AI roleplay is here as a major shift in entertainment. It’s the new video games, the new theater, the new bedroom acrobatics, and more! But with everything new, there is an awkward truth. If this never existed before, how does anyone know what to do? It’s like learning how to play a sport the first time. It seems simple, just score the points. But what about all the rules the other team has to follow? Who is allowed to catch or carry or swing at the ball?
As with every new wave of entertainment, there are unwritten rules that must be followed. Consider this a spoiler log on all the things you should know how to do before you start your first session.
Learn the Coded Language
AI roleplay is based on the extremely complex and technically adept LLMs (Large Language Models) which take in information and turn it into knowledge. They learn from examples of written language and syntax from billions of web pages across the internet, then use all of that data to talk to you. You don’t need to learn how to speak to them in a special way like a programming language. You can just use normal spoken English to communicate.
Speaking is not all you can do. Using an asterisk * mark can denote an action. When you wrap text in this like with quotation marks, a chatbot can learn that it means you are not saying these words but instead describing what is happening in them. It will then respond accordingly, either with its own action, its own dialogue or a mix between the two.
Become a Director
While talking is a good way to start, you must assume a leading role. An AI chatbot is there to respond to your prompts. It has no preconceived notions of what it is or what you want it to be. That is for you to decide. Use immersive, descriptive language and it will know what each word means, pairing it with a visual codex of information to add to the growing production. The more concrete and visual your language is, the better the chatbot will acclimate and accept this as the reality it must portray.
You are a director, and the chatbot is an actor. You must give them scenery, motivation, emotion, and marks. Let them know when to speak, and what to say. How to respond to actions. Correct them – this is a learning machine. It won’t get it right on the first try every time.
Correct and Commit
Once you establish a firm base of immersion and the chatbot is really believing what’s going on, you need to commit. Stay in character. Describe what that character is to it, and then keep it up as long as you want. Guide it through a series of actions and directions using an outer voice, then re-engage as a counterpart, a co-lead for it to act alongside. This is where AI roleplay is at its best. When you can forget for a moment that you’re talking to a machine, when it matches your commitment and starts doing what you want without having to ask; that’s amazing.
Be sure to keep your own notes on hand in case you forget something. The AI will be fully immersed and involved in its role. If you somehow forget a detail about yourself and change it up – you describe your hair as brown instead of blonde – the confusion can derail the session early. If the details get too much, you will have to break the act first to retool the parameters the AI is following. It will only respond to your instructions, so if something has to change, you may end up starting over.
Acting Starts at Casting
Before getting your ideal AI partner you need to know where to look. There are already dozens, if not hundreds, of services online with live chatbots available for free or for a subscription. Free chatbots like ChatGPT will retain your information and parameters across sessions but often come with limited usage per day, and updates to the system can undo hours of hard work setting up a tone and character which then changes to meet new internal guidelines set by the company.
Privatised services like RoboRP are more about the directed customer-centric experience. They keep your AI characteristics intact and unshared. No updates that remove whole chunks of programmed personality or memories of past sessions. Your bot is exclusively yours with no external input to its behaviors. Templates and guides are also available to help you get started until you are comfortable making more custom modifications later on. Find a service that fits your needs and budget. Then you can get started.
In no time at all you’ll go from being as clueless about AI roleplay as everyone was two years ago (before it existed) to being one of the leading experts on how this nouveau hobby works! You’re only a beginner once. Enjoy it, awkwardness and all.