PlayStation will have a virtual assistant to accompany video call games
Players will have text message or voice assistance in the style of Discord.
Sony, creator of PlayStation, would be developing a new system for online video game players to provide virtual assistance to improve their skills or overcome levels.
Sony registered a new function for PlayStation that consists of providing virtual assistance to video game players in real time. (Sony)
The company tried to register in July 2023, a patent called “real-time help session during the gameplay of a video game” for novice players.
The system will not only seek to help players in times of difficulty, but will also be a platform from which they can receive useful tips for finding hidden objects on a map or the most appropriate way to solve a side mission.
Although this information can be found on the Internet, Sony intends that players spend most of their time on the console instead of disconnecting and searching for information in specialized blogs. In this way, it would be replacing game guides and even tutorials that appear on platforms such as YouTube.
According to the diagram attached within the registration document presented by Sony, the help session would have support for different forms of contact between the player and the expert.
These would be through voice messages or calls, text and even video, so not all help or advice would require the same level of effort on the part of the game servers.
The process for finding the right assistant for each player would involve several considerations, including the level the player is at and the assistant’s historical experience in that scenario. Once both of these are established, an expert would be assigned via one of the available communication channels.
In the event that the session was unable to find an available expert, users will have the ability to access a recording of the section of the game in which they are located and in which the presented difficulty scenario is overcome.
The experts who are online at the time will receive a notification on their device screen indicating the type of problem the novice player is experiencing and they can choose to accept the request or reject it and ignore the request for assistance.
If the request is not answered, it will be forwarded to another possible available expert.
The virtual assistance by the experts will be very similar to a video call in which the virtual assistant’s camera will be shown together with the capture or transmission of the player’s screen as well as the correct combination of buttons or commands to overcome the level or the enemy to be defeated.
On the other hand, in the same scenario, if the player to be assisted deems it best, he can initiate a text chat with the expert in which a miniature version of his screen will also appear to give the expert the right context to efficiently assist the user.
This feature will also have a special player analysis function. As more time is spent playing, the system will detect improvements in the user’s performance and he will move from being a novice to an expert, so he will have less and less availability of help resources. This will not happen in an accelerated manner, but will take into account the number of months of playing.