Dragon Age Writer Dismisses AI-Generated Storytelling as ‘Lackluster’ and ‘Soulless’

Dragon Age writer David Gaider shares his thoughts on the “lustery” and “soulless” nature of procedurally-generated AI dialogue, along with failings for developers who can’t foresee the technology’s current limitations. is predicted.

“Oh yes. The dream of procedural content generation,” Gaidar tweeted about the new content. Guardian article We discuss potential applications of AI scripting in future video games. “Even BioWare repeated this several times: ‘What if we didn’t have to bespoke every conversation?’ is unlimited!”

The Guardian article focused in part on a demo of a game called Smallville. The demo used an artificial intelligence (AI) called ChatGPT to generate dialogue between 25 of his NPCs while the character lived a simulated life in a sandbox world.

One of the study’s authors, Joon Sung Park, said that within just a year and a half, small indie developers began adopting AI like ChatGPT into their development process, and within about five years the technology would become more widespread. I think it has the potential to spread. As it stands, integrating AI into video games in any significant way is costly and fraught with potential problems.

oh yeah The dream of procedural content generation. Even BioWare has repeated this several times. “What if every conversation didn’t have to be custom made?” Along with the procedural quests, the dialogue is procedurally crafted, with unlimited playtime! https://t.co/iTLAFgRDUk

— David Gaider (@davidgaider) May 29, 2023

But in a lengthy Twitter thread, Geider remained skeptical of AI’s near-term application in gaming. Describing his own experience with the technology, the veteran developer said many times he “collectively believed” that the BioWare team would procedurally generate conversations and content for his AI. said. can work. However, according to Gaidar, each time this has been attempted, the end result has been found to be “lackluster” and “soulless.”

He added that future developers could well come to the conclusion that given the right inputs, AI tools could generate appropriate context-specific content, but that’s a sentiment he shares. said no. “It wasn’t the dialogue that was the problem,” Gaidar explained. Sure, it has the beats it needs, but the end result is no better than his typical “bring him 20 beetle heads” MMO quest. ”

Gaidar continued, developers who make AI believe in themselves: teeth Anything that can generate a deeply bespoke narrative tends to fall short, as opposed to what he calls “superficial content that just covers the basics and doesn’t go much further.”

“I would say that such an AI would do exactly what we did. *Create stuff…because that’s what it does,’ Gaidar tweeted. “But that doesn’t stop many development teams from thinking they should be able to do more. And they will fail.”

We also believe that for teams working on specific genres, the lure of procedurally generated AI content may be too strong to resist. “The fact that these development teams fail doesn’t mean they won’t try,” Gaider predicted. “Hopefully, it’s just too engaging to put down, especially in MMOs and similar games, when players don’t feel like they’re looking for a deep story. A lot of effort is wasted on this one.” It will be.”

Some key figures in the entertainment industry and some game developers have already expressed interest in leveraging AI, with Disney CEO Bob Iger saying the technology could be “disruptive.” said. Earlier this year Ubisoft introduced a new AI scripting tool called Ghostwriter. The ostensible purpose is to allow a human writer to create more believable lines (also known as barks) for his NPCs.

However, as the Guardian article points out, many others are reluctant to incorporate AI lighting into their games, citing concerns over issues such as artistic objections and accidental plagiarism. In addition to that, he cites the simple fact that some people, like Geidar, think the end result will simply be: You will be disappointed.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video game news for IGN. With over eight years of his experience covering breakthrough developments in multiple scientific fields, he has absolutely no time for your pranks. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer