Even though I live in one of the most slow countries of EU, in terms of “receptiviness to technology”, ChatGPT and the other generative “AIs” finally made an appearance at my table.

I just started another campaign, while my main one is still going strong, with some friends. During “session zero”, I introduced the good old homework every player must to do, before starting: writing a backstory, a background, a story for their character. Call it whatever you like: just some phrases about who they are, where they’re from, etc.

Until now, people on average sent me very unreadable messes, if they ever sent me something. Sometimes, I told them to just produce a list of highlights from their character’s past, and I’d write the “fictionalized” version for them. After writing about 4 or 5, though, I stopped. It was fun, but too much work.

Now, two new players surprisingly told me they’d use ChatGPT. It was kind of obvious for them. I didn’t object. I mean, my opinion about ChatGPT, in terms of creative writing, is the same any amateur or better writer will tell you: mediocre. Mediocre, in the sense of I’d give its outputs a 6 out of 10 probably, if I felt particularly generous.

But what I’d usually rate my player’s backgrounds, when written by themselves, is a solid 3. Sometimes less. I don’t know about you, but, for real, my players’ writing skills are abismal. Apart from one who wanted to become a writer, all the others just can’t sit down and express themselves with a decent paragraph. Some of them don’t even own a PC, so they just write something with their smartphone, which I must admit is a frustrating experience at best, and then send me a screenshot of their phone. I die inside a little when I receive those.

I’m not saying I’m a good writer, by any mean. My main language is Italian, also, so you may find mistakes here and there in my writing. But maybe, just maybe, we’re all becoming increasingly incapable of writing, on average. Or maybe I’m just very unlucky.

But I digress. Some days after session zero, players sent me their ChatGPT-written backgrounds. And… they weren’t too bad, especially because they edited a couple of details to fit in my setting. Nothing extraordinary, of course. But far, far better than what I usually have to read. At least, there were finer details, even though nothing great or very inspiring. Something I can build on.

I have a private website for my players, with the collection of characters, NPCs, session summaries. And their character’s background story. I used to refuse to upload what they usually sent me, and sometimes, when I received screenshots instead of text, I’d have to rewrite them anyway. So, I guess with ChatGPT I won’t have to do it any more, and can just upload them as they are, more or less.

A small improvement for me, a big loss for humanity.

Not that there was much left to save, in the first place.