A co-founder of Stonemaier Games, the publisher responsible for releasing board games such as Wingspan and Scythe, has confirmed that the company will not use AI in the creation of its titles.
AI has become an increasingly frequent topic of conversation in the tabletop gaming industry and community, with several companies discussing its use or already implementing it in their releases. For example, Stronghold Games, one of the publishers behind the Terraforming Mars game series, recently came under fire for using AI in an expansion, with the studio confirming the use of AI and defending their decision: “We (Stronghold Games) have and will continue to take advantage of AI-generated content.”
The CEO of Hasbro, which owns Wizards of the Coast, the company behind the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game and the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game, Chris Cocks, recently commented on the use of AI in the tabletop gaming industry, expressing interest in using tools like Chat GPT and Midjourney to “mine” the company’s 50 years of content in order to tap into “literally thousands of adventures” and “over 15,000 cards.”
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Stonemaier Games recently posted a statement on its website from one of its co-founders, Jamey Stegmaier (who is also the designer of the board game Scythe) about the company's approach to using AI. Stegmaier, commenting on his personal views on AI, stated: “Frankly, I'm not interested in it.”
As a company, Stegmaier confirmed that “Stonemaier Games does not, has not, and will not use any form of AI to replace or enhance creative work. If we are creating something, we want it built from the ground up by talented people from different backgrounds, perspectives, and cultures, not an algorithm (especially not an algorithm that borrows without permission or at least without proper credit from the original artists).”
Update: This article previously did not include elements of Stonemaier's statement regarding other “gray areas” of AI, but these have since been added.
Despite Stonemaier’s stance, Stegmaier admits that there can be some “grey areas” when it comes to the use of AI in the board game industry. The co-founder and designer cited Stonemaier’s regular inclusion of AI opponents in digital board game versions of his titles like Scythe Digital and Wingspan Digital. Other examples of “grey areas” Stegmaier mentioned were AI art serving the same function as filler art (such as when he was designing Viticulture) during the prototype phase of a board game’s design, as well as the use of site-specific search engines to help find older articles on Stonemaier’s website, before removing them due to their effects on the website’s code.
Stegmaier also highlighted Stonemaier’s “privilege” in being able to pay his creators and speculated that “a first-time designer looking to self-publish their game on a limited budget” might not have the same options.