Original subtitles

0 Here we are in 2022 and most of the games are multiplayer only. 1

And, of course, a legit question comes: is AI worth it anymore? To learn and to use in your own games. And a spoiler... 2

Yes, it is worth it. 3

But let's find out why. 4

The main issue with all of these multiplayer only games is that they compete on one important resource 5

and that is not even money. 6

It's actually time. 7

And every player has limited time 24 hours a day, seven days a week, like everyone else. 8

We haven't found yet the way how we can make much more time. 9

But the thing is, once a player gets stuck in a particular game, they might not want to try a different 10

one because their friends are all over in that game and already bought a lot of packs and items and 11

stuff. 12

So the move is really hard for them. 13

Only maybe if they get bored or they don't have someone to play with. 14

This is called the sunken cost fallacy and it's real. 15

And this, of course, makes some winners like Fortnite and Minecraft, but also a lot, a lot of losers 16

that you probably won't see because nobody talks about them. 17

This is one point that a multiplayer game only might not be exactly what you're looking for. 18

Let's say multiplayer game is successful and it actually skyrockets. 19

But then you get into other issues like making more servers available, lag mitigation, cheating problem, 20

and much, much more. 21

So you see, even if the multiplayer game is successful, you have a lot of things on your mind. 22

But if you're a single player is successful, then just means that the sales go up and you don't have 23

to waste more time in figuring out other types of issues. 24

You can push some updates, but that's up to you. 25

But the real problem with multiplayer only games that I have actually suffered it myself is called 26

Dead on Arrival. 27

And that means that when a game is released 28

only a bunch of players will play it. 29

If they do not meet, their experience will be bad. 30

They will leave the game. 31

Some other players will join. 32

Their experience will also be bad. 33

This situation happens a couple of times and you'll end up with a game that's a complete wasteland that 34

nobody plays anymore. 35

This means your game is dead on arrival, but fear not because this issue can be fixed with AI. 36

So how can AI help your game? 37

Well, there are actually two cases. 38

The first one is, of course, if you are still set on to make a multiplayer only game, then the AI can 39

definitely help you by replacing players with agents that simulate real player actions. 40

This way, when an actual player joins, they have the feeling that the world is not completely empty 41

and they have someone to play with. 42

You can have the AI replaced as more and more people join. 43

In this way, you won't have your game dead on arrival. 44

If you want to make a single player experience 45

the AI can help you a lot. 46

It can really improve your game, for example: 47

Let's take F.E.A.R. 48

It's an old game, but its AI was revolutionary. 49

Articles were written about it. 50

It was praised as being one of the most comprehensive AI possible. 51

So if you want to make a special game and set it out apart from the crowd that has basic AI systems, 52

then you should definitely look into this. 53

Now, let's look at different types that you can find in games.