In video games, autonomous agents, commonly known as "bots" or "the computer", need to move from one point to another. In a perfect world, this movement would constitute a straight line. However, this is rarely the case: agents may need to avoid colliding with obstacles, avoid enemy fire, or otherwise maneuver in the world. The role of a pathfinding algorithm is to provide agents with paths that appear intelligent/believable to players, are optimal (shortest travel distance), and are efficient (don't use excessive CPU cycles).