Sony Developing An AI That Tries To Sell You Hints When You Get Stuck
Sony is filing a patent for a microtransaction AI that could potentially bug players to spend money if they happen to do poorly in a game.
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In a slightly creepy turn of events, Sony is filing a patent for a microtransaction AI that could potentially bug players to spend money if they happen to do poorly in a game, according to an article by Videogamer and All Gamers.
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Activision previously tried something similar with their own matchmaking patent, and the result went about as well as you’d expect: people criticized the move as an attempt to exploit gamers even further. Activision’s patent would pair players together in the hopes that one would see the great weapons and armor their opponent bought and be coerced into spending to get the same. For games where obtaining those items is a gamble with real-world currency, well, therein lies the problem.
Many free-to-play games use a pay-as-you-go model that attracts what big companies call “whales,” or big spenders. Dehumanization aside, these big spenders can keep a title afloat for its entire lifespan, but many people with addictive personalities have come forward to share the problems with this model.
Sony’s patent starts off innocently enough, claiming that the AI collects player data to offer its own solutions to gameplay problems through “natural language processing.” The problem comes from offering solutions that cost money, such as downloadable content, “In case the player doesn’t know it exists.”
In theory, this could be great to help players out if they get stuck on a puzzle by hinting at a solution. A good network-based example of this would be Dark Souls, in which players can leave messages in difficult areas to warn of upcoming challenges. An AI scouring player information to produce a hint forward could be good for more grueling titles as long as it doesn’t add monetization to 60.00 titles to “skip the grind.”
As videogames have little regulation beyond the ESRB rating, there’s no way to tell how this system could evolve over time, and to what end.
It’s unclear if and when this patent will turn into a feature, but it’s possible the idea is being patented to prevent Sony’s competitors from getting to it first. Time will tell if this Pandora’s Box will remain sealed.
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Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/sony-patent-ai-microtransaction-hints/