How Can an AI Instill Empathy in Players?
By Xander Townsend | Misfit Media Editor
As some of you may know, Misfit Media is publishing a game developed by Misfit VR called Runaway Mage. This game is a single-player VR experience designed to help those who suffer from anxiety and mental illness with a focus is on exploration, immersion, and relaxation. I have been developing this game over the past year and have had the opportunity to construct and design many mechanics involved with VR and mental health.
One of the main mechanics involved with Runaway Mage is a virtual companion/therapy animal I named an 'Omen'. The Omen is a AI, half spirit half goop entity that has a little plant embedded in his head, sticky little blob hands, buttons for eyes, and an attached lantern for light. He behaves very similar to a cat/otter hybrid with fetching capacity and is designed to be attached to the player's side at all times.
I was very adamant on testing specifically the graphical and animation based elements of this virtual companion animal that would instill empathy and an emotional connection in players. There were several interesting results I gathered from playtesting that I didn't expect to see.
The Omen's eyes and gaze were extremely important. There is something about eye contact that human beings really gravitate towards in terms of establishing a genuine connection with another entity. Now, one issue I faced regarding this is that the Omen doesn't actually have eyes, he has buttons located where eyes should be. How do I graphically ensure the player knows that these are his eyes so that the Omen can maintain eye contact and even blink, inferring that it is a living breathing entity. The AI's head was programmed to make sure it was always looking at the players eyes when they are interacting with it, and we constructed a fold/scalable animation for a blink. This enables us to showcase important behavioural qualities without attempting realism and therefore hitting uncanny valley (a massive no-no in aesthetic and art direction).
The Omen's animations and movement were also integral especially when it came to having the player trust the Omen's presence enough to treat it as a support system. I chose to model the movement system off of an otter with cat-like qualities for two reasons. The first being that cats are an extremely popular therapy animal and imply little to no maintenance (especially when compared to animals such as a dog), and otter movements are seen as some of the most empathetic as they are known for holding hands when swimming, or hugging each other. These inferences were designed to help the player see the Omen as an empathetic and nurturing creating that would be a place of support, rather than the player needing to care for it.
The Omen is one of my favorite game assets to date and has given me the opportunity to explore many different graphical aspects when it comes to psychology and emotional elicitation. I plan to continue investigation into behavioural qualities the AI can exhibit in order to maximise the potential connection it has with players, especially from an empathetic standpoint.