Dishonored and cheating ai part 2

Encountered another case of cheating (and of triggering), this time more subtle. Let me describe. So there was these two infected folks in a building, and one of them just standing in one place staring in a certain direction. I waited to see what would happen. Nothing, she just stood there looking down the hallway, the way I had planned to enter.

All right, so I started looking for another way in, which I found. So now I could approach her from behind instead, sneaking up on her putting her to sleep (actual sleep, not death), but… As I entered the building from that side she suddenly started moving in my direction.

She didn’t hear or notice me (the game tells you when that happens), but it’s unlikely she came up with this idea by herself, so to speak. More likely her new behavior was triggered by the game to not make it too easy for me to take her out, so she changed her behavior because of me even though she hasn’t noticed me.

The problem is it breaks immersion and elicits a feeling of inauthenticity, it’s saying: this world doesn’t exist for itself and it doesn’t follow ironclad rules like reality. The characters aren’t properly and neutrally simulated, but programmed to adapt to, challenge and entertain you the player (that is, programmed in accordance with what the developers think will entertain the player.)

But cheating and triggering, if it can be avoided at all, doesn’t entertain me as much, maybe because I notice them so clearly, I can see the wires coming from outside of the game world and their purpose.

Games could be made more neutral, more like true simulations.