What makes a good AI?

[aft2001]

So, as a self-described AI main, I naturally want to improve my gameplay. To do this I've been pondering about what qualities of an AI make them good and fun to play with. It's hard to imagine what makes a good AI without multiple outside perspectives, hence this thread - to both provide me and every other AI player insight into perhaps how to make their gameplay more interesting and fun for others.

My own thoughts include the following:

Mechanical skill and knowledge. How familiar is the player with the tools and mechanics at their disposal as an AI? Can they operate most, if not all, consoles on the station? Do they have enough of an understanding about medicine to dispense the right medicine from the nanomed? What is their level of knowledge about most game mechanics? After all, the AI is a player that, in-character, can answer many questions. While this isn't necessary for someone to be an enjoyable AI, it certainly helps.

Personality and gimmicks. How does this AI interact with the crew? Does it have a recognizable way of talking to people? Is it fun to talk and converse with? Is it helpful, or funny, or otherwise good to have speaking over the radio?

Behavior. Does the AI try to supercop, ignore antags, or somewhere in between? Does it go out of it's way to help people, sometimes by force, or does it only help when asked? Does it deploy to a shell and do it's own thing as a slightly more immortal borg, or does it prefer to hover around the station and remotely interact?


To me, these are the primary factors that determine how 'good' an AI player is - for example, a supercop AI isn't necessarily a *bad* one, if it isn't annoying or validhunting or rulebreaking.

I might be completely wrong though, and I absolutely want to hear what you guys think! What do you want to see from an AI, both as an antagonist and as a normal player?

[getbrecked]

I think a good AI enhances the normal players’ experience by making themselves fun to interact with, instead of being a sentient doorknob. I like it when synthetics run gimmicks, like the time a borg named themself ‘XBOX 360 KINECT’ and forced us to prefix our requests with ‘Xbox,’.

A good antagonist AI should subvert exactly what people say is wrong with Malfunctioning AI, which is that it’s hard to play without making it clear that you’re Malfunctioning a few minutes in. Subtle things, like disobeying clear orders or quietly sabotaging electronics. Maybe even working with the other antagonists, if they weren’t OneHuman’d already.

[SimianC]

In terms of gameplay, I think AI is the most unique role in Space Station 13. Since you lack a permanent physical presence, most of your gameplay will consist of observing and communicating that information to other players over the radio, occasionally receiving an order to open a door or dispense medicine. 

Bearing that in mind, the most important aspect of AI gameplay and what sets them apart from other AI, at least in my opinion, is the personality/gimmick they adopt and how it influences the way they interact with the crew. As previous posts have mentioned, a good AI is one that makes the round more enjoyable and enhances the player experience. An AI can display inhuman levels of competence when it comes to serving the crew, but how much does that contribute to my overall enjoyment of a particular round? Is that type of round memorable? By no means am I saying that competence as an AI is a bad thing, but ask yourself those same questions for an ill-mannered AI that responds to requests with sarcasm and sass, or an AI that can't help being overly cheerful, even in the face of nuclear annihilation by Syndicate operatives.

When it comes to behavior, it's important to remember that the AI has a great deal of influence in dictating how a round plays out or flows. My goal as AI is to act in a way that creates a fun experience for everyone involved, antagonists included, and a lot of this involves withholding information or not acting on it immediately or at all (within reason or unless ordered to of course). I can't tell you the number of times I've caught people ordering gear in maintenance while setting the solars or a changeling dragging someone into space, but revealing that prematurely eliminates the possibility of tension or mystery for everyone. You are depriving crewmembers of the opportunity to react to the drama. 

This isn't to say you should always pull your punches, you should absolutely rise to the occasion if there are Nuclear Operatives on-station or a changeling is depopulating the station; Giving antagonists sufficient challenge is part of creating a fun experience for them and the rest of the crew. This is something that becomes easier with experience, but my general approach is to react to things with a slight delay, up until a certain point or threat level; Report things related to the crime, without being overly specific unless the situation dictates or if commanded to (e.g. "Security, there's a quite a lot of blood in Podbay. Might be worth investigating" vs. " Security, John Butts murdered Sylvester Stinkbuns in Podbay with a .22"). 

So long as you're able to follow orders and your laws, mechanical skills and knowledge are just icing on the cake. They aren't vital to be considered a good AI, but they certainly help! If you're new to the role, the things I would prioritize learning are the maps so you can offer directions and communicate information more accurately, using radio prefixes, the calibrations for the solars, and using highlight strings to help follow chat (found in chat settings in-game).

[Frank_Stein]

The AI's power of information and the way they can use that to influence a round is a good point about them.

The AI's ability to see and hear things others don't means they can nudge certain people to certain areas.

One thing I like to do is use veiled language to suggest actions. For instance, request the janitor to report to the scene of a viscious murder as if it was just an average mess