Where does the gaming future lie: Online mutliplayer or AI?

[OurGloriousLeader]

The biggest problems with single player campaigns and whatnot 'these days' (dons pipe) can be filtered down to a fine sediment, and this sediment is AI. Which we then blame. Awesome metaphor!

AI is the only thing not to sufficiently advance over the generations - CoD4 substituted infinite enemies for decent AI, Halo 3 has the same AI as the original, and the computers in RTS' only beat you by being more efficient at building, controlling and harvesting.

With online, of course, comes the advantage of not having to programme AI, because there are, occasionally, smart folks on the net, somewhere. But to me, it seems so...soulless. It might be because I've simply grown up with single player console gaming, and I still don't have XboxLive, but it just doesn't seem right that the future lies in online. It's fun, and has 'emergent gameplay' possibilities, but...I like single player! Huff.

 

[Royzy]

Apparently multiplayer gaming is a doddle to develop compared to single player stories, with all the set pieces, Ai and what not. I think multiplayer gaming advancements are going to be more apparent for while though, since it is (in total gaming years) fairly new and there is a lot more to be tapped. And I do look forward to what is coming.

But I agree...the emotion and soul is lost online, and single player deserves a good hard thrusting. I want more AI, longer, more immersive stories and hellish set pieces please.

 

[Skalman]

But I agree...the emotion and soul is lost online, and single player deserves a good hard thrusting. I want more AI, longer, more immersive stories and hellish set pieces please.

I couldn't agree more!

I think the future will hold both multiplayer and AI.

I for one prefer a good singelplayer game (a well written story and some colorful, memorable characters, among other things), over a multiplayer game any day!
and singleplayer RPGs cant even be compared to MMORPGs, i hate almost every MMO that's out to date, they feel so...

...soulless

 

[Reasonable Doubt]

they feel so...soulless

How so?

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

they feel so...soulless

How so?

Cuz it's tough to be the chosen one when everyone else is the chosen one too. The main reason I don't do multiplayer except with people I know is that a) losing to strangers sucks and b) I don't feel like I ever really make friends with people online.

You get to know them in a weird, athletes bickering kind of way. But go out for a beer? Go to their funeral? I dunno man, I've never experienced that. I try to take that energy and devote it to gaming with people I know from RL more.

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

I think it is with AI. Multiplayer isn't really going to get much better and frankly, the AI in most games is awful, they get stuck on walls, think grenades are cookies and seem to be attracted to trip mines. I don't know but I would like to see better AI.

 

[goodman528]

I hope it's the AI. Online play is quite repetitive actually, same maps all the time, no storyline. Though LAN vs AI would be nice, like Neverwinter Nights.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

i think the future is in incentivicing players to play in roles that would typically be NPC roles. for example, viewing a game as a dynamic mission generating suite, where players are capable of generating their own missions for other based upon their economic, equipment, or game related needs.

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

Both. Gaming in the modern era is of niches, from the drunken assface Halo niche to the overly-convoluted MMO niche. So whichever way one game company goes, odds are the next one will go the other.

Personally I play video games to have absolute control of the world in which I inhabit for however long I play, so very rarely is the AI of concern to me.

 

[_Serendipity_]

Ummm.... AI for single-player, online for, well, online-play?

I don't really get your point, I must admit. Unless every single game turns into an MMO, you will always need AI for single-player, and unless the entire internet explodes overnight, people will always want to play each other online. So I don't really see the possible overlap...

 

[OurGloriousLeader]

Ummm.... AI for single-player, online for, well, online-play?

I don't really get your point, I must admit. Unless every single game turns into an MMO, you will always need AI for single-player, and unless the entire internet explodes overnight, people will always want to play each other online. So I don't really see the possible overlap...

I thought I explained it reasonably well, but to clarify - right now, developers are putting AI to one side and there have been no major advancements in next gen consoles, as opposed to graphics, sandbox-style maps etc. Online, on the other hand, has taken off. So, to rephrase - is online play going to remain the priority, or will AI and single player come back?

 

[Spleeni]

How about a combination of the two? A game that has story, and is a constant, evolving thing. AI's always need to be there to 'test' the players, because an AI doesn't enjoy winning as much as players do. How about a MMO in space; where you command battle fleets, head a faction, and have the AI be there to expand the universe in proportion to the number of players?

I see the future as more of a mesh of ideas than anything else. We're pretty much just identifying various types of game types, and the future will probably be just putting them together.

 

[Imbrium]

Multiplayer gaming is mostly 'grind-tastic' with very little (often no) reward for hours of repetitive killing, whereas a singleplayer experience is always fresh, provided levels vary enough and set-pieces remain unpredictable. I suppose the best compromise between the two is co-op gameplay, something which most developers neglect, but which I feel is an absolutely wonderful addition to almost any game. You're still playing with friends over the internet, but you're doing it in an unpredictable environment fighting against and with NPCs, so the fun remains.

 

[Alex_P]

I don't know if AI will come back to the forefront of design. I think it should, though.

Compelling AI can enhance multiplayer gaming almost as much as it enhances single-player gaming.

-- Alex

 

[The Random One]

Ummm.... AI for single-player, online for, well, online-play?

I don't really get your point, I must admit. Unless every single game turns into an MMO, you will always need AI for single-player, and unless the entire internet explodes overnight, people will always want to play each other online. So I don't really see the possible overlap...

I thought I explained it reasonably well, but to clarify - right now, developers are putting AI to one side and there have been no major advancements in next gen consoles, as opposed to graphics, sandbox-style maps etc. Online, on the other hand, has taken off. So, to rephrase - is online play going to remain the priority, or will AI and single player come back?

Would you care to develop? As far as I can see, good AI has been as much of a priority as it's always been - I can't see that developers are putting it aside. The problem is that it's harder to create. Need better graphics? Why, these new consoles/video cards can process prettier textures than the previous ones, so let's just spend more time/money/manpower on it to make it shinier. Better sandbox maps? Well, our new hardware can process buildings with much more details than previous ones, and we can look at all these other sandbox games that are coming out and see where they went right and where they went wrong. Gameplay, replay value, all these things are easy to develop compared to AI. This is especially because you really only notice the AI when it's flawed, or when it's completely awesome (without doing the mindreading thing AIs tend to do - developers should learn to program artificial stupidity as well!). And the more lifelike AI gets, the more its little glitches will stick out like a sore thumb.

So to sum up, games like Call of Duty will want to have both. They'll tell you about how awesome online is but still make sure their single player levels are nice, and that means having AI that can do its job. Some games will focus on online, and so won't bother much with AI. Others won't, or maybe will even not have online at all, and will focus on AI.

 

[crivera37]

If you really want to know where gaming's future lies, its in Final Fantasy XIIIIIVVCXIIIIICXV.... and another X in there fer good measure. In other words, about 5 million pallet swaps of some guy who has no clue where he is or how he got there, but he has a large sword and the ability to conjure up fire and dress like hes off to another japananimation convention. Or in other, shorter words, hell.

 

[OurGloriousLeader]

Would you care to develop?...

I take your point about it being a lot harder to advance AI than it is for other aspects, but I still think developers aren't even trying. CoD4, again: the enemy in that are bog standard AI, no intelligence. They occasionally run around, hide every so often, but if you aim at one, chances are he's dead in 3 seconds. It only becomes difficulty when there are infinite thickos, all with superb accuracy, respawning everywhere. It's good-lookin' Space Invaders. What's more, I have, just now, gone and stuck in one of the old Medal of Honour games for PS2 to test, and yes, they are the same (actually, one Nazi dodged a grenade a lot better than CoD terrorists do.)

It was a cheap and easy way of creating a hectic feel to CoD.

Enemies in single player are still far too thick. Admittedly, I haven't tried the new MGS4, the series which has done most for advancing soldier AI, so I would love to see that. But far too often the enemy display no fear of mortality, or any cunning. Even HL2, a great game, showed no improvement to the original.

Can you recommend any decent AI? I would love to see some.

 

[mitsoxfan]

The less I have to play with 10 year old brats, the better. I have a two year old, and that's all two year old behavior I have time to deal with these days.

Give me single player any day of the week.

IMO, a person is smart, people are idiots. And there are way too many peoples on the Internets.