Windows 10 is no more (though you may still use the old OS for a bit longer with a free year of security updates). Microsoft’s Copilot AI is growing like a weed on the old operating system’s grave, infecting all of Windows 11 and beyond. While Microsoft is trying to get users talking to AI chatbots on their PCs, the tech giant wants you to do the same while you’re gaming. The end result is a bot that’s so good at stating the obvious it could actually make the gaming experience worse.
In multiple demos, Microsoft showcased its AI guiding a player in the direction of their objective in Final Fantasy XVI from 2023. “Looks like the quest is right down the stairs, literally right in front of you,” the AI stated in one such demonstration with the obtuse confidence of a child pointing to a toy in a shop window. The player asked, “Hey, how do I get to the blacksmith?” as they looked at their world map and ignored the store icon blaring on the screen.
In other words: Copilot seems to think gamers are dense dupes who can’t follow instructions and don’t actually want to play their games.
Gaming Copilot will confidently lie to you (in a British accent)
I tried the Gaming Copilot (still labeled “beta”) on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X. The AI is built directly into the new Xbox Game Bar as part of the so-called full-screen experience. You can set Copilot to use multiple voice types, though “wise” comes out more lethargic and bored than philosophical, and “heroic” is literally just a British accent. If you hold down the Armoury Crate button (that toggle at the top left of the device), you can bring up options to either speak to or use the on-screen keyboard to type questions at the chatbot.
In Hades II, I asked Copilot how I could get the “Kudos” resources you can use to upgrade your camp’s aesthetics. It told me I needed to complete more runs to get them. That’s true, and it deserves a single Kudos for knowing the name of the resource, but it also ignored the fact that players can sell loose items to the Wretched Broker to obtain the material.
Discovery is one of those intrinsic features in games that doesn’t exist in any other artistic medium. Sacrificing it for the sake of expedience could effectively ruin some games. It’s the job of game designers to make navigating their worlds feel organic. Players need to feel like they’re making choices without that belittling sense of hand-holding when they are being shepherded toward their goal like the lost sheep they are. A great example of this is in Naughty Dog’s 2017 action-adventure game Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. On one level, players race after a convoy in a truck while being hunted by an armored vehicle with a machine gun. The player can take multiple paths as long as they keep heading downhill. Every player will eventually end up in the same place at the bottom, but the fun is in the creativity.
Now, imagine if I paused the action for a second to ask an AI, “How do I get to the bottom?” Not only does doing so break the flow of the game, but it also ignores the work the developers put into their design.
Using Copilot on an acclaimed title like Hades is one thing, but a tool like this applied to poorly designed games also risk becoming something more problematic: a band-aid over legitimate issues. But it also may not even be a great bandage, considering how often it gets things wrong.
Copilot may offer bad advice to new players
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