Recently, Sony’s patent registration for the PlayStation’s auto-play option has upset the gaming community. This approach, here referring to console AI that can play extremely difficult parts of the game for the player, is actually proposing a concept for AI. In the console.
Imagine what the game could have been like if you were facing Malenia of the Blade of Mikaela in the Elden Ring – a mysterious enemy that even experienced players have difficulty defeating. With capable AI algorithms, the machine will be equally efficient in planning, strategizing, and coordinating a perfect win while you can simply sit back and watch.
This prop regularly comes out on top by certain populations. The Soulsborne style of gameplay, which makes combinations very difficult to learn and punishes players harshly for relatively small in-game mistakes, is often a turnoff for players who want to immerse themselves in a rich story and beautiful environments. Want a chance to dunk but remain discouraged by its difficulty? The instruction of the autoplay option will really bridge the gap for this category of individuals and can allow them to participate in the enjoyment of music which they could not do earlier because the lyrics were not in spoken language.
Finally, from a technical point of view, the adoption of this technology seems quite simple and intuitive. The latest example is the artificial intelligence that won a complex game with Starcraft II in just 20 days. Overcoming this hurdle and turning it into a real-time story doesn’t seem like an unfeasible idea.
Nevertheless, this moral knot must be cut. Will this mean that players will get variations from the gameplay designed by the developers? If AI demolishes coaxing then the very reason a person gets the satisfaction of surviving challenges is lost because skill advancement and self-development are only achieved through learning the hard way.
In other words, it’s a patent, which doesn’t mean it’s confirmed, but it does raise important questions about the direction of gaming and the temporary but important relationship between some of the player’s core characteristics, such as agency and play. Siddhi.
