I have always been interested in artificial intelligence and after watching Westworld I started wondering how NPCs that are able to pass the Turing test would change the way players interact with the game. Game studios like Bethesda, CD Projekt and BioWare are able to create very interactive dialogues, but the player is still limited to the what the writers have established. These limitations force the player to act against type. By removing the constraints, a whole new world of options opens to gamers, allowing an unlimited number of variances while conveying the same message.
Giving this much liberty to the player might cause problems, too. Gamers new to roleplaying, or just new to these NPCs, are going to have so many options that they are not going to know what to do and how to advance in the game. This also means that a lot of lore will remain hidden to the player, unless they choose to inquire about it, making the developer’s life harder.
Artificially intelligent NPCs would also enhance the gameplay for completionists and achievement hunters, since the hidden areas of the game would require more involvement. I personally like the idea of games that give you very little hints or guidance, and let you explore the world at your own pace.
What do you guys think, in what ways would artificially intelligent NPCs be used to enhance games?
If you didn’t already ask Google what the Turing test is, click here.
I’ve been watching a lot of West World so I feel inclined to comment on this idea. An average game will already use elements of randomness to give the user a unique experience each time (number and placement of enemies spawned for example) so I believe this ‘unique experience each time’ is certainly the direction developers are trying to head. I wonder if once we are able to make NPCs which are as interesting and complex as an actual person if the focus of our game might turn towards them more. Once you can have a true shadow of a “person” in your game maybe our games will become more and more like Heavy Rain, narrative driven with your actions having real game consequences the game makers did not directly program. I just hope whatever happens it doesn’t turn into what happens in season 1 of West World…for our sake.
As someone who has worked with the natural language processing tools used by IBM to create Watson, I don’t think we are that far away from creating an interface that is able to carry a very natural conversation. The definition of “artificial intelligence” has evolved over time, but I did not mean it in the sense of a sentient computer able to read the player and improvise everything on the spot; a tremendous effort would be required to train the NPC initially.
Audra brought up another interesting point. Machine learning algorithms from Google are already able to learn from different art styles and create original art pieces. Similar kinds of algorithms would be able to create different scenarios based on user input.
The game Until Dawn tries to create a different story based on the fears and choices of the player, but it’s not quite there. There’s also an interesting Black Mirror episode where an augmented/virtual reality headset powered by AI reads the players fears straight from the brain in order to create unique horror experience. I think both the game, and the Black Mirror episode are worth checking out.
I have a few questions on this topic. As you are playing the game, is the computer learning as the game is played or is intelligence already integrated into the game? If the computer is learning as you play I think that would be really cool. It will basically guarantee that the computer is at the same skill level as the player.
Also, how different is the new AI features from something like playing chess against a computer? Because at least in those simple games (chess/ checkers), the AI is basically perfect. The computer hardly ever makes a wrong move.
We are many years from AI being able to power our NPC in games to the level of passing the Turing test. But, when the day comes that NPCs in our MMO or RPG, who don’t hold very important story elements can still hold a good conversation with the player will be very interesting, to say the least.
What I am most excited about the new AI technology is that it may offer different and unique interaction to every player. So every player can experience a different story from everyone else.
As someone who has explored Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning principles, we are quite a few years away from NPC characters that can pass a Turing test. It is very difficult to create a sandboxed system that can “think for itself,” while simultaneously restricting it to a certain point that can ensure that the game story does not go awry. It is much easier to probably create a voice-assistant like configuration, that allows the NPC characters to react to the player in real time, but still being “boxed in” in terms of the ability to steer conversation.