Artificial Intelligence (AI) is infiltrating every area of our lives right now: in our homes, our workplaces, and our recreational time. So, you may already know that online game developers use AI to design and code their games. But have you considered using AI to help create your own winning strategies? In this article we discuss the ways in which an AI system can improve gameplay in variety of online situations, with examples from both video games and online casinos.
AI And Video Games
For video gamers, AI can optimise your game strategies and ensure that you train in the most effective way possible.
AI Can Be Your Game Coach
Among the many things that AI can do faster than any human is analyse data. There are already tools out there like Mobalytics that analyse your eSports performance and highlight areas that need improvement like tactics in combat and decision making at critical moments in the game. Not only can tools like this help spot weaknesses but they will also generate training plans to help you improve in those areas.
AI tools will also improve analysis of your opponents play, something that sports coaches and their staff normally do ahead of big sporting games, to help construct a strategy to combat their gameplan. This can be applied offline in pretty much any sport but it’s also useful for video gamers who play a whole range of games including StarCraft or chess.
Creating Unique And Unexpected Strategies
As teams get better and better at predicting their opponents moves (some because they are using AI coaches of course!), developing unique and unexpected strategies can be important. AI can help with this too, and it already does in games like Madden NFL which incorporates AI-generated playbooks that will adapt to your team’s strengths whilst also coming up with formations and plays to exploit your opposition’s weaknesses.
Better Character Customisation
In many RPGs, character customisation plays a huge part in the game, with complex builds now possible. Getting the best out of these requires a deep understanding of both the possibilities in a game and the limitations of your own skills. A well-trained AI system can help to optimise your character build to give you the best skills, equipment and stat allocation.
We can use Path of Exile as an example because it’s intricate skill tree and huge assortment of items makes cutomisation complex and tricky to do well. Help is at hand because now there is a tool called Path of Building Community Fork that integrates with Path of Exile and uses AI to simulate scenarios with your current character build and suggest improvements based on the outcome of each.
For example, it can calculate your character’s Damage Per Second (DPS) when different enemies attack, and in different situations. Trying different skill sets and equipment can find the optimum combination to succeed in each battle scenario. You can try swapping out different skill gems, passive skills, and gear pieces in the simulator to see how each change affects your DPS and other important stats.
The exciting part about all these uses of AI is how they are personalised to optimise a game strategy around your own playstyle and skillset. They are like your own personal coach, and with a mind that is a million times faster! But remember that it shouldn’t replace your own instincts. It’s important to maintain integrity in that respect, and to keep making your own decisions. AI is not the boss, but your helping hand.
AI And Casino Games
AI can be used to help optimise your strategy for video games. But what about other types of games? Could AI be the golden ticket to winning millions at the casino?
Blackjack And Card Counting
In the world of blackjack, AI can deliver big strategic advantages at the tables. For years, card counting – by which players count which cards are already out of the deck and therefore the likely value of what remains – has been seen as the ultimate tool with which to overturn the house edge at casinos.
But it’s almost impossible for a human to keep track of multiple card decks in this way. It becomes easier if AI tools are involved to estimate the deck composition and provide real time odds for the next cards as well as recommending the optimum strategy to win at each stage of the game.
And even without card counting, AI assistants can be used to test and refine different pre-defined strategies under test conditions much, much faster than when playing the real game. It can also provide support in real time whilst the game is playing out by assessing the probability of a bust with each turn of the card to help the gambler to make informed decisions.
A player who goes through this process can step up the tables at their local casino or load up the live tables online with more confidence that their approach will give them the best odds of coming away with cash in their pocket.
Other Casino Games
For casino players, AI can only be effective when a strategy can manipulate the house edge in a game like Blackjack or Poker. There is no use for AI when playing online slots, for example, where the outcome of each spin is entirely random.
No action by the player can make a difference to what happens on the reels where the Return to Player (RTP) is baked into the game’s algorithm, as explained in this article. So, in the case of slots, scratchcards, or other fixed-odds games, AI cannot help us.
Bankroll Management
Perhaps one final area in which AI could be of use to the casino game fan is in bankroll management. It becomes a powerful tool in helping players to play safely and responsibly without spending beyond their means.
AI can develop a spending strategy to get the most out of a player’s budget based on their usual gambling behaviour, whilst optimising stake size for the preferred game type (blackjack, slots, poker, roulette) and risk level, from low to high odds.
But it can also go further, because AI will be able to then track and report on a player’s activity in real time in comparison to the proposed strategy, warning when they take too many risks and place too many high value bets.
AI could play an important part in developing responsible gambling guidelines in the future, but like all the uses described on this page, it’s important to remember that AI can’t make decisions for us, it will only be there to analyse and advise. But the speed and power with which it works will make our gaming lives much more exciting and rewarding.
Final Thoughts
The future of online gaming looks more exciting than ever thanks to AI. Both game developers and consumers will benefit as the products get better and understanding of how to play them improves too. AI tools like the one described on this page are becoming more and more popular, and their use will become more widespread, so make sure you take advantage and get the upper hand on your opponents.