The World of AI Gaming

1 - What is “Co-Playable Characters” and “Non-Playable Character” in gaming.

In video games, characters are typically classified based on whether players can control them:

• Non-Playable Characters: These are characters within the game world that players cannot control. Instead, the game's artificial intelligence (AI) manages their actions and dialogues. NPCs serve various roles, such as quest-givers, merchants, or background characters, enriching the game's narrative and environment. For example, in many role-playing games, an NPC might provide the player with a mission or sell in-game items.

• Co-Playable Characters: This is a newer concept in gaming, introduced around 2025. CPCs are AI-driven companions designed to interact and collaborate with players in a more dynamic and human-like manner compared to traditional NPCs. Unlike standard NPCs, CPCs can understand and respond to game situations intelligently, offering support and engaging in cooperative gameplay. For instance, in games like "PUBG," a CPC might assist the player by strategizing and reacting to in-game events in real-time.

The development of CPCs aims to enhance the gaming experience by providing players with AI companions that can adapt to different scenarios, making interactions more immersive and gameplay more engaging.

What is an NPC?

By Sam Hill Updated August 13, 2024

Gaming terminology is like general slang — it is constantly evolving and easy to get lost in, especially if you aren’t very tuned in to online gaming communities or a younger gamer. Gaming terms can also leak into the real world and take on new meanings in day-to-day conversations. You aren’t alone if you get a little lost keeping it straight sometimes.

NPC is a gaming term that’s been around for a long time, but it has recently taken on a new meaning and is being used more frequently by folks outside of gaming. Let us break it down for you.

What does NPC mean in gaming?

NPC stands for “non-playable character” in gaming. It’s a term used in video games and tabletop gaming to distinguish between characters in a game that are controlled by the player and characters controlled entirely by the game (or by “the computer”). NPCs can range from characters that exist solely to deliver exposition through dialogue in cutscenes to characters the players can interact with directly and even companion characters that play the game along with them.

Pictured above is the NPC Cortana from the Halo series. In the franchise, Cortana is an artificial intelligence that journeys along with Master Chief (the player character) throughout the game, furthering the story through dialogue mid-game and during cutscenes but never controllable by the player.

NPCs come in all shapes and forms — post-apocalyptic merchants and faction leaders in the RPG series Fallout, neighbors in the farming simulator Stardew Valley, or rival Nintendo characters in a round of Mario Party 8.

What does NPC mean outside of gaming?

Over the past couple of years, the term NPC has been used more and more outside of gaming. In online communities and in-person, some people have been using NPC as an insult to describe individuals perceived as lacking independent thought or blindly following trends. It can describe people who may be perceived as generic, without any special characteristics that make them stand out (unlike the main playable character in a video game).

The term has been popularized on social media, where it shows up in several ways.

On YouTube, people started posting videos of encounters with strangers whom they considered to be NPCs. Often backed with instrumental music from the RPG Skyrim, which is full of NPCs delivering dialogue without being prompted, these videos typically feature people who are either speaking in an odd monotone, are repetitive or harping on a specific topic, or just speaking without really addressing anything said by the person filming (as if going off a limited script).

Episode 3818 - Jan 15 - Tiếng Anh - Thế giới Trò chơi có hỗ trợ của AI – Vina Technology at AI time

Vina Technology at AI time - Công nghệ Việt Nam thời AI

Episode 3818 - Jan 15 - Tiếng Anh - Thế giới Trò chơi có hỗ trợ của AI – Vina Technology at AI time