«Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?»
H. M. Warner (1927)
In many computer games, esp. those from the ego perspective, the protagonist is silent. That makes sense, given that you play the person. And if your character would say something in a different voice — that would be rather strange. Sure, you (very 😉 ) likely do not look like the character either, but save for mirrors in the game, you are also unlikely to see yourself as someone else.
But what if the computer could fake your voice, perfectly, and say the lines in your voice?
Looking at what is possible with deep fakes, e.g., switching a recorded speech to the voices of different actors …
… I wonder how long until that will be an option. Players will simply create a profile, stored online or on their computer, and the main character will simply speak in their voice.
And sure, the artificial intelligence needs to be trained with the target voice. But that is not so hard either. You could even allow an app to record your phone conversations, or any conversation you have with your smartphone nearby. That would likely provide material enough.
In a way, it would be a change akin to the end of silent movies. Suddenly the silent protagonist speaks in your voice. The scary bits, a character that can mimic your voice perfectly to fool the player can also fool anybody else — well, that’s another game entirely.
