EVE Online launches new AI rookie help tool

With most game developers, at best, silent concerning the advantages of using AI, EVE Online’s CCP Games is happy to stand out.

It’s announced Aura Guidance, a prototype chat tool that’s designed to help new players onboard.

Trained on over 5.8 million help messages the game has previously received from rookie players, this long-term initiative is designed to lower the barriers of entry to what remains a notoriously complex game.

Having analyzed these messages, it was found that they contained over 700,000 genuine questions, of which only 176 were deemed repeated common questions.

So, as well as handling the sheer range of questions players ask, it’s also hoped that Aura Guidance will allow players not to be embarrassed to ask stupid questions. In addition, the system works within the game screen and can guide players directly within that UI.

It’s also interesting to note that CCP Games is being cautious in its deployment of what it calls “an early prototype that’s in ongoing development”.

Indeed, Aura Guidance will be deployed in a classic A/B manner, with half of new players gaining access to the tool, and the remainder experiencing the current flow. Even players given access to the tool can switch it off.

In this way, CCP Games will be able to see how the two groups fare across key metrics such as retention, engagement, and monetization.

Aura Guidance is an opportunity to drastically improve the way players find information and reduce friction for new capsuleers taking their first jumps into New Eden,” said creative director Bergur Finnbogason.

“Players submitted over 5.8 million Rookie Help messages in just the nine months we analyzed. That’s an impossible amount of content to navigate when you’re trying to answer a single question. We built Aura Guidance to make that process easier, enabling capsuleers to get fast, accurate answers drawn from the generations of rookies and veterans who helped them navigate EVE’s complexities.”

However, given the toxic reaction to AI from some hardcore gamers, it’s notable that CCP Games has also caveted this new initiative with exec producer Snorri Árnason pointing out that the technology doesn’t use generative AI.

He’s also at pains to point out that it “does not produce game content, create art, or replace creative work”.

“Aura Guidance has been carefully designed by our team and is grounded in existing player support data to supplement Rookie Chat, not supersede it,” Árnason adds.

CCP Games also reports that the cost of the system will be “comparable to running a single small European household for a year’, noting this is a rounding error next to the energy consumed by the game servers.

Source: https://www.blockchaingamer.biz/news/41714/eve-online-new-ai-rookie-help-tool-aura-guidance/