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What if you could have an AI buddy to help you out or play co-op with you across any game?

Deft Beck

Deft Beck

Member
I can see something like this happening on Playstation or Xbox. You could generate a virtual AI to play with you and learn how you play best. If you're having trouble with a section in a game, they could take over and help you based on data from other players. They wouldn't have separate profiles or anything, but you could summon them whenever you need them.

It would be great for people whose friends are offline or can't connect with anyone they know. Or for really lonely people. Of course, the same codes of conduct would apply. Just because the AI buddy isn't "real" doesn't mean you should treat them any worse than a real person. Plus, if a user says anything alarming, the system could flag it and report it to the platform holder.

If nothing else, I can see this happening in MMOs. Final Fantasy XIV already has the AI-partner assistants to help you get through event dungeons if you can't find a squad. It might require some tuning to make sure that people don't mistake them for real people, though.
 
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Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Gold Member
I'm 100% all for it. Create an AI chick to hop in co-op games with you and they remember your dumb jokes and game / playstyle preferences. Seems inevitable, and it could be part of the system UI itself and carry over to any multiplayer game. Would be like training one of those amiibo Smash AIs but way better.
 
bender

bender

What time is it?
As much as I disliked Alan Wake, the short buddy segments have some of my favorite AI co-op partners as they weren't useless or terminators.
 
Holammer

Holammer

Member
It's gonna happen, but it's a bit early to expect an AI construct capable of playing any game you throw at it. I imagine it's one of those things you want on your local machine, not on the cloud. That AI is going to simulate you after a few months/years of interaction.

In the meanwhile, I think there's a place for more advanced NPC AI interactions and the like in future games. Pawns in Dragon's Dogma that are just a pinch smarter would neato.
 
ZoukGalaxy

ZoukGalaxy

Member
What if no thanks ?

Cats Ai GIF by PEEKASSO
 
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U

UniformDeliverance

Member
Id love that for mmo dungeons, it’s endlessly frustrating to learn a new dungeon, or enjoy the story of a dungeon, with human companions. I can absolutely see a use case for this kind of ai feature.
 
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poppabk

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Three said:
Wouldn't that just be Atreus, Ellie, etc in a game?
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Not Ellie. Imagine if the enemies could actually see her - it would be controller through screen time given how often she would just run in front of a guard to get to the same location as me. It would have to be much more solid AI.
 
March Climber

March Climber

Member
A lot of posters here are thinking of the negatives instead of the benefits.

This could benefit with:

  • Games with dead or dying communities (like older games, especially big MMOs)
  • Games your friends don't own/nor want to play
  • Games where you coordinate groups of people to find a single slot of time to do something together
  • Offline experiences where you don't have a buddy nearby (like on trips)
How many times have any of you run into a moment where you decide to go into your backlog, notice that your older game has an online experience, only to be met with the infinite 'searching' queue knowing there's a 99.9% chance that no one playing? Then you check their communities online and notice maybe less than 5ish people posting on how they used to like the game but have long moved on.

This feature would be beneficial for those times.
 
Zannegan

Zannegan

Member
AI co-op partners will probably happen, but I hate the idea, and I'd never want to use one. I almost never enjoy having companions in games as it is, and Pawns are a big part of why I could never get into Dragon's Dogma. The fun of coop is working with another flawed human to try to muddle through, which is why It Takes Two was so great. I'd rather not play it than play with a robot trying to fake a personality.

As for having the AI play the game for you... why even play the game if you don't like playing the game? If it's too hard, watch a longplay and move on.
 
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March Climber

March Climber

Member
Zannegan said:
AI co-op partners will probably happen, but I hate the idea, and I'd never want to use one. I almost never enjoy having companions in games as it is, and Pawns are a big part of why I could never get into Dragon's Dogma. The fun of coop is working with another flawed human to try to muddle through, which is why It Takes Two was so great. I'd rather not play it than play with a robot trying to fake a personality.
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You're still thinking of it like old school AI, where devs would program specific routes and triggers. That type of AI had no capacity to learn or adapt, and would get stuck on certain geometry or stuck if certain triggers didn't activate.

You would have to forget most of what you've learned about how old video game AI was programmed, with these new generative models.
 
Bluecondor

Bluecondor

Member
Deft Beck said:
You could generate a virtual AI to play with you and learn how you play best.

It would be great for people whose friends are offline or can't connect with anyone they know.
Click to expand...
I love this idea! If the AI coop player was really immersive in terms of learning my playstyle for various games, and playing in ways that I like to play, it would be a lot of fun.

Case-in-point, I used to play The Division and The Division 2 online on PS4. While we had a group of guys who I would squad up with, if none of them were online, I would have to go into the Darkzone solo, which sucked when you ran into groups of 3 or 4. An AI teammate who played alongside would be a great option.

Similarly, I used to play sports games, but could never get into playing online, as it was such a hassle. It would be really fun in sports games if an AI player could play different playstyles. In some games like Madden or NCAA football, I would want to play with/against an AI player who played like a real football sim. In arcade sports games (old school NBA Jam for example), having the ability to play with/against an AI player who plays more of an arcade style would be cool.

Come to think of it, there are several coop games on PS4/PS5 and Steam that I have always wanted to try, but have never played, since I don't know anyone who wants to play the game. An AI coop player for these games would be a welcome addition.
 
Deft Beck

Deft Beck

Member
Bluecondor said:
I love this idea! If the AI coop player was really immersive in terms of learning my playstyle for various games, and playing in ways that I like to play, it would be a lot of fun.

Case-in-point, I used to play The Division and The Division 2 online on PS4. While we had a group of guys who I would squad up with, if none of them were online, I would have to go into the Darkzone solo, which sucked when you ran into groups of 3 or 4. An AI teammate who played alongside would be a great option.

Similarly, I used to play sports games, but could never get into playing online, as it was such a hassle. It would be really fun in sports games if an AI player could play different playstyles. In some games like Madden or NCAA football, I would want to play with/against an AI player who played like a real football sim. In arcade sports games (old school NBA Jam for example), having the ability to play with/against an AI player who plays more of an arcade style would be cool.

Come to think of it, there are several coop games on PS4/PS5 and Steam that I have always wanted to try, but have never played, since I don't know anyone who wants to play the game. An AI coop player for these games would be a welcome addition.
Click to expand...

The only issue is the possibility of these AI buddies getting wiped/otherwise neutered with updates. It would require a lot of testing.
 
Kdad

Kdad

Member
Can my AI buddy stand up, arms stretched above its head and yell McDonalds at the on screen ads so I can keep playing?
 
Zannegan

Zannegan

Member
March Climber said:
You're still thinking of it like old school AI, where devs would program specific routes and triggers. That type of AI had no capacity to learn or adapt, and would get stuck on certain geometry or stuck if certain triggers didn't activate.

You would have to forget most of what you've learned about how old video game AI was programmed, with these new generative models.
Click to expand...
No. I understand the concept. My point was, if I don't like that, I'll hate this.

I don't play solo adventures to have AI take over when it gets too hard, and I don't play co-op to be alone with a fake friend.

EDIT: I will say that I'm excited for more advanced, believable bots filling the lobbies in less popular competative games. So there's that. The AI friend or companion though holds no appeal.
 
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Freelance Yakuza

Freelance Yakuza

Member
It would be funny because the people who would complain about it taking the place of real friends don't have/don't know how to make friends
 
LegendOfKage

LegendOfKage

Member
Magic Carpet said:
Read that as Al Bundy. The actor Ed O'Neil would make a great Kratos for a TV show.
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I did the same thing! I was thinking NFL Blitz. Not big on sports games, but I think he might like it.

My second thought has also been expressed already, Dragon's Dogma 2. Basically "AI co-op friends" the game.
 
Bluecondor

Bluecondor

Member
Deft Beck said:
The only issue is the possibility of these AI buddies getting wiped/otherwise neutered with updates. It would require a lot of testing.
Click to expand...
Ya, anything that is controlled by developers will be constantly impacted by updates and nerfs, etc.

But, my thought is that an externally developed AI agent could eventually learn how to play games with us. For example, this AI agent was just announced at CES and comes out in March/April. Right now, it will only be able to access websites on your behalf. For example, I can see this thing checking the weather for me, and summarizing news sites (assuming that it works).

https://gizmodo.com/what-the-hell-is-the-rabbit-r1-ai-handheld-1851179412

In the not-too-distant future though, maybe our AI agents could somehow play coop/2-player games with us. Of course, this would definitely become a big issue with cheating, etc., but the idea of it seems like something we will start seeing sooner rather than later.
 
T

Three

Member
poppabk said:
Not Ellie. Imagine if the enemies could actually see her - it would be controller through screen time given how often she would just run in front of a guard to get to the same location as me. It would have to be much more solid AI.
Click to expand...
True some of them have silly looking behaviour but what I meant was wouldn't this just be good AI characters or bots already programmed into a game? Or are we talking about some general Cloud API or something that trains some AI to play legacy games that didn't have computer players/characters (being online multiplayer only)?
 
C

CGNoire

Member
Having an AI play Co-op with you sounds like something that would increase you lonelyness not reduce it.....Id much rather just put a gun in my mouth honestly.
 
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Pejo

Pejo

Member
Modern games are so piss easy accessible these days, that I'd be shocked if you needed this sort of thing to begin with. Now if you had an AI that would get me through the jetski levels of Battletoads, I'm listening.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
I'd rather have two AI buddies so that they can play co-op together while I do better things with my life.
 
TheThreadsThatBindUs

TheThreadsThatBindUs

Member
This actually sounds like a great idea.

OP, you don't drop ideas like this in NeoGaf. This is the kind of idea you leave your day job to pursue with your own newly formed dev studio. Then eventually sell off the technology to MS for $6b.

You could have been basking in hookers and blow, OP. But you chose to give up your idea to the masses on NeoGaf.
 
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