AI is changing everything from medicine to business, with gaming being a frontier that many people are the most excited about. Not only has AI been part of gaming for a few decades now, but it is also the sector that is currently seeing incredible growth because of it.
While AI is being used almost everywhere in online gaming, here are a few sectors that are seeing the most significant changes thanks to it.
Security
Much like how AI revolutionized poker and its security online, it is doing the same for online games. More specifically, AI is helping developers cut down on hackers by teaching the AI how to spot them.
Hacking in online games is easy to spot but hard to stop if it is constantly happening. However, AI can not only recognize when it is happening but also lock onto the hacker almost immediately and ban them.
NPCs
For ages, NPCs have been popular in gaming, both online and offline. However, they haven’t advanced as much as they should have, but AI is changing NPCs forever.
Better dialogue
One problem with current NPCs is that they have very limited dialogue due to developers having to code it all in. However, AI can be used to create a dialogue on the fly, meaning conversations will constantly change between you and the NPC depending on the current circumstances and conditions in-game.
Advanced behavior
If you take the current NPCs in Warzone, for example, they are very basic: they run, crouch, peak, and shoot. The behavior is predictable and repetitive and, therefore, annoying. With AI, NPC behavior can also change on the go, making them act like “real” players, something we haven’t seen before.
Faster development
One of the most exciting parts of AI in gaming is its use in development. Some developers have already proven that they can teach AI to create gaming levels, while others are seeing the benefits of using it for more mundane tasks.
Using AI to create trees, cities, buildings, mountains, etc., would free up a lot of time for developers and allow them to focus on the more important aspects of the game. This also means that game development times will be shortened, and a lot of money will be saved.
More DLC
Building on the fact that AI can speed up development, this also means that DLC will be faster to develop and release. Right now, we live in a time when games aren’t released completely finished, and DLC is used to add content over time.
However, this process is slow and can take months, sometimes years, for all the content of a title to be released, by which point many players would have stopped playing. AI can speed up this process and allow for consistent fresh content.
Ever-changing worlds
Another way that AI will change how we play and interact with online games is by allowing for the creation of changing worlds. When you think of an online game, such as League of Legends or Warzone, the maps, and worlds are fairly static and don’t change much.
With AI, you will be able to change these worlds randomly whenever the developer wants. This can be thought of as an event, except they are completely unpredictable and can change in time and scale depending on when you play.
Procedurally generated content
While procedurally generated worlds are nothing new, AI is going to make them substantially better. A procedurally generated world is one where the computer generates new parts of the world without the need for them to be coded in; the best example of this is Minecraft.
However, imagine a game where the generated worlds are on the scale of Assassin’s Creed or Red Dead Redemption. You could have games based on a planet entirely populated with people, animals, buildings, towns, etc.
Testing and bug fixing
Finally, AI can be used to fix bugs and do game testing at a level humans couldn’t possibly reach. The biggest problem with bugs is that not only are they incredibly hard to spot in a wall of code, but they can also be created through a “perfect storm” or correct code that creates an unforeseen problem.
In a game, bugs aren’t something players figure out but something they accidentally cause. Anything from movement combos to how and where you shoot your weapon can cause a bug.
It is nearly impossible for developers to test every single permutation of the movement, weapons, vehicles, and so on to determine if there is a bug. However, AI can do this in record time; it can test all these different things and determine what could cause a bug.
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