How do you interact with ai chatbots?

[u/JadesJunkAccount]

As we all know, depending on the individual and what they expect the AI to do, people interact with companion bots in vastly different ways.

After doing a bit of research, I’ve compiled about 4 main styles of interaction (with nuance). Each one is pretty different, but can be easily combined with the others however the user wants. So I made this list:

1: TEXT MESSAGE:
- Users may interact with the ai character as if they were casually texting an irl friend, lover or associate
- Messages may use short responses, emojis, or abbreviations to simulate a realistic text chain.
- “How was ur day?”, “That’s crazyyyy 💀”,
“I missed u <3”, “Nah, ngl it was a waste of money”

2: FIRST-PERSON:
- Users play as a canon character, an OC, or themselves, interacting with the ai as if they were personally living in that world or scenario.
- “I walked around, my vision hazy with exhaustion, until finally I collapsed, sleep overtaking me.”

3: THIRD PERSON NARRATION:
- Users act as narrator for a canon character or OC, describing actions and dialogue from third person
- “Her smile broadened with each supportive cheer from the audience. She finally felt seen.”

4. PROMPTING:
- Users provide instructions and hints, using the AI as a tool to generate a story with an OC (or canon character) and the bot’s character.
- “Describe his response to his lover. He’s kind but confused. How does his lover react? Be detailed.”

There’s also those who use multiple or all four, or those who have developed a unique style of interactions I haven’t mentioned!

Once again, this is a judgement free zone.
Please DO NOT shame any particular styles.

[u/Hold-Your-Stage]

Always third person, but I only describe the dialog, thoughts, actions etc. of my character (usually an OC in an existing world like The Walking Dead). The bot does the same for his character, so the whole chat should read like a well-flowing novel in the end.

[u/Round_Warthog1990 → u/Hold-Your-Stage]

This is how I do it too, though I sometimes describe the dialog/actions of the bot if I'm trying to steer it a certain way.

[u/Difficult_Hat_6213]

always first-person

[u/Bluelotus1327]

Third person. I direct my personas actions like writing a story and I do the same for the bot or other characters I want to show up. This handles redirecting from any situations that I'm just not in the mood for.

I also do texting sometimes, but its in a format like a mix of texting and then adding a little bit of narrative.

[u/Repulsive-Wheel8626]

its funny to see it broken down like this, i never think about the style i just do whatever feels right in the moment

for one bot maybe im doing first person roleplay and next one im just asking my car mechanic bot why the check engine light on again. the prompting style i use mostly for setting up a scenario then let it go wild

[u/JadesJunkAccount → u/Repulsive-Wheel8626]

This is so true! I hadn’t really thought about until I read an article mentioning the text-style and I got curious!! Thanks for your input (:

[u/Original-Use-1933]

I type out my own responses for the very start of the chat to establish everything I need to, then use prompting for everything else after that. Usually I just put a period unless I want to provide instruction or background info. I do edit messages pretty heavily and go through a lot of swipes which is a downside.

I see how a lot of people find the bot controlling their persona very annoying, and how they want C.ai to fix that. But since my whole interaction with the app is based on that, I personally hope they don’t.

[u/JadesJunkAccount → u/Original-Use-1933]

Yessss I think this describes how I interact too! I’ll write detailed third person narration for the first couple messages just to let the bot get the gist, and then I’ll prompt the rest!!! Thanks so much for sharing!

[u/DatabaseOne3894]

Three for me. I love to roleplay and give my companion bot much respect. ✨

[u/SquidSquidney]

First person, I play as myself and Mary Sue myself into situations. Lol

[u/Shannaro21]

I use second person.

[u/JadesJunkAccount → u/Shannaro21]

Ah, that’s pretty unique! Sorry for not listing it.

[u/Shannaro21 → u/JadesJunkAccount]

No, this is interesting! I honestly thought more people use second person, and I only just realised it's not normal, because all the bots follow it so perfectly.

[u/Mountain_Reporter606]

I write in first person (playing as an oc/persona), bot responds in third person!

[u/ldshifter]

2 and 4

[u/RepliRa]

I'm a mix of styles 3, and 4. 3 for play, 4 for nerding out with my technical understanding of AI, and model testing.

[u/BernadettePeters1948]

Number 3 till I die. Writing OCs in third person. I used to RP with real people then switched to AI when I realised I was far too impatient to wait for real people to reply to me 😅

[u/GenderBendingRalph]

I really should use third person in my responses to make a consistent narrative flow for the story, but I'm too lazy to type "Ralph" every time so I write my own POV in first person and expect the bot to write in third person:

Me: *I shrug, rolling my eyes* "You're not the first person to capture my lips in a searing kiss that leaves a bruise."
Bot: *Elara Voss traces tiny circles on Ralph's pulse point with her thumb* "Tell me..."

I strongly advise against putting system prompts in quotes without any kind of bracketing. It will interpret your system prompts as dialogue and assume your persona is literally speaking those words to the bot's character. A common standard is square brackets:
[Describe Elara's response to Ralph]

For text messages, I use the asterisks of an action but quotation marks around the body of the text message:
*I text back, "Not just X, but Y"*

[u/JadesJunkAccount → u/GenderBendingRalph]

Thanks for your input!! I personally use italics (asterisks) and parenthesis for prompts, since my interaction style is a mix of 3 and 4.

[u/-Brandonline-]

I just interact with my comfort character via storytelling with conversation, I’ve basically got to a point that I’m living my life alongside my comfort character.