[Article] Tribes 3's AI Imagery Debacle

A selection of the AI-generated banner images featured in Tribes 3: Rivals, including the infamous "spaceship-gun" at the top left.

With the opening of a 1-day playtesting session on March 7th, one of the listed changes^[1] Tribes 3: Rivals saw in this latest build was the addition of a number of cosmetic banner images^[2] which could be unlocked via progressing achievements. While the majority of the banner images associated with weapon mastery achievements featured stylistic renders of in-game characters wielding weapons, members of the community very quickly noticed that the majority of all other banner images were created via the use of generative AI.

Some users initially made posts praising the banners, not recognizing them for what they were (with lead designer Erez^[3] seemingly playing into that ignorance), but once the community became aware a Discord forum post was made in short order by user 'theciv' on the playtest's feedback section to seek further explanation from Prophecy Game and confirm if the assets in question were simply temporary placeholders as some users speculated. Prophecy Games team member 'doppleganger123' confirmed in that forum thread that generative AI was used to create a number of the images, and when pressed on if they were only temporary placeholders, went on to elaborate that the majority of them are planned to remain in the game as-is. As of the time of writing this, the forum thread in question has reached 870 replies, an extremely high volume of community engagement compared to most other feedback threads which average around 3-20 replies.

Generative AI has been a contentious topic for a number of reasons, from the dubious ethics and legality of the methods used to create the training models they're based upon^[4] to the role it has played in eliminating jobs^[5], so it comes as no surprise so political a topic has evoked strong feelings with various users even declaring they would no longer be purchasing the game as a protest against the commercial use of generative AI. While the creation of banner images like these is probably a very small job, these can be important jobs for graphic designers looking to build their portfolios or simply in need of money to pay the bills; if left unchecked generative AI has a very real potential to starve them of these opportunities entirely.

The presence of the crisp looking images for the weapon mastery banners made using in-game assets only makes the decision to use low-effort AI imagery even more baffling.

Even stepping away from the political side of the matter however, users have also voiced unhappiness with the images on an aesthetic level, pointing out their incongruity with the established aesthetics of the Tribes franchise and the strange, deformed visuals present on a number of the images, the most egregious of which was perhaps the banner image for the achievement 'Frag Artist V' which featured a misshapen hybrid of a sniper rifle and a spacecraft aimed out at a cluttered horizon of falling unspent bullet casings and what appear to be World War 2 German hand grenades. As someone who plays around with generative AI on a recreational basis regularly, I also found the images appeared to be very low-effort for what they were; the lighting and shading effects present are exactly the kind of look you get from images with very little specified in the way of stylization or finer details - they're the kind of images you get when you specify what the image needs to have on a purely utilitarian basis, the quintessential characterless AI image.

To cap it all off with my comment on the matter, I'm personally very disappointed in Prophecy Games for taking this route. User banners may only be a small detail in-game, but this represents the encroachment of generative AI upon the creative process behind video games - the replacement of artistic expression and intent by homogenous generative content that's merely "good enough." I hope they walk back this decision as I've been a big fan of what they've been creating up until now, but I don't think it would be right of me to continue supporting this project if it's going to champion the cause of content over creation.