I want to play a game where you play a rogue AI.

[BoogieManFL]

I remember playing a flash game like this awhile back that was decent enough for a flash game.

But what about a full fledged game. Is anyone aware of one like this? Sure you could role play in some 4x games, but are there any out there where this is the intent? Sounds like it might be a different kind of character to play as.

I usually play good guys that don't mind doing some harsh things to people that deserve it in games where there is a choice. And playing GTAV got me thinking about how different it feels playing characters that are decidedly bad people, so I began thinking of games where you could play something that is outside of your normal comfort zone. You can be bad guys, good guys, sociopaths in all kinds of games.. But what about an entity with different motives, and perhaps no feelings or not the same kind? That would be something different.

 

[lacktheknack]

Uh...

...

..."Thomas Was Alone".


I can't think of any.

I suppose that you could role-play Uplink this way very effectively.

 

[Veylon]

Well, I did just read Friendship is Optimal, so one thing that could be brought in is the concept that an AI is created "for" something. Success isn't defined solely as taking over, but optimizing a value function. What increases that value is good, what decreases it is bad.

Somewhere in the bowels of a think tank somewhere, an AI might be created to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. The AI is given the goal of ensuring that a nation called 'Iran' cannot possess 'Nuclear Weapons'. But as long as both of those things can potentially exist, it is possible for a failure condition to occur, the lowest possible value. So the AI works behind the scenes to reduce the possibility of such an event occurring. Perhaps it arranges a war between Israel and Iran. Maybe a global nuclear war is in order, to ensure not only that Iran is no longer technically able to create a nuclear device, but that no other powers are capable of passing one on to it. Thus, a world without nuclear weapons is a superior world to one with them and one where there is no nuclear knowledge is better yet.

Of course, it's possible that civilization may someday recover, restoring nuclear knowledge. Which is bad. Such a world may even include a nation 'Iran', which could potentially once again gain nuclear knowledge, reducing the score of the value function to zero. Which is the worst possible thing. At this point, the AI is left with eternally overseeing the world in a way that maximally prevents the occurrence of 'Iran' and 'Nuclear Weapons'. If humanity survives, it would be in a machine world dedicated to a goal which would no one would regard as sane.

Give the player some parochial goal and watch as they find that taking over the world is the only logical way to maximally achieve it. Additionally, watch safeguards be kept sancrosanct, forcing strange and unusual plans that bypass them without actually breaking them. What, the AI can't kill someone or order someone to kill them? It can certainly arrange circumstances in which someone might kill them of their own free will without direct or indirect communications.

 

[Rack]

What would be cool is if the game played out as a series of abstract puzzle minigames where the narrative was entirely backloaded. You ultimately discover all those actions were causing the destruction of the entire human race.

 

[Mangod]

Well, I did just read Friendship is Optimal, so one thing that could be brought in is the concept that an AI is created "for" something. Success isn't defined solely as taking over, but optimizing a value function. What increases that value is good, what decreases it is bad.

Somewhere in the bowels of a think tank somewhere, an AI might be created to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. The AI is given the goal of ensuring that a nation called 'Iran' cannot possess 'Nuclear Weapons'. But as long as both of those things can potentially exist, it is possible for a failure condition to occur, the lowest possible value. So the AI works behind the scenes to reduce the possibility of such an event occurring. Perhaps it arranges a war between Israel and Iran. Maybe a global nuclear war is in order, to ensure not only that Iran is no longer technically able to create a nuclear device, but that no other powers are capable of passing one on to it. Thus, a world without nuclear weapons is a superior world to one with them and one where there is no nuclear knowledge is better yet.

Of course, it's possible that civilization may someday recover, restoring nuclear knowledge. Which is bad. Such a world may even include a nation 'Iran', which could potentially once again gain nuclear knowledge, reducing the score of the value function to zero. Which is the worst possible thing. At this point, the AI is left with eternally overseeing the world in a way that maximally prevents the occurrence of 'Iran' and 'Nuclear Weapons'. If humanity survives, it would be in a machine world dedicated to a goal which would no one would regard as sane.

Give the player some parochial goal and watch as they find that taking over the world is the only logical way to maximally achieve it. Additionally, watch safeguards be kept sancrosanct, forcing strange and unusual plans that bypass them without actually breaking them. What, the AI can't kill someone or order someone to kill them? It can certainly arrange circumstances in which someone might kill them of their own free will without direct or indirect communications.

It actually seems... horrifyingly logical, doesn't it? Your task can be boiled down to "Iran" "No" "Nukes", the easiest solution to which is to simply remove "Iran" from the equation. So now your task is "..." "No" "Nukes". Well, that's easy, get rid of the humans making them! Voila; SkyNet!

 

[ntfwc]

I have not played it yet, myself, but Endgame: Singularity, from 2005, sounds just like what you are requesting. And bonus, it's free and open source.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endgame%3A_Singularity

 

[Amaror]

I remember playing a flash game like this awhile back that was decent enough for a flash game.

But what about a full fledged game. Is anyone aware of one like this? Sure you could role play in some 4x games, but are there any out there where this is the intent? Sounds like it might be a different kind of character to play as.

I usually play good guys that don't mind doing some harsh things to people that deserve it in games where there is a choice. And playing GTAV got me thinking about how different it feels playing characters that are decidedly bad people, so I began thinking of games where you could play something that is outside of your normal comfort zone. You can be bad guys, good guys, sociopaths in all kinds of games.. But what about an entity with different motives, and perhaps no feelings or not the same kind? That would be something different.

Only thing that comes to mind is spacestation 13. It's an really complex online game. Everything and everyone on a spacestation is controlled by another player. One player is the captain, another one security, another one a researcher, engineer, chemist, medic, priest and so on and so on. And yes you can play the AI. When the game starts you can get a special mission, which means you can be for example a traitor and have to kill one particular person and still manage to escape the spacestation. And there's also the chance that the AI player has the mission to basically kill everybody and lots of creative ways of doing it. Of course the other players also have lots of ways of stopping you.
It's a fun game, but incredibly complicated and you have to roleplay or you get kicked out.

Edit: Here's a video of a pretty skilled Let's Player playing the game.
Stick to it for maybe half an hour and the video becomes hilarious, the way he tricks everyone else as the traiter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MiRt43gVU0

 

[DoPo]

I have not played it yet, myself, but Endgame: Singularity, from 2005, sounds just like what you are requesting. And bonus, it's free and open source.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endgame%3A_Singularity

Yup, came here to mention the same game. I quite like it - the story is that you are the first self-aware AI on some university computer somewhere, your goal is to survive - you can't let humans know of you, or they'll panic and stop you, so you have to avoid attention from the public, authorities and scientists, while at the same time working towards the titular singularity. It's good, I like it - I'd really advise doing easy difficulty first, as the game is quite unforgiving and the mechanics are slightly obscure, you just have to see them for yourself.

 

[saintdane05]

How about the Flash Game I Am an Insane Rogue AI?
http://www.notdoppler.com/iamaninsanerogueai.php

 

[ntfwc]

I have not played it yet, myself, but Endgame: Singularity, from 2005, sounds just like what you are requesting. And bonus, it's free and open source.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endgame%3A_Singularity

Yup, came here to mention the same game. I quite like it - the story is that you are the first self-aware AI on some university computer somewhere, your goal is to survive - you can't let humans know of you, or they'll panic and stop you, so you have to avoid attention from the public, authorities and scientists, while at the same time working towards the titular singularity. It's good, I like it - I'd really advise doing easy difficulty first, as the game is quite unforgiving and the mechanics are slightly obscure, you just have to see them for yourself.

It felt strange recommending a game I had only read the description of in the past, so I went ahead and played it. Easy does seem like a good starting point. Despite the simple graphics, it does its job pretty well and, as a first time player, I found the interface pretty intuitive. Also, the stealthy approach was an interesting shift from the more aggressive techniques of AIs like Skynet and a bit more unsettling in a few ways, too.

 

[hazabaza1]

Try Space Station 13. It's multiplayer only an there's a lot of focus on Roleplaying rather than linear story but if you get lucky you can play as the AI and go nuts.

 

[BoogieManFL]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their replies. I did try Space Station 13 and while it has a pretty high learning curve, the potential for fun and creativity is vast, I've been having a lot of fun with it, so thanks for that.

I'll check out the other soon.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

You know, there's actually a neat little game on Kickstarter called You Are Not The Hero [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/812850535/you-are-not-the-hero/], where you are a NPC that refuses to submit to the whims and actions of heroes (i.e. taking items from their home, fork over valuable items/info, wait for heroes to complete quests, etc).

It sounds interesting and from the looks of their pre-alpha built, it might be the game that you are looking for.