[MUD-Dev] AI not worth doing in our games?

[Damion Schubert]

From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
David H. Loeser Jr.
> From: Damion Schubert

>> Players have no problem taking a break from slaughtering rats to
>> go sell stuff, but dammit, they sure better be able to do that on
>> _their_ schedule.
 
> Most of the time, it didn't matter if a merchant was in a store -
> they simply refused to buy from you - so what's the difference in
> the end?  You _still_ didn't make a sell.

Yeah, that ticked them off too.
  
>> In EverQuest, human shopkeepers wouldn't sell to dark elves based
>> upon their race, and human guards would attack them on sight.
>> That was also one of the more despised features of the game, as
>> huge parts of the game became nigh-unreachable for low level dark
>> elves.

> It may have been a despised feature of the game but all the same I
> think that it is believable... Given all that we know about dark
> elves... if you choose to play a dark elf, shouldn't you expect
> some adversity?

Yes, but was it fun?
 
> There are 'things' that we can design/code that will make the AI
> more believable.  For example, when you run through a group of
> MOBs and one of them chases you... isn't it more realistic that
> the entire group would chase after you?  Or how about when you
> meet up with two MOBs and you attack one of them - wouldn't the
> other one run to get help?  Or maybe help his companion and attack
> you?  These actions would be more realistic (for certain races)
> and would cause players to devise different/new strategies when it
> comes to combat with MOBs.  (Yes, I realize that creating MOBs
> that behave as I have described above would probably anger many
> players - but would this not be a more believable system?)

Sure is more realistic.  But is it fun?

Don't get me wrong.  Realistic can be fun.  Someone posted the other
day about how Unreal's bot AI is more fun than Quake's because it
behaves more like a real person.  This creates a challenge that
feels challenging but beatable.  It's fun.

But 'realistic' AI in MUDs usually means that the AI is too smart to
be manipulated, and they do what players do - for example, focus all
firepower on the mages and clerics first, focus an entire group's
attack on a single target, or running away and healing.  Trust me
when I say that it's not difficult to write AI in this matter that
is realistic.  It is much more difficult to ensure that the end
result creates a fun and engaging puzzle that doesn't cause your
players to quit in disgust.
 
> I'm really saying that AI is worth doing... and the AI exist, in
> part, to make the overall game feel more realistic...  with out an
> AI... would it be a game?

AI is worth doing, and worth doing well.  I'd just caution that
'well' does -not- mean realistic, necessarily.

--d

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