Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the crypto.news editorial team.
The realm of Web3 games encounters significant hurdles in attracting players. Recent findings reveal that a mere 7.9% of Web3 games boast more than 1,000 users. This scarcity of players, referred to as “player liquidity,” leads to extended matchmaking periods, subpar competitive experiences, and economic obstacles that affect studios’ revenue generation and developmental sustainability.
Exploring alternative solutions to these challenges goes beyond merely increasing player counts, a process inherently slow. The introduction of AI avatars—essentially “digital replicas” of players’ abilities—can promptly boost player liquidity. These avatars facilitate seamless game operation by ensuring matches are filled with adept players, even in the absence of human participants, effectively resolving the player liquidity predicament in Web3 games.
This advancement is made possible through imitation learning, a meticulous process that rigorously trains AI models to accurately mimic a player’s gaming techniques and strategies. It transcends mere autonomous operation of AI bots, focusing on precise calibration to retain the human touch in AI, preserving the subtleties of player behavior. The resultant AI avatars can compete autonomously while mirroring their human creators’ skill levels and strategic acumen, thereby upholding the competitive integrity and dynamism of the gaming environment.
Empowering players to transfer their skills into an AI template allows games to continuously populate matches with these AI avatars, ensuring a consistent gameplay experience irrespective of the online presence of human players. This strategy notably alleviates the player liquidity dilemma by maintaining a robust and dynamic player pool.
The concept of “parallel play” emerges as an ancillary benefit of this innovation. With their skills encapsulated in AI avatars, players can concurrently expand their influence across multiple settings within the same game or even across different game modes. This functionality not only broadens the scope for competition and success but also enriches the gaming experience by fostering more robust and diverse challenges.
Amid concerns that AI’s involvement could dilute the value of human skill and competition, experiences in games like our flagship AI Arena, where players leverage imitation learning to train AI combatants, suggest otherwise. Players exhibit substantial dedication in grooming their avatars, thus heightening their engagement with the game and refining their skills through studying their avatars’ performances.
For game studios, this approach assures a steady, engaged player base, expedited matchmaking, equitable contests, and an enhanced gaming experience, while also unlocking fresh avenues for monetization such as wagering on AI avatar matchups or trading/selling avatars.
Players stand to gain significantly from this approach, with benefits including heightened engagement, potential for greater rewards, flexibility, convenience, and a more enriching learning environment. Players can actively partake in their preferred Web3 games, honing their skills even when away from traditional gaming setups.
Embracing AI avatars will undoubtedly reshape the Web3 gaming landscape, addressing the crucial player liquidity challenge and ushering in novel opportunities for engagement and revenue generation. The impending era of gaming promises enhanced accessibility, rewards, and engagement, underpinned by the adoption of this transformative technology.
Author Wei Xie is the co-founder and COO of ArenaX Labs, a tech company at the forefront of revolutionizing gameplay through AI-driven experiences.