GPT for Games: An Updated Scoping Review (2020-2024)

TL;DR

This paper provides an updated scoping review of 177 articles from 2020-2024, highlighting GPT's expanding roles in game content creation, design, gameplay, and research, and suggests future directions for technical and interaction advancements.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive synthesis of recent GPT applications in games, identifying key trends, emerging areas, and proposing future research directions.

Findings

Five main application areas identified: content generation, game design, gameplay, playing, user research.

Majority of articles published in 2024, indicating rapid recent growth.

Recommendations for expanding GPT capabilities and exploring user interaction dynamics.

Abstract

Due to GPT's impressive generative capabilities, its applications in games are expanding rapidly. To offer researchers a comprehensive understanding of the current applications and identify both emerging trends and unexplored areas, this paper introduces an updated scoping review of 177 articles, 122 of which were published in 2024, to explore GPT's potential for games. By coding and synthesizing the papers, we identify five prominent applications of GPT in current game research: procedural content generation, mixed-initiative game design, mixed-initiative gameplay, playing games, and game user research. Drawing on insights from these application areas and emerging research, we propose future studies should focus on expanding the technical boundaries of the GPT models and exploring the complex interaction dynamics between them and users. This review aims to illustrate the state of the art in innovative GPT applications in games, offering a foundation to enrich game development and enhance player experiences through cutting-edge AI innovations.