This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature

Chapter 483 - 295: On Playing Games Within Games

All along, the regulation and content inspection of games under Tianba Studio have heavily relied on AI’s judgment and sorting.

For instance, dealing with cheating tools and scripts.

They aren’t inspected manually; it’s all identified and handled by AI. Imagine how much manpower would be required if it were all done manually?

Here’s a fun fact!

Most mainstream online games on the market, such as League of Legends, CrossFire, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Eternal Damnation, are in similar situations.

No choice but to save costs!

By setting up a database, as long as there’s a record of anomalies, this intelligent inspection system can handle account bans and unbans all on its own without any manual intervention.

Now, a somewhat lesser-known fact...

The customer service of those gaming companies, the "customer service" dedicated to handling player reports and feedback, are largely AI-driven, not likely real people.

Don’t ask why, because even at Tianba Studio it’s this way, and Chen Ba doesn’t believe other gaming companies are any different.

This change has only happened in recent years. A few years back, when the AI industry hadn’t developed and computing power wasn’t so strong, there indeed were live customer services and manual inspections.

Anyone who played online games around the 2000s knew that back then, customer service (or GMs) were definitely real people. If you spent enough money, you could even flirt with them.

Chen Ba once met a guy at an internet cafe who played a domestic online game and ended up marrying a customer service girl he flirted with online.

Back in those days, human services were quite common.

But since the AI industry took off, those manual roles have gradually been replaced by AI. Especially in the gaming industry, which loves to chase after fashionable technologies, they are pioneers in this aspect!

But this also brings about a problem.

Using AI technology extensively to cut down on labor costs does save money, and work efficiency has improved exponentially, but AI cannot completely replace human work.

For example, in games like Love Advisor Department, AI frequently misjudges or can’t determine player behavior.

So, there’s a need to bring in "human inspectors" for assistance.

This adds some extra cost to Tianba Studio. It seems unnecessary, but considering the unique nature of Love Advisor Department, Chen Ba doesn’t mind spending a bit more money.

Mainly because Liu’s situation is too tragic...

When you hear about it, it breaks your heart and brings tears to your eyes. Liu’s tragedy made Chen Ba realize that on platforms involving "dating and social interactions," human inspection and oversight must be present.

AI just doesn’t cut it, as it cannot recognize the disguises of deceitful people, nor can it understand what those deceivers are.

"In simple terms, current AI is still in a relatively primitive stage. It can handle tasks that don’t require much thinking, but whenever it needs to think, it’s as dumb as a rock."

After expressing his thoughts, Chen Ba mused, "I originally thought about adding an AI intelligent module to the NPCs in Abab’s True Story, but now I’m reconsidering."

"Don’t!"

"I admit the existing AI is dumb, but without AI support, NPCs would be even less intelligent than that..."

Lu found this baffling.

In his view, whether it’s Abab’s True Story or other games, the degree of NPC intelligence undeniably enhances player immersion and involvement.

Without making NPCs intelligent, each would only have a single set of fixed behavior patterns, which wouldn’t be very interesting.

"I understand your point, but have you thought about if you give these NPCs too much freedom and intelligence, they might just run around everywhere?"

"Moreover... lessons learned from Divine Grace Continent show that overly intelligent NPCs can subtly change the nature of the game."

Chen Ba shook his head and said, "Let’s forget about other games, but this is Abab’s True Story, such things can’t happen."

The nature of Abab’s True Story is more serious, and the theme is quite unique, so Chen Ba takes a more conservative approach, not wanting to endow NPCs with too much intelligence.

Mainly to prevent players from "messing around"!

After suffering many losses, Chen Ba has figured out a rule: If you want everything to go smoothly in the game, focus on keeping an eye on places where players can mess around.

As long as players can’t mess around, and have to plow through the plot and complete tasks, then the game will be as steady as an old dog, with no issues.

What?

Players messing around might improve game sales, and the benefits outweigh the drawbacks?

Indeed! For other games, that’s true, and Chen Ba is glad to see players having fun messing around.

But this is Abab’s True Story, a game that doesn’t care about sales and aims for awards and reputation. Messing around is definitely more harmful than beneficial.

"Then why make an open world?"

Lu muttered, "We’re not allowed to do this, nor that; I can’t fathom what the point of this open world is. Is it just to show how large the map is?"

"You got it wrong!"

Chen Ba frowned and explained, "What I’ve restricted is simply the space where players can mess around. From a gameplay perspective, players are still very free."

In other words.

Chen Ba has merely eliminated the possibility for players to jump out of the game framework and mess around in bizarre, unconventional ways. Within the framework, it remains quite free and normal.

If players honestly play the game, then it is an open world. If they insist on doing something unusual, they’ll feel restricted and not free at all.