Criteria Indexes of Multiagent Simulators
Isamu Okada and Toshizumi Ohta
okada@s.soka.ac.jp, ohta@is.uec.ac.jp
A computer simulation approach is proposed involving the
development of a number of simulators to analyze complex social phenomena.
Each simulator has underlying structures that fit subjects as a background
since both simulator and subject share common underlying structures. However,
all the simulators cannot be evaluated appropriately because no clear indexes
exist for them. We therefore propose criteria for multiagent simulators for
conducting bottom-up oriented studies on organization.
First, we survey studies on a complex organizational and
social theory, and demonstrate how a simulation method based on a multiagent
system can be applied to these studies. We then describe the model elements
- agent, environment, structure and macro-index - that are applicable to
a bottom-up oriented approach to complex organizational and social studies.
Each of these elements consists of inner elements. We then discuss some necessary
conditions for the simulators that were identified from criticisms made of
the application of simulators to studies. The main criticisms are that simulation
behavior is essentially too complex to be analyzed, that to require many
parameters is to be ad hoc, and that simulators are hard to operate, and
that there are few simulators which have satisfactory interfaces.
As a result, the criteria we propose are the ability to
describe and generate simulation models, the ability to perform individual-level
analysis and mechanism analysis, the efficacy of model parameters, the qualitative
sufficiency of the interfaces, and simplicity in programming. We apply these
criteria in evaluating models such as the Mathematica, the Swarm, the ABS,
the AGENT-0, the Plural-Soar, and the Operational Organization Oriented Simulator
(OOOS) we are now developing. We also propose a measurement model and apply
the OOOS to a number of measurable indexes.