Generative AI has made its way into the virtual pinball community. Many table authors are now utilizing AI to create tables at breakneck speeds and with limited skills and resources. For some table authors, AI is a miracle. It's nearly impossible to find artists who are willing to contribute to a VPX table, knowing that due to the license of VPX, they would not be getting paid for it. AI filled that gap for a lot of table authors.
However, with the birth of generative AI comes the death of human creativity. Before AI, VPX tables were always human-created. That's the way it was, whether you were able to find an artist or not, because it was the only way that was available. You might not always make your own assets. You might use assets from other places. Ultimately, those assets were still human-created. But now, a lot of assets, even ones that are used from other places, are created with AI.
Table authors are sacrificing human creativity for speed. They don't want to do the work of finding artists to contribute human-made assets to their table. They don't want to find creative ways that they can support artists while not being able to directly pay them due to the VPX license. And what that leads to is a VPX table that lacks the personality, creativity, and personal touch of human beings.
Other table authors are more than free to go down that route. But I, Orqata, do not personally support that route. And I don't want the same thing to happen to Saving Wallden. Sure, I used AI assets in the beginning of this project. But I made it clear from the beginning that my intention with the AI assets was that they were going to later be replaced by real assets from real artists. In fact, we are in the process of doing that right now.
So while you see other VPX community websites getting flooded with tables that have AI in them, celebrate the fact that this project, in the end, will not have any AI whatsoever in it. We are going back to our roots, back to the days when humans (not machines) created VP tables, back to the days when humans created music and art.
Saving Wallden is a completely original concept. It is not based on any existing intellectual property. You deserve a table that has been created completely by humans to complement that. You deserve a table that reflects the personalities and the talents of its contributors in every facet of the game. You deserve a table that has no AI.
I could go on and on about the problems with AI, but here is a summary of the big ones:
If I can't directly commission or pay artists for the work that they do on Saving Wallden, then how do I support them?
I want other table authors to pay special attention to this section. It gives you ways that you can still pay artists without actually paying them and still remain compliant with the VPX license. The artists are getting some kickback for their contributions, and you're getting completely original assets for your table. Everybody wins!
There is no excuse for not finding creative ways that you can support your contributors. I challenge you to kick the AI bucket and create a table that has been completely made by humans.
#artbyhumans