The Neural MMO Platform for Massively Multiagent Research

Part of Proceedings of the Neural Information Processing Systems Track on Datasets and Benchmarks 1 (NeurIPS Datasets and Benchmarks 2021) round1

Bibtex Paper Reviews And Public Comment » Supplemental

Authors

Joseph Suarez, Yilun Du, Clare Zhu, Igor Mordatch, Phillip Isola

Abstract

Neural MMO is a computationally accessible research platform that combines large agent populations, long time horizons, open-ended tasks, and modular game systems. Existing environments feature subsets of these properties, but Neural MMO is the first to combine them all. We present Neural MMO as free and open source software with active support, ongoing development, documentation, and additional training, logging, and visualization tools to help users adapt to this new setting. Initial baselines on the platform demonstrate that agents trained in large populations explore more and learn a progression of skills. We raise other more difficult problems such as many-team cooperation as open research questions which Neural MMO is well-suited to answer. Finally, we discuss current limitations of the platform, potential mitigations, and plans for continued development.