How Technology is Making Entertainment More Interactive

Technology is at the forefront of modern society, changing how it operates and what can be done. Today, though, almost everyone is in agreement that it is moving at a much faster pace than before. The ability of tools to achieve ends is almost limitless.

Despite this, the entertainment world isn’t necessarily becoming more interactive. Sure, we’ve had video games, like solitaire, for a long time. But how are things changing with the advent of post-2020 technology? Is entertainment going to remain a passive activity? 

Maybe not. In this piece, we look at some of the ways technology could potentially make entertainment more interactive. We explore how capabilities are growing and the effects that they are having more broadly. 

AI-Powered Personalization

Top of the list of things coming down the pike rapidly is AI-powered personalization. It’s going to be possible to customize interactive experiences based on the user’s behavior.

The first place this will likely show up is with an AI like ChatGPT integrated with a game engine. The AI will be able to work around the player, infusing NPCs with intelligence, allowing for unique gameplay experiences that feel much more like living, breathing worlds. 

This level of personalization is likely possible today, it’s just that it’s not being explored fully. Once the systems are built out and one developer does it, it is far more likely that many others will follow suit. 

This dynamic will make gaming much more compelling and open up new open-ended worlds for players to explore. There won’t be as much of a tradeoff between conventional open-world design and the need to put specific characters in place who guide the story. The AI could essentially conjure a story that maps the player’s actions and choices perfectly, in real time, based on the information it already has. 

AR Integration

Another near-term technology is AR integration. The idea here is to make the experience of gaming or entertainment more immersive, giving you the feeling that you are inside the game world. 

You can see how when you combine AI-powered personalization with AR, it creates something that is close to the Metaverse (a concept pushed by Facebook but that will likely become reality for many people in the next few years). 

AR integration has the potential to completely occlude the field of view, making you feel like you’re in some sort of distant land. It can also give you the impression that you’re on a playing field for sport or in an arena, about to battle a monster. 

Live-Streaming Interactions

You could argue that technology is already making entertainment more interactive because of the live streaming interactions now possible on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. These allow users to engage with content, like polls, while interacting with the person playing the games in real time. It’s a novel experience. 

XR Theme Parks

Related to these previous technologies is the concept of extended reality (XR) theme parks. The idea is to take regular feedback but integrate VR elements to make it even more immersive and memorable. 

One possibility of this technology is that it could create a personalized experience for everyone involved. For example, you could go with your friends, but your experience and the visuals you see could differ from those of everyone else based on your personality or what the AI already knows about you. 

The other option is that XR theme parks will essentially personalize the adventure. So, instead of going on the same rides as everyone else, you can choose to experience rides in your own way, something that’s more challenging to achieve but seems possible now given the advances being seen at top tech companies. 

Gamification Of Media

The gamification of media is another channel where things could go down. For example, you might see publishers turning more movies and books into games through the power of AI. 

More remarkably, AI could do this following the user’s prompt, bypassing the development process. Game companies might no longer need to be in the loop because the user could simply create the games that they wanted, refining them with a series of prompts, providing enough computing power was available. 

They could also go a step further and use AI agents who know a lot about them to take over the prompt work for them. An AI assistant chatbot could do the more challenging aspects of the calibration work, leaving the user to simply enjoy the game. 

The purpose of the gamification of media is essentially to make the storytelling element more engaging. With a full transition to this model, you might feel more like you are inside an episode of Star Wars as one of the characters, not just someone watching things on a screen. 

Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Content

Another thing that AI could make possible is choose-your-own-adventure content. This might come in stages, depending on the state of the technology. 

The first step, of course, would be to give users the power to make decisions on the direction a film might go. For example, they might get an option that lets them choose the next step in the story, telling the characters what situation they should face next. 

The next level up would be to incorporate this into a video game, as described above. Here, the player’s actions describe the narrative arc. 

Finally, you could have a fully immersive virtual reality experience that looks and feels like real life, just on a grander, more narrative scale. People could get lost in these worlds of AI creation, making decisions and changing what happens, depending on the next move. It might be similar to real life, just more engaging and interesting. 

Music Experiences

Finally, music experiences could become more interactive. Fans, for example, could use AI to remix songs to take part in virtual concerts. 

It’s not quite clear how these events might pan out, but there is some innovation in this space. At the moment, the thrust seems to be around using tech to make people feel like they are in the concert hall, even if they are at home.