June 9th, 2021 Real time strategy, role playing and building games have become fertile training grounds for cutting edge artificial intelligence systems in recent years with digital competitors easily besting their human opponents in everything from StarCraft II and Dota 2 to Minecraft and Go. Now, Facebook is asking for the AI community’s help in bringing down NetHack — one of the most notoriously difficult titles in gaming history — and maybe help computers learn to simulate instances faster using fewer resources. NetHack is a tactical curb stomping that passes for a rogue-like dungeon crawler. Originally developed in the 1980s but still actively updated today, the game doesn’t expect you to win — it expects you to die. And die you will. In bunches. And every time the player perishes, the entire dungeon resets in its entirety. The only way to actually best the game lies in your ability to combine luck, outside-the-box problem solving, and old fashioned research skills at the NetHack Wiki to learn from the misfortunes of explorers who have come before you.