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

[Amanda Walker]

On May 26, 2004, at 9:33 AM, J C Lawrence wrote:

> It is still just scenery, but now it is active scenery that is
> played with, consciously, with deliberate and knowing suspension
> of disbelief, to form those human emotional and reaction
> structures (cf almost everybody at an SCA meet).  They know
> they're pretending, they want to pretend, and they cynically keep
> half an eye on the real world while they claim to be King Henry
> VIII with his many wives (all of whom manage to be present
> simultaneously).  In such a context, yes, maybe, such richer NPC
> implementations could be seen as more valuable props -- but are
> they actually necessary?

Indeed.  The SCA's a great example.  So is Burning Man, or Tripoli's
high power rocket event.  Every year I attend the Pennsic War, where
about 12,000 people voluntarily come together to great what is in
effect a medieval fair tent city.  This is not a renfaire: there are
no spectators.  There are occasional troublemakers, but it is
generally quite effectively self-policed.  Some people have jobs
(selling food, running a merchant tent, etc.), some volunteer
(security team, first aid station), others just come and do their
own thing.  Belief isn't suspended 100% (I really like my
propane-fired hot shower, for example), but there's a reason people
keep coming back year after year, and plan jobs and schedules around
being in Pennsylvania the third week of August: it's serious fun.
It is incredibly fun.  Given some basic structure, people are
amazingly good at creating their own content, pros or not.

Amanda Walker
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev