You may love the ultra-realistic graphics, and the sound quality may be unbelievable, but, essentially, the way you ‘talk’ during computer games remains in a 1990s time warp. Could all this be about to change? Some experts reckon so.
Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at Reading University, points out that computer game characters remain pretty two-dimensional. Pre-scripted conversations destroy even the slightest illusion of talking to a ‘real’ person.
He adds that, although the technology is there to improve conversation, developers have concentrated their efforts on the visual side of games.
But now chatbots could make things very different. A general purpose chatbot could be able to talk about any subject the user can think of, with virtually no limits. This is a clear departure from the current situation, where there is a finite range of conversation topics, for example relating only to the game being played.
This is certainly a challenge for chatbots like Ultra Hal, which won creator Robert Medeksza the Loebner prize – for fooling interrogators into thinking they are conversing with a human
He admits the extent of the challenge of creating realistic Artificial Intelligence characters within an infinite range of potential conversation topics, but intends to use Ultra Hal within a computer game setting.
“We will demonstrate the technology in a simple game, where chatting with AI characters will be important,” he explains.
Essentially, Ultra Hal learns from previous conversations, and its AI-driven personalities can assist players on their quest. There is a massive database of words.
“But, if a players chooses to speak off-topic, the character could talk about anything” Medeksza adds.
To work within a game’s story, the chatbot needs to be fully integrated with the engine, and the game programmed to communicate different stages to the AI component.
Other designers are having the same thoughts as Medeksza. Developer Rollo Carpenter’s Jabberwacky has been learning patterns of conversation from online users for a decade.
And at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, the trade event which showcases computer games, Microsoft demonstrated Milo, a virtual boy apparently able to have a natural conversation.
With games characters able to talk, learn and develop distinct personalities, and headsets increasingly commonplace for console users, the conditions could not be better for games with the latest chat technology.
Who knows, we may even come to love our games characters more than the real people in our lives.
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