Introduction
Indie game discovery has always been different. Unlike with many other game types that are actively promoted and pushed towards us, indie games are generally discovered when a gamer friend stumbles across something exciting and shares it with us, when a player on a gaming forum cannot stop talking about this new cool game in town, or when a developer himself informs the gaming community of a new game or feature update. So human interactions have always been at the center of discovering indie games, and this was true even in earlier times, before algorithms existed that now suggest games to people based on their previous behaviors. In the older days, players felt this human connection in their niche communities when they spoke to each other and even in a subtle way when game creators made games that actually resonated with the audiences.
The Impact of Indie Game Discovery Moving Online
Fast-forward to today, and players now discover indie games differently. Digital storefronts, which are online platforms that house a massive library of millions of games across various genres, are now where gamers are finding their favorite games. Apart from the wide selection of games to choose from, many of the platforms are also offering discounts, promotions, bundle deals, and even encouraging community engagement, making their use more popular. According to an article written by Sam Watts in Medium, Apple and Valve were among the first to have storefronts that featured publishers' titles. But it was not long until other major players jumped onto the bandwagon and offered slightly altered versions of the same concept. Most recently, Statista highlights a digital PC gaming storefront called Steam, as the most popular online gaming and distribution platform.
But while these marketplaces make games more accessible and offer several advantages to gamers, the large player bases and presence of several fragmented communities hinder or even eliminate the core human connection element. Developers find it difficult to keep track of and participate in community discussions that otherwise foster better player relationships, and with many of the platforms lacking proper community moderation processes and guidelines, the forums become breeding grounds for irrelevant conversations to take place, increasing the gap between players and developers in the community. This issue is exemplified in a Reddit discussion, where an active gamer shared this view on the Steam Community platform becoming increasingly toxic and how “There do not appear to be any repercussions for a developer abandoning their discussions or failing to moderate them”. So, while indie gamers and developers are still passionate about their games, the spaces where they once discovered and shared games and felt emotional connections are now becoming just marketplaces to find games, significantly negatively impacting their gaming experience.
The Importance of Human Connections in Indie Gaming
Emotional Connection and Community Engagement are key factors in the success of the indie gaming industry. It is what sets it apart from the AAA gaming domain. In AAA gaming, establishing connections with the games, players, and developers is complex because of mass-produced games, generally repetitive titles, fragmented discussion forums, and an indirect sense of hierarchy between developers and players. However, in indie gaming, the communities are relatively much smaller, and gamers share the same passion as the developers. Hence, they can find representation in most games, genuinely connect and seek advice from like-minded players, and interact with developers more informally.
In indie gaming, it is never about just finding something to play; it is about finding a connection with the games. Hence, when indie gamers are looking to play a new game, they prefer recommendations made by fellow gamers in their community over algorithmic suggestions. In an interview conducted with Naomi Kidane, a passionate gamer since the age of 4, she says, “Personally, like, before I buy a video game, I'd rather hear someone's opinion about it”. This makes it personal, human, and also helps gamers trust the game more and “enjoy a deep connection with the game, “ as emphasized by Ismar Hrnjicevic, in his “Some Gamers Are Obsessed With Indie Games, Here’s Why” blog for How To Geek.
Community Engagement is also important in Indie Gaming and refers to the building of direct relationships between players and developers. In the indie gaming world, many developers actively seek gamers' feedback and advice during the testing phases of their game. This two-way interaction enables developers to make changes to the games according to the players' satisfaction, and allows gamers to influence the game development process, creating a sense of shared ownership and investment in the project. This is unlike in AAA games, where developers usually only interact with players in a one-way format through game announcements and updates. Here, within the indie gaming domain, players feel an increased sense of belonging to the community by collaborating with developers, and as highlighted by GlobalStep“If you treat players like collaborators, not just transactional customers, you’ll see that brand loyalty grow.” So with indie gaming’s strong emphasis on human connection and community, one really stands to question the integration of AI in this domain and the storefronts.
AI in Indie Gaming: Where to draw the line?
Like with many creative industries, AI is increasingly becoming popular in the gaming industry, and its use in digital storefronts is gaining mixed reactions. While “Many players are indifferent – quality matters most”, many other “communities value handcrafted content and explicitly prefer 'human-made' games”, according to a news article by Wellgames. With respect to its use in digital storefronts, Preston Whitford, Staff Writer at Spectator News, feels that AI is taking over curation on these platforms, with AI junk titles burying indie ones and the technology negatively replacing human creativity. Some storefronts, such as Itch.io, have expressed how over-reliance on the algorithm can lead to the system prioritizing profitability over showcasing titles that relate to gamers' preferences. Speaking to Naomi Kidane, on this topic, she expressed how she strongly opposes its use in the industry by stating that “The whole AI thing is not too good [….], a lot of indie gamers are, like, original artists, yeah, like, they make their own stuff, and because of the whole unethical part to AI, where it does steal a lot of artwork and writing and stuff like that.”, giving her good reason to object its usage. She also believes that AI’s integration in digital storefronts should be delayed, if used at all, to first gain the trust of gamers. Generally, it is more likely that the big players in the gaming industry are leveraging the technology, while the indie game producers are not so keen on its use. While AI might help game discovery in digital storefronts, it becomes a question of concern when it starts to completely replace human creativity, which is generally against the core value indie gaming is built on. The real question here then becomes that if AI is a part of the indie gaming industry and storefronts, then to what extent should it be used in the platforms?
What Would It Take To Keep Indie Gaming Human?
If indie gaming is centered around conversations, connections, and shared passion among people, we then need to understand how much technological AI integration into the industry and digital storefronts will be safe enough to keep it human. When Naomi was asked how she felt about this, she says “If you could manage a success like that without any AI included in it, you could also keep a large trust within that indie developer community”. Her concern is mostly with respect to AI replacing human creativity, and the excitement of being recommended an indie game by a fellow gamer, as well as the joy felt by a developer in personally responding to gamers’ feedback on a game he created for them, being replaced by an algorithm. This thought is consistent with one research that suggests that people are more likely to trust suggestions given by their community peers rather than a technology.
This does not go on to say that AI is not required in the indie gaming industry. In fact, it can reduce the overwhelm and anxiety of new players when they visit a platform to discover a new game by suggesting popular options to them. Hence, a right balance is required where algorithmic suggestions do not bury small indie titles and replace human creativity, and where gamers can still communicate with developers impersonally and feel a sense of collaboration and belonging. This would fit right in with the core value of Indie gaming that centers around human connections over algorithms.
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