AI Companions in Games

Gamers love the idea of hearing numerous conversations with virtual friends in games like Stardew Valley or Skyrim. I've spent hours just clicking on the same NPCs, waiting to see if there's something new to hear from them.

Now, AI mods promise us more of the same old banter from our pixelated pals, though after a while, it sounds as if they all speak the same. Even the grumpy ones suddenly want to chat about nature’s beauty.

That’s not Linus. I know Linus, he’s too rough around the edges for that.

These mods tap into OpenAI's API, but there is something a bit "untoward" about the whole thing. It is this fusion of deliberately lumbering through life and occasional yet meaningful utterances with the Stardew vibe. Isn't AI's forcing of an endless torrent of conversation completely antithetical to the heart of the game?

I don't want motherly Maru or Chloe or whoever to be a chipper robot spouting endless lines, especially not when they are costing me real money per dialogue line. That breaks it all, of course.

Now, Herika in Skyrim does sound somewhat more promising. A companion who responds to your actions and the outside world.

https://youtube.com/shorts/0oeOzlRJAZY?si=9I1EsQbU9rOEMLeF

It's that which makes her more than just another chatty NPC. Even then, there's only so far it can go. No AI is going to replace the careful crafting of character backstories or the unpredictability of a well-written dialogue tree.

If anything, it only serves to show just how much we still need writers, AI simply doesn't cut it when the conversations start becoming different shades of gray.

And yes, AI has its limitations.

We've all seen the weird, sometimes completely inappropriate things that a model can spit out. In a world of games, that is just the recipe for disaster if developers are not very careful. Some things, like real human interaction in a game, shouldn't be messed with too much.