I just took a moment to look into my crystal ball to see what things the future will bring to the world of online multiplayer gaming. It spat out three new features that are bound to come about in the next ten years. I call them the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The Good
For a couple of years now top end games and films have had computerized puppets and rendered characters by mimicking the movements and facial expressions of regular actors. Most studios employ complex motion capture suits to choreograph blocking and gestures, and coat the actor’s face with dozens of reflective dots to record their every emotive twitch. Recently some major breakthroughs have taken place, where the face no longer needs to be prepared with reflective dots -- all that is needed is for the actor to sit down in front of a camera for a few seconds with a blank expression, and then zoom, the facial recognition software is ready to hum. Sure the current state of the art system requires almost a full CPU to handle all the real time processing, but I’m talking about the future here.
In the future you’ll sit down in front of your machine and it’ll look you straight in the eye -- and put your war face on. No longer will you need to type “LOL”, you can just laugh out loud and your in-game character will do the same. Rolling eyes, frowns, stuck-out tongues, raised eyebrows, the whole works… everything you can do will be mirrored on your avatar. No more pesky “/emote” commands, or binding hot keys to various obscene gestures pre-programmed by the game designers… your new virtual face will be the mirror to your soul.
The Bad
Well, we’ve followed up most every queasy violent urge the players can think of in our quest to produce more and more extreme video games. We’ve got thousands and thousands of bloody combat simulators, we’ve got hundreds of games that simulate heads exploding into red mist when they’ve been hit with a sniper bullet, and we’ve even got a game or two that simulate people rolling around on the ground howling in pain after your shoot them in the crotch. And we recreate this all with the glorious claim that the “video game” is an acceptable (if not necessary) outlet for this sort of behavior.
Ok, so when are we going to get the riot simulators? When is there going to be a game which provides a society of players the shock of something unfamiliar and frightening, and the mob bands together and chases it down with pitchforks and flaming torches? When are the players going to satisfy their need to run reprobates out of town without a fair trail – tarred and feathered? When are we going to achieve virtual mob rule? We’ve simulated all the solo violence a player could want, now it’s time to simulate the engrossing, morally-freeing experience of being a part of mob justice. Wait for it, I’m sure it’s coming.
The Ugly
One of the tragic side effects of multiplayer games becoming popular is that some people will want to play, but just won’t be able to keep up with the Joneses. They’ll see everyone else on-line, and having fun, and talking with all their friends in hip and trendy virtual reality bars… but who will want to talk with them, the dull and clueless, the “ugly” people of virtual reality? It may be that, on the internet, no one knows you’re a dog; but everyone will know you’re a simpleton who has the brains of a collie.
So in the future there will be simple bots that will pass the touring test well enough to keep these dotards entertained with their own conversations. For a couple hours each day these simpletons can log into their favorite multiplayer game and entertain the crowds at their own tavern. The bar patrons will laugh, cheer, hoot, and holler for more witty anecdotes, but the players will never have to deal with the shame of knowing that they’re only talking to a room full of yes-bots.