Why do you dislike AI art in games?

[herelooking027]

A lot of posts I have read on the site say they don't like AI art in games. I am curious about the reasons why.


Edit on Nov 24 at 4pm British Time: Most of the answers so far are mostly saying the dislike is because of bad experiences with games that do a poor job with it. I am skeptical of games made with RenPy because a lot of RenPy games are trash in my opinion (easy to make with low effort), but I don't dislike RenPy because of that.

So I am curious about a few other things. The answers won't change the way that I made things (I usually don't make games or mods with character images at all anyway). I am just curious.

1-1) If the AI art was good (consistent, no artifacts and weird stuff like odd fingers and skin and eyes, thematically-appropriate skin tones and features, no weird disconnect between subject and environment), and the art style could be whatever type you preferred (hyperrealism, 3D anime like, cartoonish, or whatever), would you be ok with it being used to make games?

1-2) Would you prefer "good" AI to asset swap art? (Asset swap is when you pick a 2D or 3D hair and snap it to a base model. RPG Maker is an example of asset swaps for sprite creation. Some WebGL games use asset swap libraries for 3D characters.)

1-3) Would you prefer "good" AI to porn inserts of real people?

1-4) Would you prefer "good" AI to DAZ 3D models?

1-5) Would you prefer "good" AI to hand-drawn art?

2) Have you tried making AI art yourself?


This purpose of this thread wasn't to ask about DAZ models but so many people on this site seem to prefer them that I am also curious about

3-1) If you prefer 3D models, is it because they are more likely to be animated?

3-2) If "good" AI was animated just as often, would you still prefer DAZ assets?

4-1) If you prefer 3D models, is it because you associate them with a less-anime look?

4-2) If AI art looked more realistic instead of having an anime look, would you still prefer 3D models?

 

[Loliholic]

Pure ai is okay, but i hate ai-makeovers of real porn or hs/koi since it ALWAYS looks worse than before.

 

[heynakumara]

I don't dislike AI art tbh, I'm even very pro ai haha, but games without animations don't catch my attention, and usually games with Ai art don't have it

 

[b0bb09189]

I haven't had an bad experience with AI art in games (so far?). Some of it I quite like. However, I've never seen one I liked go beyond the first update. I haven't done much with AI generative art, but I image it's very time consuming to get the generated scene to reflect what the dev wants it to and to adequately maintain solid character appearance continuity. If that's true, then I suspect that's why so few of the ones I've seen are in active development long enough to produce an meaningful content.

 

[descartes]

The AI was very inconsistent at first, the characters changed a lot, which decreased over time. However, there are still problems with AI games in that the art looks too similar to each other and they usually have no animations, although there are some exceptions.

 

[AlBetGam]

AI is easy to make art with but takes some work to make good art with (and sometimes even the technically good AI art can look vapid and uncanny valley-ish). But a lot of people don't quite realize that and use churn out a slew of images with little to no quality control, then slap then in a Renpy or HTML frame and call the resulting shovelware a game. Result is a lot of people have learned to expect AI games to be really awful.

 

[synthetic_man]

Ai art is trained on other art so it's essentially stealing it. The servers that house these systems use up so much water for cooling that it hurts the environment, especially when you remember most of this is hosted in Silicon Valley where water is more scarce. Finally, it looks terrible. There's this uncanny feeling to it that makes it weird. Even without the messed up hands that still plague many ai depictions, I can pretty much tell at a glance if it was ai or hand drawn.

Using ai in stead of just hiring an artist or learning to draw shows that you don't care. Furthermore, its not even art. To quote what someone said about ai fanfiction: "why should I be bothered to read something you couldn't be bothered to write?" The sentiment stands for all uses of ai creation in my mind. If you're not going to create something worthwhile then why should anyone care to play it?

 

[PeterPerv69]

Ai art is trained on other art so it's essentially stealing it. The servers that house these systems use up so much water for cooling that it hurts the environment, especially when you remember most of this is hosted in Silicon Valley where water is more scarce. Finally, it looks terrible. There's this uncanny feeling to it that makes it weird. Even without the messed up hands that still plague many ai depictions, I can pretty much tell at a glance if it was ai or hand drawn.

Using ai in stead of just hiring an artist or learning to draw shows that you don't care. Furthermore, its not even art. To quote what someone said about ai fanfiction: "why should I be bothered to read something you couldn't be bothered to write?" The sentiment stands for all uses of ai creation in my mind. If you're not going to create something worthwhile then why should anyone care to play it?

"Ai art is trained on other art so it's essentially stealing it."

This is really no different than when people create art. Nothing comes out of a vacuum. You either copy directly or you draw inspiration from other peoples work and make it your own. make it something new or better.

"why should I be bothered to read something you couldn't be bothered to write?"

Not everyone can do everything. I might have a great idea for a game and i used hundreds of hours learning coding in my spare time so i could finally create my dream game - i learned to use renpy myself - but i dont have the money to hire an artist to create thousands of drawings - but here is a AI tool that can help me with that - is it really as simple to say that im just lazy? i dont know.

Also where do we draw the line? We gotten so used to using tools that cuts out a huge portion of the work prior generations had to do, that we dont even think about it. At some point AI art and text is gonna be miles ahead of humans and no one is gonna care as long as the product is great. Just like u dont care if i got help coding my game by using software or i used photoshop instead of drawing by hand.

 

[odspyykt]

AI art is inconsistent. Character may look different from scene to scene. Otherwise no issues.

 

[Demiurge299]

A lot of posts I have read on the site say they don't like AI art in games. I am curious about the reasons why.

I find quite large subset of it to be visually unappealing, and even the ones where the style itself isn't outright ugly (or lazy, since plenty of folks don't even put much effort into prompting or using LORAs for a specific look and just use the somewhat default almost anime looking thing it'll just spit out), theres usually inconsistencies and inaccuracies or things "wrong" with the images used (think: body horror and objects in places they shouldn't be) that you don't typically see with 3d modeling or hand drawn works (not to say they cant have issues but its damn sure a lot less). I also really just find it to be lazy and a copout overall. yes, I get not everyone is capable of doing their own art, but that's no reason to use that slop to try and make a cashgrab. I typically don't mind AI in a vacuum, since yeah it can be fun to mess with, but I don't think it should ever be used for actual projects (ESPECIALLY if they have the balls to try and sell it).

 

[Karamchad]

AI have a distinct souless appearance.
And AI is incapable of creating fine detais in nais, fingers, genitals, hair etc.
For a broad image that the artist will then later draw over, sure go for it. Use AI as a tool, like photoshop.

 

[sam46]

All the arguments against AI are present in other games as well, it's just that the people who don't like it are louder i think. There are very few quality AI games, this is the biggest reason, I'm sure making a game with AI is not easier than making a normal game.

 

[HandholdDegen]

I hate AI for the same reason I hate asset flips: You take someone else's work, make something soulless, and then wonder why people aren't praising the ground your lazy feel wobbled over.
fuck outta here.

 

[EraChanZ]

I don't dislike it in principle - I think you can do great things when using AI properly. The issue is that the vast majority of 'devs' (and I use that term lightly here) use it out of laziness, or lack of skill to make something worthwhile themselves. And in those cases, the art is inconsistent, it's generic, it's boring.. It lacks that creative / human spark that is needed to make something unique and good.

And that's not taking into account the moral implications of how AI's are trained~ though that is less of an issue to me..

 

[herelooking027]

Questions for anyone who already replied and sees this:

1) If the AI art was good (consistent, no artifacts and weird stuff like odd fingers and skin and eyes, thematically-appropriate skin tones and features, no weird disconnect between subject and environment), would you prefer it to hand-drawn images? Would you prefer it to porn inserts of real people? Would you prefer it to DAZ 3D models? Assume that the art style could be whatever type you preferred (hyperrealism, 3D anime like, cartoonish, or whatever).

2) Have you tried making AI art yourself?

Ai art is trained on other art so it's essentially stealing it.

I agree that most AI models right now use work without consent and that bothers me. Almost all advanced technology is built on theft and exploitation, and that also bothers me. In the end I am bothered by anything that isn't drawn with a pencil and paper. That doesn't let someone make a game that sells well. I would feel much more bothered by that person being paid too little.

I think that other AI tools may come out that are less openly thefty. Ones that simulate Photoshop cleanup operations and things of that sort rather than more or less mixing images together thousands of times. I would be much less bothered by that being called "real art." I see most current AI products the same way I see someone making fan fiction of existing work by using whole chunks of the original, and then renaming and paraphrasing some parts of it and calling it original. (Comparing this to using AI instructions like "in the style of.") It is a new work and took effort to make, but the world and characters are still built mostly on something that already existed and it bothers me when that isn't said.

The servers that house these systems use up so much water for cooling that it hurts the environment, especially when you remember most of this is hosted in Silicon Valley where water is more scarce.

This is a bigger problem to me than the visual theft. Stealing resources people need to live and making essential resources more costly is literally devastating. I don't think the tradeoff of running giant precision models is worth the costs. I feel that money and time should be put into smaller precision assistance instead (like Photoshop helper functions).

Finally, it looks terrible. There's this uncanny feeling to it that makes it weird. Even without the messed up hands that still plague many ai depictions, I can pretty much tell at a glance if it was ai or hand drawn.

This I don't believe is true. Well-done AI work is indistinguishable from other digital work. There are just so many templates and bad examples that people don't believe it.

Using ai in stead of just hiring an artist or learning to draw shows that you don't care. Furthermore, its not even art. To quote what someone said about ai fanfiction: "why should I be bothered to read something you couldn't be bothered to write?" The sentiment stands for all uses of ai creation in my mind. If you're not going to create something worthwhile then why should anyone care to play it?

You lose me a bit here. Even if someone plagiarizes parts of an existing work for their own story, the story they create with it may be enjoyable, or even better than the original. Hiring an artist or learning to draw means you likely won't earn enough to pay the artist or get your own value, and that means you are unlikely to make a game at all. Real porn and asset swap games require less work by the dev than generating images with AI. DAZ models are mostly based on other people's work. A game with truly original assets would need a million dollars of funding to be made ethically.

I also really just find it to be lazy and a copout overall. yes, I get not everyone is capable of doing their own art, but that's no reason to use that slop to try and make a cashgrab. I typically don't mind AI in a vacuum, since yeah it can be fun to mess with, but I don't think it should ever be used for actual projects (ESPECIALLY if they have the balls to try and sell it).

Do you feel the same way about real porn, asset swap, and DAZ models that the dev tweaked but didn't make?

 

[Demiurge299]

Questions for anyone who already replied and sees this:

1) If the AI art was good (consistent, no artifacts and weird stuff like odd fingers and skin and eyes, thematically-appropriate skin tones and features, no weird disconnect between subject and environment), would you prefer it to hand-drawn images? Would you prefer it to porn inserts of real people? Would you prefer it to DAZ 3D models? Assume that the art style could be whatever type you preferred (hyperrealism, 3D anime like, cartoonish, or whatever).

2) Have you tried making AI art yourself?



Do you feel the same way about real porn, asset swap, and DAZ models that the dev tweaked but didn't make?

1. No, even if magically it looked consistent, I'm against it on principle. I don't consume or respect real porn or AI porn games so they're roughly equal to me. No, DAZ is my personal favorite.

2. yes, plenty of experimentation with Stable Diffusion to see what all the fuss was about, and it's an extra reason why I hate the usual AI ones seen all over the place nowadays, because its obvious theres very little time spent on prompts (or at least a lack of time spent trying to understand what prompts would result in something that looks better)/not enough good models/LORAs used. I can fully understand people messing with it, but I still feel it has no place in anything serious (again especially if money is involved. NO ONE should be paying for these.

3. Yes, I REAAAALLY hate real porn ones just as much as AI. I find both kind of repulsive to look at for porn games. not sure what you mean by asset swap? do you mean like all those weird big brother knockoffs that crop up a few times a year? I don't hate them as much as AI, but I do still find them to be soulless, and I do dislike them. As for tweaked models, no because at least someone down the line put effort into making them and making them available for these purposes, and the dev is still putting the time in to try and make it better for their own purposes.

If someone wants to make a game because they're passionate about the idea or plot they have in mind, putting in the effort to learn something like HS2 or DAZ (especially if they make their own models), learning to draw themselves, or even just finding someone who can that's willing to work with them, should be reasonable to expect. It's also much more respectable. and no, typing some words into the prompts bars and messing with some weights is not comparable. If someone wants to make a game solely for money? not putting in the aforementioned effort means, in my opinion, they don't deserve a profit. If someone wants to be a successful guitarist for a band, or even solo, they have to put in the time to learn guitar, they don't just mess with some prerecorded chords they probably don't even hold the copyright to and say "look guys, I'm a guitarist, pay me and praise my music"

 

[herelooking027]

1. No, even if magically it looked consistent, I'm against it on principle. I don't consume or respect real porn or AI porn games so they're roughly equal to me. No, DAZ is my personal favorite.

2. yes, plenty of experimentation with Stable Diffusion to see what all the fuss was about, and it's an extra reason why I hate the usual AI ones seen all over the place nowadays, because its obvious theres very little time spent on prompts (or at least a lack of time spent trying to understand what prompts would result in something that looks better)/not enough good models/LORAs used. I can fully understand people messing with it, but I still feel it has no place in anything serious (again especially if money is involved. NO ONE should be paying for these.

3. Yes, I REAAAALLY hate real porn ones just as much as AI. I find both kind of repulsive to look at for porn games. not sure what you mean by asset swap? do you mean like all those weird big brother knockoffs that crop up a few times a year? I don't hate them as much as AI, but I do still find them to be soulless, and I do dislike them. As for tweaked models, no because at least someone down the line put effort into making them and making them available for these purposes, and the dev is still putting the time in to try and make it better for their own purposes.

If someone wants to make a game because they're passionate about the idea or plot they have in mind, putting in the effort to learn something like HS2 or DAZ (especially if they make their own models), learning to draw themselves, or even just finding someone who can that's willing to work with them, should be reasonable to expect. It's also much more respectable. and no, typing some words into the prompts bars and messing with some weights is not comparable. If someone wants to make a game solely for money? not putting in the aforementioned effort means, in my opinion, they don't deserve a profit. If someone wants to be a successful guitarist for a band, or even solo, they have to put in the time to learn guitar, they don't just mess with some prerecorded chords they probably don't even hold the copyright to and say "look guys, I'm a guitarist, pay me and praise my music"

Asset swap is like pre-made body, premade hair1, premade hair2, etc, and the dev or player mixes and matches. RPG Maker games usually have this in 2D form, and a lot of 3D games have it too. Think like your typical 3D RPG with character creation. Unless it's a major game, most of those assets are probably from purchasable libraries (like most DAZ stuff is too, or is pirated).


I'm only asking this because of how strong your views about art assets are. Do you feel a creator doesn't deserve a profit if they don't put visual assets in the game?

 

[timdawg3]

yeah i think the inconsistency is the most noticeable turnoff

 

[Kyealo]

In the beginning i used to like it alot, but after some time, everything just feels like the same art, i grew bored of it.

 

[loodie]

No not anymore. The generic stuff? Yes 10000% The realistic stuff? Not at all.

At one point I didn't even like screenshots from Illusion games but if the story is good, then I was hooked. If people can have the same control like making a scene in an Illusion dev mode, then why not?
Ethically it doesn't matter since all of this is pirated anyway.