In recent times, artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly prevalent in various industries. Although ChatGPT-4 is not trained about events beyond September 2021 and causes simple reasoning errors in many cases, it still exhibits human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks. The latest version of ChatGPT is a large multimodal model that accepts images and text inputs and generates text output. This technology is already powering Microsoft’s Search engine, Bing. Microsoft also brought ChatGPT AI chatbot to Azure OpenAI service to help developers innovate in new ways. A lot of professionals across the globe are feeling some uncertainty about their ongoing careers due to the endless possibilities around AI being explored by a majority of employers.
The video game industry is no exception to such news, with AI already being used for various purposes, from adding intelligence to NPCs, image enhancements to automated asset creation such as characters, environments, objects, and even levels. However, some may wonder how this technology could impact the career prospects of video game testers. Especially the manual testers. In this blog post, we will explore the possibilities of the latest AI hampering the career of video game testers, and whether it can truly replace human testers.
ChatGPT AI, developed by OpenAI, is a language model capable of generating human-like responses to text-based prompts. It has the potential to automate many tasks currently performed by humans, such as customer support, content creation, and even video game testing.
So, could ChatGPT AI potentially replace human video game testers? The answer is, it’s highly unlikely. While AI can automate certain aspects of video game testing, it cannot fully replace human testers. Here are some reasons why:
Human intuition and creativity-
One of the main advantages of human testers is their ability to use intuition and creativity to find bugs and issues in a game. They can provide valuable feedback on gameplay mechanics, storylines, and other aspects of the game that AI would struggle with. This kind of insight is essential for creating games that are engaging and enjoyable for players.
Trends and Standards-
Your own experience of playing various games across the platforms gives you ideas about the market standards and even affects your liking in line with the latest trends. AI can never achieve that human touch. Otherwise, artificial intelligence will be able to predict the future about which game will be a flop and which will be the top grosser of the market.
Variability in testing-
Human testers can test a game in a way that AI cannot. They can test the game under divergent mindsets, conditions, hardware setups, varying playing styles, and different languages. This variability is important for ensuring that the game is accessible and enjoyable to a wide range of players.
Subjectivity in testing-
Another advantage of human testers is their ability to provide a subjective assessment of a game. This kind of analysis is valuable for understanding how players will perceive and interact with a game. While AI can provide objective data on aspects such as game performance and load times, it cannot provide the same kind of nuanced evaluation of gameplay that human testers can.
AI cannot handle UX-
User Experience, often abbreviated as UX, is a specialized field within the game design that focuses on the psychology of the end user. UX designers are concerned with understanding the behavior and thinking processes of players, and ensuring that the intended vision of the game is effectively communicated to them. By applying UX principles, game developers can create experiences that resonate with players, ultimately leading to increased engagement and satisfaction. The goal of UX design is to ensure that the end-user has an enjoyable and meaningful experience, while still achieving the objectives of the game’s creators. No matter how smart the AI or ChatGPT becomes, it cannot anyhow replace a professional game tester on this front.
Go beyond monotonous stuff-
Imagine thousands of game testers across the globe purely using ChatGPT AI just to generate test strategies and scripts(mainly to show how effective they are than their competitors). The results will not be any better than the duplicated CVs that they usually generate using such AI tools or templates. There is a limit to how much such tools can rephrase everything in an attempt to make the final content look unique in your CV. You cannot ask the AI tool to work in your place but to handle the predictable and already-known stuff. You must shift to smarter tasks that demand creativity, innovation, and human intellectual processing.
Manual testing efforts can identify and address issues that might be missed by AI-based automation. While AI can quickly identify common bugs and glitches, it may not be able to detect more subtle issues that can impact the overall player experience. Human testers can use their expertise and experience to identify and address these issues, leading to a better overall game experience for players. Additionally, human testers can provide valuable insights into the usability and accessibility of a game, ensuring that it is easy to understand and to play for a wide range of players.
In conclusion, although ChatGPT AI is getting trained for new stuff each moment, and it has the potential to automate certain aspects of video game testing, it won’t fully replace human testers. Professional game testers bring a unique set of skills and insights that AI cannot replicate, such as variation in playstyles, designing & implementation of fresh strategies, antithetical mindsets, and subjective feedback. The use of AI in video game testing should be seen as a tool to supplement human testers(especially around scripting and automation-related tasks), rather than a replacement for them. The video game industry will always need Quality Assurance with help of skilled human testers to ensure that games are enjoyable, accessible, and immersive for players of all kinds across the globe.
