An
opponent in a
video game that is
controlled by the
computer or
machine, but that may otherwise or might plausibly be controlled by a
human player in other circumstances.
The computer
player has been known to do some pretty
stupid stuff at times due to
poor programming. Sometimes
game developers balance out the computer player's
stupidity by giving it the ability to
cheat or by programming it to
cheap out. Usually this just adds to the human player's
frustration at the computer player's
inadequacy, though.
Good computer players are key to the
creation of a predominantly 2-player video
game that is just as
fun vs. the computer as it is
vs. other
people. After all, one of the
original selling
features of some video games was the
ability to
play with the computer when
friends weren't
available.
Related terms:
Artifical Intelligence (
AI)