[MUD-Dev] believable NPCs (was Natural Language Generation)

[Amanda Walker]

On May 25, 2004, at 9:14 PM, Samantha LeCraft wrote:

> One, players have come to expect NPCs to be "in character" in
> their speech and demeanor, and there's no way a company who hired
> addicted/loyal players to "act" as NPCs in-game would be able to
> effectively police their in-character-ness.  Some would be more in
> character than others, and some would vary day by day.

Sure.  But they are no longer NPCs, they are PCs with jobs.  Part of
the realism is provided by that very variability.  Now, this isn't
to say that there's no place for vending machines as well, but I
don't see too much need to disguise them as NPCs.

> Two, giving someone you haven't worked with, who you don't know,
> and whose only qualification is that they like to play the game a
> lot that much authority is just asking for trouble.

This is true for any job, though.  So you do the same kind of risk
mitigation you do when hiring anyone: you interview them, check for
related types of experience, ask for references, give them a
probationary period before giving them the keys to the warehouse,
etc.  And if it's a real job, paying real money, that should
mitigate the "it's just a game" excuse for grief play.  And as with
any employees, you'd need to structure things so that they felt
involved and invested in the success of the product.

I'm not talking about privileged players, here--I'm talking about
actual employees.  My suggestion is that for playing everyday
people, you don't necessarily need to pay Hollywood salaries.

> The NPC-actor would be seen as representatives of the company who
> owns the MMO.

The actor would, in fact, be such a representative.

> This could lead to players badgering the NPC-actor for information
> on upcoming changes to the game, whether the NPC-actor has that
> information or not.

Quite probably.  And "heck if I know, I'm just an inkeeper" is a
perfectly good answer for them to give.  You could also use them as
an official information (or disinformation) conduit--I, personally,
having having to go check some clunky web-based discussion forum
just to find out what's upcoming.  For that matter, one possible
in-game job would be be a news/gossip clearinghouse.

> Or to players saying they were treated unfairly by the NPC-actor
> and complaining to the company that owns the MMO.

Certainly.  And if an employee gets too many complaints, it's time
to have a talk with that employee.

> Or to actual abuse of power on the part of the NPC-actor.  If
> they're a avid and loyal player of the MMO, then they have
> undoubtedly formed friendships with some players and come to hate
> other players or guilds.  Should they be allowed to give their
> friends lower prices on whatever item or service they're there
> for?  Should they be allowed to refuse service to someone they met
> as a player and don't like?

If they can still break even, sure, why not?  Or if their service is
only open on weekends, fine.

> The counter argument to this point is probably going to be that
> all of that could be handled by hiring professional actors instead
> of devoted players.

No.  I am saying that such jobs may *not* require professional
actors.  I am saying it should be possible to treat them as real
jobs, not just game roles--that basic workplace experience, plus
some related background (bartending for a bartender, retail
experience for a shopkeeper, tour or river guide for an adventuring
mentor, etc.) might be sufficient.

For some roles, such as "heros", you might want acting experience
(note that there are plenty of actors looking for work--some could
even do double duty as waiters ;-)).  But if the goal is to populate
a world with regular people who do something to keep the world
rolling along, i don't think that expensive "talent" should be
required.

> Three, once people figure out that there are real people behind
> the NPCs -- people who can't fight back, who can't call you nasty
> names, who can't run away, and who can't log out to get away from
> you --

I think you are making some assumptions about what these people can
and can't do.  Maybe the bartender has as shotgun under the bar.
Maybe there's an "armorer's guild", and if you are annoying customer
you find that nobody wants to sell you armor any more.  Maybe they
can eject you from the building, or call a bouncer (also a real
person) to escort you away.  All of these are problems whose
solution could also lend realism and immersion to the game.

Sure, it's a lot of work, and less predictable than vending machines
and fedex quests.  It's also extemporaneous content.  In SWG, Sony
is having to lure people back into the "main" cities because
player-built cities have become a lot more interesting.

> I've done face to face customer service, telephone customer
> service, and in-game customer service; the things people will say
> to you on the phone are much more rude than what they'll say to
> your face, and they are exponentially ruder in-game than over the
> phone.

No argument.  Having customer service experience would be a big plus
on the resume, I would think.

>   Its something about the anonymity, I think.

Do players have to be anonymous to official game employees?

> Four, the sheer number of people it would take to accomplish this
> in any given MMO is staggering.

True.  It's an interesting HR challenge.  However, so is rolling out
a Starbucks on every block, staffing up a government contract, or
starting any new venture.

I don't have all the answers, I'm just speculating that the "movie /
actor" analogy may not be the only one that could be used.  After
all, having a few dozen people try to entertain tens of thousands of
people (the current MMO business model) isn't exactly a recipe for
success either.

> There would need to be at least some NPCs available 24/7,
> requiring that some people work the midnight to 8am shift.

Presuming they're all in the same time zone.  Again, though, this is
not a problem unique to gaming.

> I think it's do-able, but you have to be willing to have a service
> team of roughly the same size and same caliber as that of Disney
> World.  Nothing less will suffice.

Well, if you're aiming at a game that's as engaging as Disney World,
yes.  On the other hand, people really like going to Disney World,
even thought the "content" doesn't change very fast.  But I suspect
there's some middle ground.

It is a very different model: it's a lot more staffing-intensive
than current MMO management models.  But it certainly does make for
some interesting thought experiments.


Amanda Walker
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