Sony files a patent for an AI system that generates a custom training model for players struggling with a certain game sequence.
The interactive “game” element is what separates video games from other visual media such as film or television. A player’s direct interaction with a game is what moves the story forward, whether it’s simply browsing dialog trees or fighting difficult bosses. However, when playing a difficult video game, players are often forced to improve their skills through hours of repeated trial and error.
This style of play can be described as the main attraction of games like dark souls or Elden ring, which makes players dedicate themselves to defeating difficult bosses one attempt at a time. However, this style of play doesn’t suit all types of players, especially those who have disabilities or simply can’t commit to the time the game requires to learn a specific boss’s moveset inside and out.
These players could be helped by a new patent filed by the Sony for an AI training model that studies the player’s playing style, along with the current sequence of the game they are playing, in order to help train the player to improve at the game. Sony has been adding to this particular AI patent since 2019, and the latest addition has improved the customization of the AI training model. The purpose of the patent is to make all games more accessible to players before any specific accessibility features are added.
Sony’s AI patent can work similarly to Sony’s extremely useful phantom runner system. Titanfall 2, which allows the player to see the correct route through the game’s many platforming sequences. Sony’s patent could allow PlayStation users to activate similar ghost models in whatever game they’re playing to show them a route through a particularly confusing area or give them hints about the game’s combat system. This would be the kind of practical accessibility option that many players would appreciate, as it doesn’t take away the player’s direct control over the game, but rather saves the time it would take to learn the same information through trial and error.
A trial-and-error gameplay loop is so popular in video games because it gives players a challenge and allows them to overcome it in their own time, which in turn leads to a greater sense of accomplishment when they do. However, this is not necessarily the best way to teach users how to improve in a game like Elden ring. In no other medium than video games, users are expected to keep trying something without any advice until it finally clicks.
For a long time, since the launch of dark souls in 2011, gamers seeking advice for difficult games were often hit with the relatively unhelpful general statement of “git gud”, with no clear instruction on what git gud in a game like Elden ring would even require. But Sony’s AI patent could help these gamers more directly from within their games.
0 Comments