Now Xbox has also patented ‘help sessions’ that play your game for you when you’re stuck
Unlike Sony’s ‘Ghost Player’ patent, Microsoft’s patents involve getting a human or AI to take over
Following recent reports that Sony has patented tech that lets players hand the controls over to an AI helper, Microsoft has now patented something similar.
The company was recently granted a group of patents which refer to “video game help sessions”, and let players have someone take over the controls when they’re stuck.
According to one patent (as spotted by Tech4Gamers), the patent suggests a scenario where a player is stuck in a particular section of the game and may need help.
The patent describes a situation where the system can use machine learning to detect that the player is having problems, and displays a pop-up message asking if they need help.
If the player requests help, the game could theoretically create a save state from that point and start a ‘help session’, where the player’s controls are taken over by a helper, which could be another human or AI.
In the patent’s example, the player is struggling to find a hidden gem. A pop-up appears asking: “Would you like to accept help to find the gem? If so, click Yes to save your game here.”
When a helper is found another pop-up says: “LuckySeven is available to take over your game. Transfer control to LuckySeven?” If the player accepts, the helper then takes over and will be able to talk to the player as they control the game for them.
The patent suggests that helper players can be rated on how helpful they were, and this can also be broken down by genre. LuckySeven may be very helpful when it comes to adventure games, it suggests, but may not be great at racing games.
Just as machine learning is used to determine when a player may need help, the patent also suggests that a similar method can be used to determine when that help has been received – when the gem has been collected, in this example – and immediately return control to the player.
The player can then decide whether to keep playing from that point, or return back to their save state (when they originally requested help) and try to play through the same section themselves.
An accompanying patent called Machine Learning for Video Game Help Sessions suggests that while these helpers can be humans who take over sessions through cloud gaming, they can also potentially be AI helpers who are trained on previous playthroughs of the game and would therefore be immediately available to help, removing the need to have have other humans waiting for requests.
As with all patents, the fact that Microsoft has patented this doesn’t mean it will definitely become a feature in the future, it’s simply protecting the idea in case it does.
Microsoft’s patents aren’t the only example of companies considering the use of AI to help players. In January it was reported that Sony has patented similar technology, dubbed ‘Ghost Players’, which would see players request an AI-generated ‘ghost’ version of their character to appear and help.
Similar to Microsoft’s Patent, Sony’s patent would let players choose either Guide Mode – where the AI helper shows the player what to do before they then have to do it for themselves – or Complete Mode, where the AI helper simply completes the section for the player.
Where the patents differ is that Sony’s version appears to be AI-only and seemingly lets players call it at will, whereas Microsoft’s version appears to focus more on detecting when the player needs help and offering it, along with the option to have a human help over cloud gaming rather than an AI helper.
Last month Asha Sharma – who previously served as president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product – took over from Phil Spencer as Microsoft Gaming CEO, and promptly stated that while AI may be used as a development tool, it won’t result in “soulless AI slop”.
“As monetization and AI evolve and influence this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop,” she said in her first statement in her new role. “Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.”
