Dots are agents that interact dynamically. You adjust parameters, run a simulation, and watch patterns emerge as a multitude of various agents interact.

Immersive Games – We explore immersive virtual worlds - table-top based, on the Internet and in video games. Try EverQuest, The Sims or Halo. In multi-player worlds, people engage in commerce, war, careerism and relationships.

Humanistic Agents – Agents like Truman use speech, facial expressions and social conventions. You program the behaviors. Human-like agents do inference, planning, gossip, etc to engage human users or other agents.

Live Simulations – Like Survivor or The Real World, you participate in constructed or open-ended situations. Participants often start with few rules and take roles. You experience systems phenomena personally first-hand.

Media Inspiration – Film, art, novels and other media imaginatively explore cutting-edge themes. The Matrix and Dark City are just two films about agents in virtual worlds. We discover possibilities and consequences.

Phenomenological Research - We use interviews, film and other methods to capture the long-term behavior of complex multi-agent systems such as the formation of a childrens’s play group. We use data to improves models.

Meta-Cognitive Studies – We study human thought processes to be more conscious agents in the systems we participate in. We explore why we evolved into the biological and social organisms we are now.

Formal Modeling – A balance between theory, models and data is necessary. A clear theory with consistent principles guides how we make models and use data. An accurate theory and simple model does a lot!