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

[Amanda Walker]

On May 27, 2004, at 5:53 AM, Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com wrote:
> Amanda Walker wrote :

> A previous post suggests that an actor playing a barkeep could be
> fairly ignorant of the world, but I don't buy that. If they can't
> talk plausibly about the world they are functioning in, what value
> do they add?

Conversation, rumor mill, etc.  They don't have to know
significantly more than players.

>> Quite probably.  And "heck if I know, I'm just an inkeeper" is a
>> perfectly good answer for them to give.

> I really don't think so. In fact, if I heard a character use the
> construct "heck if I know..." in a fantasy game, any illusion
> would instantly be shattered. I'd think I was in America not
> Pyroth. Dialect is important.

Applying this criterion removes all major MMO games from the
discussion.

Players use those constructs all the time.  Now, if you're building
a strict roleplay game, role playing ability would be a job
qualification, but for popular MMORPGs, that illusion is already
shattered.

Taking the SCA as an analogy ... dialect makes a difference in some
places but not others.  If I'm in court and someone's getting
knighted, I have a high expectation: the herald better be able to be
appropriately pompous, pronounce things correctly, and the ceremony
as a whole should be appropriately impressive.  However, if I'm
picking up lunch on my way to Merchants' Row, "can I help you?" and
"would you like fries with that?" are fine.

Amanda Walker
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