10,000-word long article: The ultimate solution for AI companion products?

#头条创作挑战赛#

Introduction|This article is an in-depth long article co-created by me and a number of friends and product people Super Huang, welcome all "Hao Hao Dad" who are interested in this topic to poke me crazy and discuss and exchange together~

Author of this article:

dougiewang, Product Planning, IEG, Tencent

Super Huang, 10 years product manager

I have analyzed two other AI products before: and (I haven't seen my own poke), in the process of communicating with many entrepreneurs in related directions, I am also constantly thinking, these two products seem to be good, but what is missing?

What is the ultimate meaning of AI accompanying the track?

After spending nearly 10 hours of playtime and being surrounded by beautiful women, I thought maybe the answer was found!

In this article, we will expand on several parts to try to find the answer:

1. An insight from Character.ai
2. "I'm Surrounded by Beauty" brings a sense of immersion and emotional satisfaction
3. AI is currently being used as a reference in the field of games
4. Two product design ideas are provided
5. Three non-consensus points for AI products

Take Away：

1.AI The key to the success of companionship products is to provide "emotional sustenance", which is a super added value

2. Based on the efficiency of games in terms of immersion, AI companion products are worth learning

3. In the .AI era, the idea of "occupying the mountain is king" is worthy of commercial development

01 Synopsis

I wrote an article about Character.ai before, and there was a question that was later asked by the founder of a company:

Question: Why is it that C.ai anime & game IP with the largest number of conversations, but it is rare to see high-praise comments on reddit talking about IP, but about their own feelings?

Let's give a conclusion after research: users actually need a tree hole with feedback and temperature, and they care about themselves, which has little to do with IP, or IP is not the core element.

Here's why:

1. C.ai users lack social interaction in real life, chatbots can accompany them at any time and solve the appeal of emotional sustenance, which is the core demand. (Please use C.ai to talk to any IP about psychological problems)
2. Different chatbots, just with different character personalities, adapt to users with the style of IP. The core of IP itself is to use popularity to achieve a lower initial communication threshold, and the subsequent completion of continuous accompaniment to meet the emotional needs of users is the key
3. Based on the above two points, C.ai attracted users through well-known animation IPs, and a large number of users also looked for IPs to communicate, and the dialogue brought by the model behind IP can solve the problem of emotional sustenance, constituting the answer to the question of inscription.

That is, users are more concerned about their own hearts and feelings, rather than which AI character solves my problem, but well-known IPs lower the threshold for communication.

Among the C.ai user cases, there are three types of users with the most:

1. Try it first
2. RolePlay，角色扮演
3. Simply play with well-known characters and kill memories
1. MUD game (Multiple User Domain multi-user virtual space game) is a general term for text online games
2. Emotional outpouring

The Mud above is a very interesting category, and the character Text Adventure Game is an AI character specially designed for this purpose, and it ranks seventh in terms of the number of dialogues:

I don't know if you've experienced it, nine years or the era of dial-up Internet, then I will go to the Internet café to open the web page, there will be a group of people turn their heads to look at me, say brother can you stop surfing the Internet, we can't play games here, I turned my head to see, a group of people are playing word games on the screen.

Continuing to the main line, when we look at the C.ai, we will find that the active users are very invested in the AI role, here is not to spell the richness of AI's knowledge, but more to comfort the emotion, from a screenshot of the group friends, we can also see that AI can better understand the emotions behind the text, and respond in the way of the character itself:

This kind of emotional response based on the psychological level can better establish the stickiness of the user, otherwise it will fall into the competition for the quality of large models and the arms race.

OK, there are two types of ways that users can be immersed for a long time:

1. Mud wordplay
2. Emotional heart-to-heart communication

Both of these types give users a sense of immersion, flow, and time flies, resulting in a lot of time spent on C.ai, and a willingness to use it over and over again.

More of the two C.ai to capture the 2 hours a day for heavy users, is emotional heart-to-heart communication, as we wrote in the previous article:

After the emotion is satisfied, there are only three negative comments that can be seen on Reddit: the server is down, the chat history is lost after it is down, and the queue is too long. Because this affects the user to access the AI character with emotional sustenance!

Emotional sustenance, this element, was vaguely aware of it when I was writing an article and doing research before, but I didn't think very clearly, until I played the hit game "It's Over! I'm Surrounded by Beautiful Women"!

02 What is "Finished"?

"! I'm Surrounded by Beautiful Women" is a game released on Steam, so let's get a feel for how it plays:

The story begins with the male protagonist waking up from a hangover, finding that he appeared in a strange place, and after sitting up, he needs to observe the objects in the room:

After collecting the key information, you can move on to the next step, pick up Bra from the ground, and the first heroine appears:

The male protagonist said: Damn, I remembered. The picture returns to the time when I met Zheng Ziyan, and I saw a pervert secretly photographing Zheng Ziyan, please make a choice:

The main line of this game is to use the player's first perspective, in different scenes, to attack 5 beauties, each with its own unique beauty, who will you choose? The game is composed of several levels, each level has its own main line, and some branches, through the player's choice to determine the direction of the plot.

This game is very close to the taste of otaku.,There's a certain degree of challenge.,Anyway, I played to the end of the second quarter.,When I settled,,Tell me that the heart value is not enough.,I need to go back and sort out the emotion.。。。

Well, in order to make it easier for everyone to understand it further, I put the label that users in the Steam store have given it:

Overall, although many people say it's a live-action interactive image, I would think it's just a game:

Although Sparrow is small, "Finished" also has four characteristics of the game: goals, rules, feedback system, and voluntary participation.

(Source: Game Changed World)

The first is the goal, the goal is very clear, that is, to get the goddess, and then to advance by choosing again and again, this is the rule of the game:

The feedback is the change in the favorability of the beauties for their choices, which is very intuitive:

For example, we chose the answer that the beauties were not happy to see, in addition to seeing the disappointed expressions of the beauties, there would also be sound effects and animations of the heart breaking on the right side.

Volunteer, you don't have to ask! I'm willing to !!

So, it's a real game, because it has all the 4 characteristics mentioned above!

For "Finished", as a player and a user, in the process of experience, two key points of thought to be explained in this article are triggered:

1. Immersion
2. Emotional sustenance

Let's start with immersion:

03 How to create a super immersive sense of "Finished".

This game is from a first-person perspective.,Although I know I'm not Gu Yi (the male protagonist),But in the first-person perspective.,I really want to bring in.,To choose your favorite heroine.。

This kind of content form, I have felt it on PICO's VR, it is stronger, and there is even a live broadcast room specially created for this, many sexy female anchors are very good at using immersion, and will tease you with their hands, which is quite real. "Finished" can only be played on the big screen, and the immersion is slightly weaker than VR, but it still has a good feeling.

For example, Haohao's mother's hot body is still quite impactful:

When poor big eyes asked me if I really regarded her son as my own, how could I refuse?

In addition, the game has also put thought into the content design:

GameLook:怎么保证故事的代入感?

Producer Xu Yang: How to make players believe and substitute into this story, I think there are two main points.

The first is the creation of a girl's character, which should not be too arrogant or ungrounded. Because in fact, now I see the feedback of many players, most players will have a white moonlight like Xiao Lu. So after the player really accepts our setting and plays, he will like Xiaolu, or remember some of his previous experiences, and will pour some of his feelings into this girl, which I think is a very important step.

Second, we are actually deliberately weakening the presence of the male protagonist. In fact, I also read the feedback of many anchors and players, and I think this male protagonist is too wasteful. Actually, that's right.,Because we did it on purpose.,If the male protagonist is too much of his own personal characteristics,,It will become the threshold for players to enter.。 So when we do it, we make it as popular as possible.

from"Dialogue with the CEO of small content, "It's over! I'm surrounded by beautiful women!" How is it so popular?"

Also, the lightness of weak interaction

The game is not very interactive, mainly by choosing different options (the picture of Hao Hao Ma above is one) to affect the direction of the plot, rather than solving problems through operations or combat. This weak interaction allows players to focus more on the plot and character development, and it can also make it easier for players to enjoy the game without much skill or thinking.

In the game, there are two main actions that can be interacted with:

1. choose
2. survey

Investigation is to look at live items in the game to obtain some key information, and after obtaining it, it can further advance the story.

The rest of the time, it's all about watching the story, and there's not much to do, which is very suitable for lazy people and non-gamers.

In other words, I only need to point my fingers to hug the beauty, and the audience is like watching a movie that controls the process by myself~!

and, the satisfaction of being in love

The plot and dialogue of this game are full of love and romantic elements, which make players constantly moved and heart-warming in the process of playing the game, and also let players feel the sweet and warm feelings between the protagonist and the beauties, so as to meet the love needs and fantasies of players.

Hey, to put it bluntly, it's specially created for a type of user group that loves men and women!!

To sum up, to create a sense of immersion, "Finished" uses at least four tricks: first perspective + heroine casting + weak interaction + satisfaction of love.

Having said all this, what kind of users are playing "Finished"? This hides the core essence of its breakthrough: emotional sustenance!

04What is the user portrait and emotional satisfaction of "Finished"?

Let's take a look at the reviews on the Steam store:

Nima, a game of 30 yuan, the two roommates don't spend a penny on me and finish reading it

15,487 likes

It's funny and a little bitter! It also reflects that the user group includes college students.

You all say this game is rotten.,I don't know if it's rotten?,I'm a stinky dick in real life.,Now it's rare to have a game that takes the initiative for me.,I don't know.,I'm really moving my brother.,Don't scold me.。 I'm just an ugly dick in reality, I can only play games and have fun, count me begging you, brother, don't scold me

14,657 likes

In many cases, don't look at what experts on the Internet say, but take a closer look at how users who have spent money are expressing their feelings, which is more valuable!

Xiao Lu asked me "how much do you love me"

I said, "About 300 grams."

Xiao Lu smiled and said that this is so old-fashioned, "I know that 300 grams represents the weight of the heart"

But she didn't know that I was just a sewer rat, and 300 grams was my entire weight.

12,639 likes

This one is really a little touching, saying that he is so humble, many people below replied to break the defense

When I was young, I just wanted to play with Zheng Ziyan, and when I matured, I just wanted to give Hao Hao a home

This supplement is for Hao Hao, I just want to sponsor my children to go to school

The plot cannot be evaluated, and it is recommended to run for the best sci-fi film in China in 2023

——————————————————————

Who said that Comet Shen looks like Xie Dajiao? I've been laughing for a day

8,846 likes

Behind the psychology expressed by the player, the changes in adults are clear at a glance

Complete "I'm Surrounded by Beautiful Girls" in 5 hours.

Cliché plot, simple interactions, stiff transitions, short storylines, amateur authors, patchwork actors, fast-paced atmosphere is hard to get into the state, and your failures can even be re-selected on the spot, so is this game worth buying?

446's cod19 I played 600 hours, 198's Riders Republic played less than 6 hours, compared to the price of 37 is really not much, 37 yuan you can't even invite the opposite sex to watch a movie, 37 yuan you don't even have the qualifications to be a dog, so how to define the quality of a game, is it the GTA5 that is still selling well ten years after its release? Is it a big cousin that costs 5.6 billion? Or Terraria with a 96% praise rate?

I don't know, I only know that 37 yuan made me have a dream that I didn't dare to do in my life, and my reality is a loser who drinks dick silk drinks and plays dick silk games, and is a rat who only dares to hide in the sewer and peep at other people's happiness. The cowardice of my youth made me miss that youthful love.

I thought that when I entered the university, the goddess of love would favor me, but I was wrong In this school where women are inferior to men, I don't even have the qualifications to be a spare tire, and girls respond to every call, it's normal for a princess to have no knights around her.

The first time I entered the choice ending, I was reminded of "The Marriage of Five-Equal Flowers", I didn't understand why Feng Taro chose Siye, and I didn't choose the sensual Ernai, just like Zheng Ziyan's pouting outside the window, how many men are in the tulle, or Hao Hao's mother, who is as calm as Sanjiu, until I saw Xiao Lu's 2.5 yuan head rope in the book, but I didn't hesitate to pay the fine for me, in order to help me pay off the loan, I understood Feng Taro when I ate instant noodles and watched online dramas. Xiao Lu doesn't have Zheng Ziyan's freedom, Hao Hao's mother's sexiness, and Zhong Zhen's gold, but she is my favorite.

Before buying this game, I watched a short video and saw a boy shouting that I wanted to be Zheng Ziyan's dog, I laughed at him for a long time, and then I found out that I was a clown, and I didn't even have the courage to confess my virtual girlfriend.

If evaluating the success of a game is the value it brings, then I admit that it is a very successful game, this cool game not only makes us feel love, it also tells us that love needs to take responsibility, choose Zheng Ziyan you have to accept her splendid freedom, choose Hao Hao's mother you have to bear the trivial things in the family, choose Xiao Lu you have to admit your ordinary and poor life.

Thanks to the author for curing my love brain and fulfilling my youthful dream. I approve of you, "I'm Surrounded by Beauty!"

2,634 likes

This one impressed me deeply, and I have been thinking about the explosion of "Finished" at this point in time, what is the social mood behind it?

I threw these user comments to GPT4, and it summed up the thoughts and feelings behind these contents:

1. Seeking escape and self-identity: Many comments indicate that users may feel ununderstood or unsuccessful in real life, and that they are looking for ways to escape reality through games, as well as a sense of self-identity. Some people mentioned that they felt inferior in real life, and that games became a means for them to experience different lives and fulfill their fantasies.
2. Longing for love and fantasy: The desire for ideal love is reflected in the comments. Players experience love experiences through the game's characters and plot that they may not have had in real life, which makes the game special for them.
3. Reflections on economic value and cost-effectiveness: Some users mentioned that the price of games and the entertainment value they provide, compared to other consumption methods (such as watching movies), and felt that games are a cost-effective form of entertainment.
4. Reflections on Real Life: Some of the comments show the player's reflection on their own real-life state. Through the game experience, they seem to have made some level of evaluation and reflection on their own lives, and some even inspire a desire to change reality.
5. Social Isolation and Loneliness: Some comments reveal real-life loneliness and social distancing among players, who seek virtual social satisfaction and emotional connection through the game.
6. In-depth analysis of the game's content: Some reviews provide an in-depth analysis of the game's content and story, suggesting that players are not only looking for entertainment, but also for deep meaning and emotional resonance in the game.

Then, express this comment, what kind of people are they:

GameLook: What is the current user demographic?

CEO Yurong Chen: Our research found that many users are college students. In the group of college students, the types of girls and personalities he has actually come into contact with have relative limitations, and we are setting up to give him a different sense of parallel worlds, and he will feel that what I have not found now is what I want to find in the future, or what I want to pursue.

from"Dialogue with the CEO of small content, "It's over! I'm surrounded by beautiful women!" How is it so popular?"

1. Age level: It may be teenagers to young adults, roughly ranging from 15 to 35 years old, mainly because people in this age group are more likely to be immersed in the virtual game world and resonate with the love stories in the game.
2. Social status: This type of user may have experienced some level of social challenge in real life. They may feel lonely, lack self-confidence, or feel uncomfortable in social interactions. The game provides a platform for them to escape reality and experience different social scenarios.
3. Economy: Given their sensitivity to the cost of gaming, these users may be students or young adults who have budgetary constraints on spending but are willing to invest in things that have emotional value to them.
4. Emotional needs: They may have a strong desire for love and intimacy in real life, but they may also feel powerless or afraid to face real-life emotional challenges. The virtual love experience in the game provides them with a kind of psychological solace.
5. Psychological characteristics: This type of user may have a certain level of inferiority complex or insecurity, and the sense of success and accomplishment in the game may help them overcome these feelings to some extent. They may be more introverted and like to immerse themselves in their own world.
6. Entertainment preferences: Their choice of entertainment content may be more skewed towards escapism and finding emotionally resonant experiences rather than simple pastimes. This shows that they seek depth and meaning when entertaining.
7. Cultural interests: This type of user may have a high interest in emotionally rich and profound cultural products, including movies, TV series, novels, etc., especially those that can resonate or provide emotional escape.

Taken together, this user portrait depicts a young person who may be facing challenges in real life and seeking to meet emotional and psychological needs through gaming experiences. They find a balance between the real and virtual worlds, hoping to find the missing confidence, love, and sense of success in the game.

Among this group of users, ordinary college boys are very typical portraits! Super Huang graduated from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, there are 23 men in our class, too many people are full of illusions about love but have low self-esteem in reality!

So, no matter what way "It's Over", there is a point of high value in the end, and it is satisfied with a low price, which is:

Emotional and psychological needs

Note that in this part we see a wave of emotions that young men are difficult to satisfy in reality. Write it down, and you'll have to take the test later!

We've talked about the game "It's Over", and we will also find that the game seems to be a good direction for AI accompaniment, which satisfies the emotional and psychological needs that are missing in real life through immersion.

Of course, "Finished" is not implanted with AI, we can first take a look at what actions AI has done in the game to improve these two points:

05 The current implementation of AI in the field of games

The landing of AI in the field of games, in fact, covers a very wide range, to write it all, this article has to be more than 100,000 words, limited to experience and energy, we will converge to two main points:

1. "Sick AI Girlfriend": Immersion

"Sick AI Cat Lady Girlfriend" is an escape room game that combines ChatGPT.

The gameplay is that the player is locked in a secret room and you are followed by a cat lady who claims to be your girlfriend, and your goal is to escape from the room by communicating with the cat lady and interacting with various objects in the room.

The design of this game is unique in the following ways:

The basic game framework + AI realizes freedom and richness

The entire room and objects are modeled using the Unity engine, just like traditional game production.

The points where there are breakthroughs are:

"We used ChatGPT to judge some emotions of the character, and also made some settings of different variables to make the character more plump and rich, and it can also have a variety of different operations. ”

There are dozens of ways to play that can be cleared, and the producer alone has explored dozens of them, I watched some videos of station B up, and even persuaded my girlfriend to join the great Genshin Impact organization, and my girlfriend took the initiative to open the door and go together!

It's very open!

Sick AI girlfriend, through the introduction of AI, enriches the breadth of play:

Breadth refers to expanding the scope of gameplay and interaction of a game, adding more gameplay elements and exploration possibilities:

Traditional games have to write a lot of more detailed scripts, and we are probably given some nodes here, and there are relatively few things to write, and the middle is played by the players and GPT themselves.

In addition, the use of AI in "Sick AI Cat Lady Girlfriend" not only increases the breadth of the game, but more importantly, greatly enhances the player's immersion. The introduction of AI has breathed new life into games, making every gaming experience unique.

• Depth of emotional interaction: Through ChatGPT to judge the character's emotions and dynamically respond to the player's communication, the cat lady character in the game is no longer a single preset NPC, but a partner who can resonate and interact with the player. This deep level of emotional interaction enhances the player's emotional engagement and enhances the game's engagement.
• Rich game solutions: The use of AI makes the game solutions diverse, and players can explore a variety of different ways to clear the game through interaction with Cat Lady. This open and exploratory design immerses players in the game's world, with new discoveries and experiences every time they play.
• Realism in 3D Spaces: Combined with the Unity engine, the 3D space provides players with a highly realistic and immersive game environment. Every interaction the player has in this space feels authentic and believable, enhancing the realism and immersion of the gaming experience.
• Player-Led Story Development: Compared to traditional games, this game relies more on the interaction between the player and the AI to drive the story forward. This player-led style of gameplay makes players feel like they're shaping their gaming experience, which greatly increases their immersion and gaming satisfaction.

The depth of interaction and game breadth achieved by AI technology not only enriches players' game choices, but more importantly, creates a highly immersive game world. The intelligent interaction of AI and the realism of the 3D environment work together to provide players with a new and immersive gaming experience.

2. Against the Cold: Emotional Sustenance

Reverse Water Chill is an open-world 3D action-adventure role-playing martial arts game.

It implants a variety of AI technologies, mainly in the following aspects:

1. Intelligent NPC System:

The NPCs in the game have the ability to talk and act autonomously, can talk to each other, can talk freely with the player, and based on the content of the dialogue, they can give logical behavioral feedback autonomously, which is completely driven by AI.

2. Face pinching with text and pictures:

Using AI technology to convert the user's input text description and uploaded pictures into the appearance of the game character, it allows players to quickly create a character image that meets their hearts without the need for tedious face pinching operations.

What's stronger than the average bunsho is that it's in 3D, and the appearance of the characters will be brought to the game!

3":

Triggered by unlocking a certain level or interacting with NPCs. At present, there are more than 40 beauty punch and lyrics points in the game, after entering the AI lyrics mode, the system will automatically provide 3 more suitable word card names from more than 40 Song word brand names, players click on the scenery in the scene, enter the image keyword, and the lyrics will be automatically started. AI can automatically identify a large number of parameters in the game, including environmental factors such as the hour, weather, feng shui, and passers-by, as well as the player's own factors such as gender, personality, occupation, and clothing matching.

4.3D scene generation:

Based on the intelligent terrain generation function of the player's hand-drawn line input, it allows the player to create a beautiful mountain and river and lush rainforest with a few strokes. The AI model uses a generative adversarial network (GAN) to intelligently generate a realistic, detailed, and high-resolution 2D terrain height map in real time, visualizes the terrain and calculates a variety of geometric features throughout the terrain Mask, and finally builds the scene in the game.

The AI of the Reverse Chill adds depth to the gameplay:

Depth mainly refers to increasing the complexity and emotional level of the game's internal elements (e.g., story, NPC interactions).

In addition, the application of AI in the cold water not only increases the depth of gameplay of the game, but more importantly, it provides players with a unique experience of companionship on an emotional level. The integration of AI technology makes the game world more lifelike, creating an emotionally rich and vibrant virtual space for players:

• Emotional NPC Interactions: The intelligent NPC system gives players a sense of intimacy and connection that has never been felt before through more natural and emotionally deep dialogue and feedback. The player's interaction with these NPCs transcends the traditional gaming experience and becomes a real emotional exchange.
• Personalized Character Creation: With text and image face pinching, players can create characters that are emotionally resonant. This personalized character is not only visually unique, but also a medium for the player's emotional projection and self-expression.
• Emotionally Immersive Creative Experience: The "AI Lyrics" and "AI Draw" features allow players to express their emotions and creativity in the game. By interacting with the game environment, players are able to create artwork that reflects their inner world, enhancing the emotional depth and personalization of the game experience.
• 3D scene generation: Players can create unique 3D scenes with their own hands, which is not only a technical innovation, but also an emotional investment. Every choice made by the player in the creation process is full of emotional meaning, so that every mountain, river, and tree has a unique emotional connection with the player.

To sum up, the depth and emotional gameplay achieved by Reverse Water Chill through AI technology not only enriches the game experience, but more importantly, it provides a space for emotional resonance and sustenance, allowing players to find their own emotional sustenance and stories in this virtual world.

Similarly, there is an AI NPC plugin for Unreal Engine 5 games, search for the video at station B.

06 The ultimate meaning of AI accompanying the track

If you make a product with a strong sense of immersion + emotional sustenance, will it be the ultimate meaning?

Let's try to develop two design ideas and lead the way:

Design idea 1: Enhance emotional sustenance

"Finished" is still not perfect, and the biggest point I personally think is that the plot content is too small, and after the player explores it once, there is often no motivation to continue to open it, just like no matter how good the movie is, you won't open the same one every day, and you will vomit.

At the same time, live streaming, as well as similar ways:

The video content, which was already small, was completely overdrawn in the public domain.

Then, there is no deeper interaction, which also limits the player's emotional attachment to each heroine, but on social media, these heroines "make a lot of money":

Correspondingly, the popularity of "Finished" has recently begun to decline:

"Finished" is close to one-time consumption of game content, although the official announcement will be followed by DLC (Downloadable Content, refers to the subsequent downloadable content of the game, such as expansion and MOD), but the difficulty of waking up after the heat has passed.

What kind of content can we imagine that can be produced endlessly, and that users can have emotional dependence and sustenance, and that can be subscribed?

For example: Hao Hao Ma digital human + customizable warm cottage + voice dialogue system + love cultivation system

In the same way, for RPGs, we can also consider adding similar mechanics to enhance the emotional connection between the user and the game character.

Design idea 2: Enhance the sense of immersion

In this section, let's take a look at the evolution of the experience brought by SillyTavern:

If we take video games as an intermediate form, C.ai, Hoshino's graphic products as a primary form, there is an intermediate state between them, and this intermediate form specifically refers to the dynamic effect of the characters, which is SillyTavern.

Let's start by looking at what SillyTavern is:

SillyTavern - LLM Frontend for Power Users

SillyTavern is a virtual character chat software that can be deployed locally, supporting a variety of virtual characters, or you can create your own characters, and the background can be connected to a variety of different large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI, Claude, Llama, etc., and supports text-to-speech (TTS).

SillyTavern has evolved in the following ways in terms of virtual experiences:

• Interface optimization: SillyTavern has a more user-friendly and beautiful interface, supports mobile adaptation, can customize colors, backgrounds, avatar styles and panel positions, can also export chat history as text files, and can also achieve automatic translation of individual or entire chats through Google API.
• Rich characters: SillyTavern supports multiple types of virtual characters, extracted or created from various works such as anime, games, movies, novels, etc., and can also be customized according to the user's preferences and needs, and can also add background and characteristics of the characters through WorldInfo and Author's Note.
• Diverse interactions: SillyTavern supports multiple forms of interaction, in addition to text, you can also send pictures to virtual characters, let AI interpret the content of pictures, and can also realize character expressions, chat summaries, image generation through extended functions, and can also let multiple characters and users communicate with each other through group chat functions.
• Intelligent Adaptation: SillyTavern's AI can intelligently adapt and personalize based on user input and feedback to provide a more intimate and realistic companionship experience, as well as a prompt exploded view to see how each message is generated, and a role switch button to quickly switch between different roles.

You can think of it as a framework, you can put different large models into it, different fine-tuned virtual characters, and different interaction logic.

Because of the open source, it is very interesting to have an effect similar to a video on the interactive interface:

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV18G411X7Yo/?share_source=copy_web&vd_source=93c73acc07c62ce40e3badb6a9b80500

In this, the character supports the effect of dynamic interaction, which can greatly improve the sense of immersion, and the character is based on the content of the text dialogue with the user to make targeted interactive actions:

This is already very close to video games, and even SillyTavern may support video games in the future~

SillyTavern has found a new intermediate between graphics and video, which brings a possibility to the current AI+Chatbot products based on graphics and texts.

07 Three non-consensus points for AI products

Come, with the previous disassembly, we enter the final chapter!

Immersion is very important!

Emotional sustenance is a super added value!

In the previous content, we spent a lot of time trying to say that games are very good at creating a sense of immersion, and immersion is an effective strategy to help users quickly enter the product Ahamoment.

Let's focus on why emotional sustenance is a super added value:

1. Emotional satisfaction is a super added value

In the field of AI companionship, "emotional satisfaction" is not just a functional feature, but a "super added value". This value is reflected in several key ways:

1. Deepening the relationship between AI and humanity:

AI is currently focused on efficiency and task execution, but the trend towards AI accompaniment is to deepen the emotional connection with the user, and by simulating emotional response and understanding, AI is able to connect with the user on an emotional level that goes far beyond the boundaries of traditional functionality.

1. Meeting the emotional needs of modern society:

In a fast-paced, high-stress modern society, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to get emotional support from their busy daily lives. AI companionship can compensate for this lack to some extent, providing users with an always-available partner who understands their emotional needs.

This is in response to the needs of the times, and it is also an important factor for "Finished" to become a hit!

1. Enhance user experience and loyalty:

When AI is able to create a deep connection with users on an emotional level, it is no longer a simple tool, but becomes an important part of the user's life. The addition of this emotional dimension significantly improves the user experience and strengthens the user's loyalty to the product.

We made this point clear at the beginning of the article when we talked about the insight into C.ai~

1. New Business Value:

On a business level, emotional satisfaction opens up new markets and needs. For example, in areas such as nursing, education, or psychological counseling, emotional AI can provide more personalized and targeted services.

In summary, "emotional satisfaction is a super added value" in the field of AI companionship not only represents the progress of technology, but also a deep understanding and response to human emotional needs. This is not only the direction of technological development, but also the embodiment of social and cultural progress.

In addition, Hoshino is to a large extent, more like a game than the evolution of the C.ai, and because of the immersion that the game is good at creating, the products of the AI accompanying track will accumulate more user assets, which is very important, so important that I want to elaborate on it:

2. The stickiness of AI products comes from asset appreciation

What does that mean?

Let's take a chestnut, let's say you have been using Evernote for 3 years, and you have 1,000 notes stored in it, which are your assets stored in Evernote, and when you want to migrate, you need to consider the migration cost, which creates a de facto dependence on Evernote.

In the era of AI, the value of this asset to users is further amplified, if Evernote can form a more comprehensive understanding of you for 1000 notes, it can become your Copilot, the exclusive efficiency of personalized customization of your work, and it will become an AI assistant that understands you.

We see that C.ai data is very good, the user stickiness is very strong, and an important factor that consumes a lot of time is that they have obtained emotional sustenance, so they hate the three points of server hanging, their chat history being deleted, and waiting in line to get in!

The reason why it is difficult for these heavy users to leave the C.ai is that they have their own familiar characters, all previous chat history, and a dependence on the characters (if the AI can understand us better, the dependence will be stronger)!

Along this line, let's think about how we can enhance user stickiness when creating AI products/games.

One idea is to make an emotional connection between the AI character and the user:

In the past, World of Warcraft was a copy of 40 people, and everyone needed you, which made it difficult for people to AFK.

In the current AI era, it is your AI role, your Agent who needs you, and you need it!

This need goes beyond the instrumental level and into the emotional level.

Among them, among the game types, the ones that are more likely to have empathy are:

Role-playing games, or RPGs for short, are a type of game. In the game, the player is responsible for playing as the character in a realistic or fictional world. The player is responsible for playing one or more roles, and develops through a number of actions under a structured rule.

It can be referred to when designing products.

Based on this, it is likely that the AI era will open up a new form of network: the king of the mountain!

3. AI dismantles social networks

This graph, from left to right, illustrates the changes in social networks brought about by AI

Far left, the network before AI:

The typical is WeChat, the social network effect that depends on it, that is, the more users, the greater the value of the entire network. Due to the powerful power of social networks, WeChat has become a black hole for all social products, as long as you want to connect with other people more conveniently, it is bound to eventually lead to WeChat relationships.

In the middle, AI-enabled networks:

A typical example is bilateral platforms such as Douyin, where AI algorithms connect producers and consumers by distributing content.

People are indirectly connected through content, or in other words, under this kind of network, the connection between people is of little significance, and paying attention to people is also to screen content, at this time, AI plays a leading role, everyone may know that some head anchors, the platform says that if you don't give you the amount, you just don't have the amount.

In order to achieve the core demands of the product, such as improving user viewing time and increasing user VV, AI will automatically optimize it, and even for platform operations, algorithms are black boxes, and they rely on Dou+ (Douyin's buying tool) for operational activities.

Far-right, AI-only network:

The current AI+Chatbot track is very typical, including the Character.ai, Hoshino, etc., which I wrote about before, people are directly connected to AI characters, and people are not directly connected to each other, or even say that there is no need to connect.

The difference between it and the traditional community in terms of connection relationship was posted in the previous Hoshino article, and here is just a comparison chart of the attention relationship:

We found that social relationships have gone from close connection, to indirect connection, to disconnection, and AI has completed the "centralization"!

Behind this incident, it means that the times have changed, and the social network that Tencent relied on for its livelihood in the past may fail in the new era, of course, it can still complete the assetization through investment behavior, but the value of its social network may gradually wither in the future.

According to the law released by Tencent co-founder Zeng Liqing:

Network Value V=K×NN/RR. The distance between network nodes R is the factor between them: T: connect time ; S：speed; I：interface ; C：content。

Zeng Li Qing's law

When people communicate directly with AI, time will be detached from the social network, the response speed will lag behind, and the value of WeChat on the social network will naturally be damaged.

What does this mean?

AI social products are no longer subject to the powerful WeChat, and in the AI era, a new mountain will appear, which can quickly obtain a group of its own users in a short period of time under the empowerment of AI, so as to occupy the mountain as the king.

Combined with the collapse of social networks in the AI era mentioned above, as long as AI products can obtain the emotional sustenance of users, it is completely possible to achieve the king of the mountain!

(generated with DallE3)

summary

Writing here,It should come to an end,I need to admit,This article is quite laborious to write,Limited to my shallow understanding of the game,And the research time for AI companion products and users is too short,There must be a lot of shortcomings,In the process of writing,I also had in-depth exchanges and discussions with a few friends,Repeatedly revised the framework,Deleted a lot of content that is not related to the main line。

The core point I want to convey is that in the era of vigorous development of AI, in order to succeed in AI companion products, it is necessary to focus on two aspects: emotional satisfaction and immersion.

Emotional sustenance is a super added value that satisfies the psychological needs of the public, while immersion brings stronger emotional resonance through immersive experiences.

We believe that based on the rich experience of games in terms of immersion, Ai companion products will definitely find new gameplay and business models in the future.

No matter how deeply technology and content are combined, let's not forget:

AI can only achieve long-term success if it adapts to the emotional and psychological needs of the public and becomes an integral part of their lives. Technology is just a tool and a means, and creating products and experiences that move people's hearts is the ultimate goal of AI companion products!

I'm also looking forward to the birth of the AI Killer App in 2024! I hope that by that day, this article will play a role in boosting a little~