Store Update: How We're Handling Games with AI Content

It’s no secret that AI generated content is out there in the hobby world. Plenty of people are using it to create business logos, generate imagery for their RPG campaign, or just put people into funny situations. But now it has reached products that are for sale across the world, so it’s time we have a chat about how we will be handling it at Vault Games.

Our Stance on AI-Art

We’ve always been supporters of local art. If you’ve been to either of our stores, you’ll notice awesome artwork from Brisbane-based talent adorning the bathroom walls, and we contract local artists to produce the artwork found on our league playmats. We don’t want to lose that human touch and expression in the hobby we love. So, we can unequivocally say, Vault Games will NEVER use AI-Generated Artwork in anything we produce, be it marketing imagery or products we produce.

How we will be handling products with AI-Generated Content

It’s not so simple though, when more and more hobby publishers or the contractors they use are turning to AI-Generated Content to produce their products. Generally, they aren’t forthcoming with that information and, in most cases, it isn’t until the product is in our hand that we find out, or are able to reasonably suspect, that a text prompt instead of a person lead the art creation in front of us. That’s where this little friend will come in handy.

This label will be added to the online imagery of any product we know or reasonably suspect of containing AI-Generated Content. You will also be able to find it as a sticker on any product on our shelves so that you remain reasonably informed of your choices when making a purchase.

Furthermore, any product we know or reasonably suspect of containing AI-Generated Content that we receive from our suppliers will still be sold BUT will not be carried on our shelves once sold out. We will still order it in for you if you’re after it, but we will not readily carry it. 

When it comes to reasonably suspecting if a game contains AI-Generated Content, we will make our assessments on a case-by-case basis and it will have to be pretty obvious that it does. We are aware of the publishers that have stated they are folding AI art into their workflow so we will be paying close attention to their games in the future.

And, of course, if a publisher provides proof that their product did not use AI-Generated art, the label will be removed from the product and this policy will no longer apply to it.

We believe this policy strikes the best balance available as we deal with suppliers and publishers who are not willing to provide this information for not only us to make informed decisions about what stock we carry, but also you as a consumer of the product.