# The Difference (and Similarities) Between Millions of Lonely Gamers and AI Romantics [OpenAI Brings Back Legacy ChatGPT 4o Model in Response to Outcry From Users Who Find GPT-5 Emotionally Unsatisfying](https://daringfireball.net/2025/08/openai_chatgpt_models_emotional_attachment) by John Gruber for Daring Fireball I was reading Gruber's article about the vocal, emotional backlash that openAI is receiving thanks to the planned deprecation of older models for the new hotness that is GPT-5. One seemingly throwaway sentence, of course, caught my attention. Emphasis added by me. > "These people need help, and that help isn’t going to come from a chatbot. This type of attachment surely isn’t common, but with 800 million ChatGPT users, even a small fraction of a percent amounts to a lot of people. And it gives me pause about how we, collectively, are going to react as AI gets better at mimicking human emotions, tone, and responses. With each improvement, more people are convinced, [wrongly](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=google+engineer+Blake+Lemoine+convinced+ai+is+sentient&ia=web), that there’s some sort of sentience behind these things. ***But how different is this from the millions of lonely people with problematic addictions to video games?***" My gut-reaction was that this wasn't a fair comparison. As I chewed on it while driving, playing ultimate frisbee, and early the next morning, I've landed somewhere in the middle of "that's not quite right" and "this tracks." Let's figure out how these two are different and the same. For some context as to what Gruber is commenting on specifically here. The paragraph above is in response to the concerning reactions some folks on reddit had to the abrupt GPT model change and how they felt like they lost a friend or even a partner. I agree with Gruber—These people need help. > "And some of the ChatGPT users complaining about the new version 5 models are citing functional differences. But some of the reactions really do seem like something altogether new..." Outlandish responses and behaviors are, unfortunately, quiet common in the gaming world. Let's take famous (and [former](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/05/24/marathon)) Mac OS game developer Bungie.[^1] I played *Destiny* and *Destiny 2* during their respective heydays (if what I've heard about *D2* is indicative). I played with some *very*...ahem...hardcore people, but never [doxxing and death threat hardcore](https://www.ign.com/articles/bungie-employees-reportedly-doxxed-bombarded-with-racial-slurs-and-death-threats). *Marathon* (the new one) was [delayed](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/19/bungie-delays-marathon) after a less-than-poor response to the game's alpha. I wish I could show you what being in that game's Discord server was like to try and get an alpha key. The rapidity and tone were an assault to the senses. Far more despicable are the death threats leveled at developers and actors in games. Take *The Last of Us Part II*, which *still* has a cloud looming over it from the game's pivotal moments [[Chasing the Stick - The History of Naughty Dog during the PS4 Era#Endure and Survive|leaking]] months before launch over five years ago. Laura Bailey was [threatened](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2020/07/05/the-last-us-part-2s-laura-bailey-getting-death-threats-over-abby-role/). Her newborn child was threatened. The big names for the whole game were targeted and abused. Just watch [this section](https://youtu.be/SC3C7GMMfDU?si=zfuQKmLxu48xlmd3&t=6244) from the documentary *[Grounded II: The Making of The Last of Us Part II](https://youtu.be/SC3C7GMMfDU?si=h8LZQNWg5_ibPd3B)*. All over certain interactions and cutscenes from one of the industry's best games.[^2] If we want to tailor the reactions to more romantic/attraction/feminine-based ridiculousness, we [don't](https://www.thegamer.com/tomb-raider-the-legend-of-lara-croft-netflix-backlash-too-muscular-looks-like-man/) [have](https://www.ign.com/articles/naughty-dogs-neil-druckmann-has-been-bootcamp-ing-intergalactic-the-heretic-prophets-tati-gabrielle-on-the-last-of-us-part-2-online-hate) to [look](https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/264562-playstation-5/80598600) [far](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2021/12/28/maybe-lets-stop-debating-the-attractiveness-of-aloy-from-horizon-forbidden-west/) [either](https://diabolical.substack.com/p/halo-infinite-fake-cortana-and-the). These people need help, and that help isn’t going to come from a video game. But how *different* is this from the millions of lonely reddit users lamenting the "loss" of an AI best friend or partner? There's the obvious relational angle. While some people on might be [in love with inanimate objects](https://www.jalopnik.com/my-strange-addiction-sex-car-guy-back-with-lexus-es330-1850642715/), I would wager that the folks mourning the Switch 1 in the wake of Switch 2's arrival is non-existent.[^3] It's this sci-fi relationship in a way that feels wrong to me. I'm reminded of the [Friend](https://friend.com) ai pin that was [[Friend AI Pin is Sad, Funny, and Suspicious|revealed]] last year and was pitched as "friendship as a service."[^4] I got a chuckle out of the FAQ last time, but when thinking about this GPT-5 rollout and the new FAQs for Friend, its a bit concerning that platforms are reinforcing this "AI is your friend" angle. > "How long does the battery last?" > "About a day of hanging out." > "Will updates change my friend's personality?" > "Updates may add capabilities but will never overwrite memories."[^5] Assuming these pins ship and make enough of a splash to be covered by the press, it won't be long until an update makes users feel like they are mourning. All of this AI stuff is software as a service. For the average consumer, they cannot own or run these LLMs locally. They are using the web to engage with *software*. This is a part that breaks the video game analogy for me. AI is more in line with live service games, like *Marathon* is going to be, rather than traditional games, like a *Mario Kart* for example. GPT-5 is to GPT-4o what *Destiny 2* was to *Destiny*. The old is done and users can either buy/play/use the new thing or quit. When it comes to these vocal users, they seem to share an assumed ownership over the product; that their voice has a say in the longevity and permanence of the product. Gruber nods to this in the lone footnote of the article. > "When the industry revolved around software you installed on your computers, if a new version came out that you didn’t like, [you could just keep using the old version](https://lowendmac.com/2013/microsoft-word-for-mac-faq/). That’s not how 'cloud computing' works." The same applies to live service games, and more and more to just regular games these days. From [delisted titles](https://www.polygon.com/news/613065/john-wick-game-delisting-steam/) and [[Sony is Shutting Down the PS3, PSP, and Vita Stores|shut down digital stores]] to Game Key Cards[^6] to 1.0 versions of live service games, it's difficult claim any real form of permanence in the gaming market. The games are disappearing with each patch, season, and revamp. This has always [[Fortnite, FOMO, and Fragility|stuck out to me]] about live service games, especially the kids growing up playing them today. > "The *Fortnite*, *Destiny*, and *Apex* of yore are entirely unplayable. Really, the only record we have are the hours upon hours of livestreams and dedicated work of wiki fans." This is where genuine physical hardware and games rule the day. When that's not possible, [[MiSTer FPGA Thoughts and Impressions – My Tool for Researching the Past|emulation]], [[Hot, Fresh Homebrewed Consoles|homebrew]], [[How to Backup and Play Your Games and Saves on Delta for iPhone (or any Emulator)|backups]] are viable options, often built by passionate fans and developers. There is even a thriving market of FPGA-based hardware to recreate old [[Analogue3D Preview|consoles]] and [computers](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/07/14/commodore-64-ultimate). It even works for old [Mac software](https://infinitemac.org/1994/System%207.5) on *the web*.[^7] That doesn't seem possible for LLMs. If you have enough power, RAM, cooling and money, sure, one could run an LLM like GPT-4o locally—all depends on the parameters I suppose since there are local models for phones, but those can't perform like the full blown, big boy models. More focused on this example, is that even possible for a model from openAI? Is GPT-4o available for download? > "It’s reasonable — especially for paying customers — to expect at least some advance notice of older models going away. But it’s unreasonable to think that older models are going to remain available in perpetuity — especially in the current LLM climate, where model age is measured [in months](https://openai.com/index/introducing-o3-and-o4-mini/), or even weeks.[1](https://daringfireball.net/2025/08/openai_chatgpt_models_emotional_attachment#fn1-2025-08-11) This whole field is in nonstop flux, at least for the foreseeable future." The models are better when updated and connected to the internet. It all moves fast; much faster than game development. It is foolish to assume any sort of permanence in the landscape of AI. > "But how different is this from the millions of lonely people with problematic addictions to video games?" The key difference is the connection between users and the product. Millions of gamers (I'm assuming here, which is dangerous) are not under the delusion that games mimicking human emotions, tone, and response. Games do go [offline](https://www.eurogamer.net/people-still-playing-halo-2-somehow); better games don't always replace them. I think the players are really mourning the loss of time and a place to hang out *with* friends. Live service games can be a place for minds to meet, overcome a challenge, hang out, and spend time together. When I think back on my hundreds of hours in *Destiny*, I don't remember the game as much as I remember the elation I felt with my friends after we finally went flawless in the Trials of Osiris or the group we assembled for my first go at The Vault of Glass. It is always about the person on the other end. Like [josh (with parentheses)](https://www.youtube.com/@JoshWithParentheses) said in his brilliant essay *[[You are a better writer than AI. – Josh (with parentheses)|You are a better writer than AI. (Yes you.)]]*, that cannot happen with chatGPT because there is no mind to meet with. > "ChatGPT could answer, but it could not person. If writing is a meeting of the minds, then AI cannot write, because there is no mind to meet with." That's how it is different. [^1]: [Had](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/05/10/classic-marathon) to [for](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2022/10/21/marathon-reboot) Gruber. 😅 [^2]: Don't let Season 2 of the HBO adaptation fool you. Good gracious. [^3]: Although, they may be mourning the [price increase](https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/nintendo-switch-pricing-update/?srsltid=AfmBOooJlQl5gYovLy_e5gu_MZVPk81Pw7Gx64fJdNhvlcIkUhxXvlyo) of eight-year-old Nintendo hardware. [^4]: Which is an interesting choice of words considering the "No subscription" selling point on the product page. [^5]: Classic non-answer! Am I to assume memories = personality in the context of this pin/app? [^6]: Which I still [[Game-Key Cards FTW|stand by]] as an acceptable compromise to the one-time-use code in a box. [^7]: Go poke around in the "Games" folder. 👀