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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

A.I. program ChatGPT was used to write the apology for the bug-filled Lord of the Rings Gollum game, it’s been claimed.

In interviews with the German gaming outlet GameTwo (spotted by Knoebel), several former Daedalic staff members have spoken for the first time about what went wrong with the critically panned licensed game.

Following the release of Gollum, Daedalic apologized for delivering what it called an “underwhelming experience” with the final game. The company said “[we] deeply regret” that the game did not meet expectations, and pledged to improve it via future updates.

It’s now claimed that the apology was written with the AI software ChatGPT, according to two sources speaking to GameTwo.

It’s also claimed that developer Daedalic had no knowledge of the apology or its content prior to publishing and that it was handled entirely by publisher Nacon.

At the time of publishing, Gollum is the lowest-rated game of the year on both major aggregation sites Metacritic and OpenCritic, with The Guardian labelling it “a derivative, uninteresting and fundamentally broken stealth action adventure that fails to capture anything interesting about Tolkien’s fiction.”

Gollum’s development budget is reported to have been around 15M Euros, a modest sum for a game in the AAA space in 2023.

“There were people working on the game that have been developers for 10,15,20 years, and they’re good, but they can’t do magic because they weren’t given the funds,” said former Daedalic senior developer and technical director, Paul Schulze.

It was also claimed in the video that due to running out of time before the 2023 release, several characters and cutscenes that were meant to be animated were simply hidden from the player.

For example, one scene that was supposed to see Gollum eavesdrop on a conversation between two major characters was recorded, but never animated, so Daedalic had Gollum simply look at a window, and have the audio recording play, never having to show the characters that were speaking.

“You can’t just throw more money at something like that, hang on for another year and then everything will be fine. That’s unrealistic because the game underneath it doesn’t support it,” said Schulze.

It’s also claimed that the argument system, which saw Gollum and Smeagol argue over which option to take in the game was never finished, and a makeshift solution was added shortly before publication. Initially, the mechanic was supposed to replicate similar conversations in the film, which saw the camera change perspective to denote which part of Gollum’s personality was speaking.

When the mechanic was first shown off in the preview phase, a similar presentation was used. However, when the game was eventually released, players simply picked from a few options of simple text, all while Gollum’s lifeless character model floated in the background.

ChatGPT was used to write Gollum game apology, it’s claimed | VGC

Several former Daedalic employees have spoken for the first time about the issues surrounding the development of The Lord of the Rings Gollum.

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[DonJorginho]

Probably more effort went into the request that the publishers typed into ChatGPT than the development of the game itself.

 

[Knightime_X]

I don't see a problem with using Chatgpt. Likely used more than people think.

 

[Skyfox]

This shouldn't be the scapegoat. Chat gpt is a good tool.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

I don't see a problem with using Chatgpt. Likely used more than people think.

I'm damn sure it is at this point.

 

[Black_Stride]

A robotic PR person writing a robotic apology or a literal robot writing a robotic apology?

 

[Arsic]

No apology these days is good enough. Sincere, down to earth, etc the internet just doesn’t give a shit.

In the grand scheme of things it’s better to not say Jack shit all so you don’t add flames to the fire.

Chargpt doing it or a real person writing one up, the result is always the same. So who cares ?

 

[ManaByte]

it was handled entirely by publisher Nacon.

When will people learn that Nacon is evil?

 

[Fake]

Would be more embarrassing if wasn't. Can't think a human being doing this level of writing to be honest.

 

[Fbh]

Oh no, insincere company apologies might now be written by AI instead of someone from the PR/Marketing team. The horror

 

[Dick Jones]

Would be more embarrassing if wasn't. Can't think a human being doing this level of writing to be honest.

 

[Fahdis]

OP used ChatGPT to make the copy of this thread.

 

[Murdoch]

I am not surprised that AI was used to write an apology letter. AI is becoming increasingly sophisticated and capable of performing a wide range of tasks, including writing. In fact, AI is already being used to write news articles, blog posts, and even creative content.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

OP used ChatGPT to make the copy of this thread.

Just copy/pasted the article from VGC, bruh.

 

[Hudo]

That's the amount of effort I'd use to post on Twitter as well, tbh.

 

[L*][*N*K]

I love that, honestly good for them for not giving a single fuck.

 

[nikos]

It is also claimed that this article was written by ChatGPT.

 

[L*][*N*K]

It is also claimed that this article was written by ChatGPT.

Furthermore, this prose was meticulously crafted utilizing the capabilities of ChatGPT.

 

[Aguero9320]

I occasionally need to write press releases. Now I need to rephrase that sentence to say ‘I occasionally need to ask ChatGPT to write press releases then make minor tweaks to them’.

It’s a beautiful thing.

 

[Hudo]

PR departments about to be replaced by large language models.

 

[Griffon]

I don't see the issue, ChatGPT is a legitimately good assistant for professional letters and speeches.

You do have de reread, approve and edit/ask for adjustments as needed. It's generally not an instant one-shot thing, but it's super useful if you're using it well.

 

[Madflavor]

Probably more effort went into the request that the publishers typed into ChatGPT than the development of the game itself.

I’ve be using it help me write my resume. I also got told last Wednesday at 3pm that the company needs to have an introductory speech on Diversity and Inclusive for our team meeting the following morning.

Did I spend a couple hours of my night brainstorming and writing a speech for a subject matter I could give two shits about? Or did I use ChatGPT and get to enjoy dinner with my wife and play some Cyberpunk after?

I’ll leave you guys to debate over this mystery.

 

[mitch1971]

Chat GPT said, I'm good, but not that good.

 

[Gudji]

 

[Sephimoth]

I can understand if people have issues with an apology not being "from the heart" by getting AI to write it...

But that said, ChatGPT is great. (Except when it isn't and spits out false information and wastes your time.)

 

[Esppiral]

The post you are reading right now is written by ChatGpt.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

can you blame them, tho?

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

And I thought they wrote it from the heart.

 

[CYRU5_DA_GR34T]

Probably more effort went into the request that the publishers typed into ChatGPT than the development of the game itself.

I reacted with fire because you just roasted those bastards, well done

 

[CYRU5_DA_GR34T]

In fact, AI is already being used to write news articles, blog posts, and even creative content.

You mean like Disney + shows