Episode 51: AI NPCs & Game Democracy with Dom Ford

Host Scott Rettberg sits down with Center for Digital Narrative postdoctoral researcher Dom Ford to explore the intersection of myth, community, and artificial intelligence in video games. Tracing gaming history from early experiments like Façade and RuneScape to modern generative NPCs, they examine how players construct meaning and negotiate intentionality within digital worlds. The conversation dives into the utopian promises of dynamic procedural narrative, the growing cultural and labor backlash against AI-generated assets, and why players often prefer handcrafted, narrative-driven worlds over algorithmic efficiency.