PCG Article AI-driven NPCs are living lives and planning parties all on their own

[ZedClampet]

Rich open worlds with emergent NPC social structures aren't as far off as we thought.

One NPCs code included the intent to plan a Valentine's party, and plan she did. She ran around inviting some of her NPC friends, and spent the day before the party decorating the venue with her bestie. That friend, who's code included a secret crush on another character, invited her crush of her own volition.

This comes from Stanford University. One kind of humorous thing is that they address the "possibility" that humans will anthropomorphize NPCs and fall in love with them.

Sorry, Stanford, that's not just a possibility. It's what's going to happen, as sure as the earth spins.

@mainer

 

[Frindis]

Soon, we won't need to play games at all. We'll just watch AI play it for us. Jokes aside, this would be something really cool for getting more personal with companions. They often don't feel like companions, more like Lydia from Skyrim.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73y6qzU8ugQ

 

[Frag Maniac]

Call me non empathetic, but I've always cared more about whether a companion NPC can handle themselves in a fight, than what emotionally provocative things they say to me.

This is why I hate NPCs like RE4's Ashley, but love NPCs like TLoU's Ellie, and Bioshock Infinite's Elizabeth. It has ZERO to do with being turned on by them, I just don't like babysitting!

And I also find far too many games are absolutely horrible at how a female NPC comes on to you. Thalia of Dying Light 2 for instance, Albert's librarian that gives you lists of historically important books to find. More often than not she has a weird snarl instead of a pleasant smile when she talks to you, even when she waxes on about how much she loves speaking with you, even saying she's aroused. I actually was wondering if she was setting me up for an attempt to murder me when she invited me to her place. On top of it, I'd just watched the movie Pearl, and she has strangley similar abandonment issues to her.

If you've never seen Pearl, check it out. She has this super creepy smile at the end that gets more horrifying as they show it. Mia Goth can definitely act!

 

[Pifanjr]

The present study required substantial time and resources to simulate 25 agents for two days, costing thousands of dollars in token credit and taking multiple days to complete.

It's very impressive, but I don't expect real-time generative agents in video games very soon.

 

[mainer]

@mainer

Oh, yeah. I loved that article, I was going to post it but you beat me to it. We're only really in a prototype stage right now with the technology, as evident by the article, but we're seeing the beginning of that "emergent social dynamic" and how it can effect NPCs behavior. No more canned responses or one-liners. Plant those "generative agent memory" seeds into every NPC in a games world, and you could potentially have a different game experience each time you play.

I think within the next 5 years we'll begin to actually see it in games. I think of the possibilities in open world RPGs like Skyrim. Lydia might even refuse to carry your burdens. I'd love to see Bethesda dedicate a department to work on evolving this emergent AI, maybe by the time Elder Scrolls 6 come out we'd be able to play in a true living world.

 

[ZedClampet]

It's very impressive, but I don't expect real-time generative agents in video games very soon.

I'd be shocked if it takes more than 3 years. START THE TIMER! @Pifanjr owes me cabbage nachos if I'm right!

I was going to say 5 years, but @mainer already took that answer. Three years will make it exciting. Five years is almost an absolute certainty.

 

[Colif]

It could be nice to play a game where all the NPC have lives and happily live them without you. Where you aren't the saviour of the universe and they really don't care what you are doing. You have to do something to make them care or listen to you.

I already don't play games where conversations go on and on. It gets in the way of the actual game, and yet I know other people like that sort of thing...

I am anti social in real life, it sort of extends to the games I play as well.

this tech sounds like it be perfect for The Sims.

 

[shoaibshaikh]

Looks great, I enjoyed to read this post but I don't expect real-time generative agents in video games very soon.

 

[Pifanjr]

I'd be shocked if it takes more than 3 years. START THE TIMER! @Pifanjr owes me cabbage nachos if I'm right!

I was going to say 5 years, but @mainer already took that answer. Three years will make it exciting. Five years is almost an absolute certainty.

I think there might be some proof of concepts, but I really don't think we'll see a full game with real-time generative agents within 5 years.

 

[ZedClampet]

I think there might be some proof of concepts, but I really don't think we'll see a full game with real-time generative agents within 5 years.

It's on! (you realize I'm kidding, of course)

Honestly, there are proof of concepts now, so I'd be disappointed if there were still just proof of concepts 5 years from now.

 

[Brian Boru]

We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years, and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.
—Bill Gates

 

[ZedClampet]

We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years, and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.
—Bill Gates

That's true many times, but no one has overestimated AI in the last year. The pace of advancement is stunning.

 

[Pifanjr]

That's true many times, but no one has overestimated AI in the last year. The pace of advancement is stunning.

Except for that guy who got convinced he was talking to a sentient being instead of an advanced language generator.

 

[ZedClampet]

Except for that guy who got convinced he was talking to a sentient being instead of an advanced language generator.

I should have stipulated "sane" people.