Zero-player game

A zero-player game or no-player game is a simulation game that has no sentient players.¹

There are various different types of games that can be considered "zero-player".²

A game that evolves as determined by its initial state, requiring no further input from humans is considered a zero-player game.³

Cellular automaton games that are determined by initial conditions. Conway's Game of Life is an example of this.⁴⁵

Progress Quest is another example, in the game the player sets up an artificial character, and afterwards the game plays itself with no further input from the player.⁶ Godville is a similar game that took inspiration from Progress Quest.⁷ In the game, the player is a god that can communicate with a non-player character hero.⁸ However, the game can progress with no interaction from the player.⁹

Incremental games, sometimes called idle games or clicker games, are games which do require some player intervention near the beginning but may become zero-player at higher levels.¹⁰ As an example, Cookie Clicker requires that players click cookies manually before purchasing assets to click cookies in the place of the player independently.¹¹

In computer games, the term refers to programs that use artificial intelligence rather than human players;¹² for example some fighting, sports, and real-time strategy games can be put into zero-player mode where multiple AIs can play against each other. Humans may have a challenge in designing the AI and giving it sufficient skill to play the game well, but the actual evolution of the game has no human intervention.¹³