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

[Brian 'Psychochild' Green]

Michael Sellers wrote:

> Part of the challenge then is to make sure any "flavor" provided
> by believable NPCs isn't obstructive, but that it is integral to
> the gameplay.  Yes, some goal-oriented players will complain
> because now they have to actually interact meaningfully with
> people, but you have to decide if the Diablo market is your main
> market or not.

A brief quibble before I get to the meat of this discussion: What
market do the commercial games really have besides the GOP segment?
People who want story can go to media that have been more
effectively telling stories for longer than most of us have been
alive.  People who want interaction with other interesting people
can actually go talk to real people in our games.  Writing off the
"Diablo market" seems to be a dangerous policy, in my opinion.

>From this point of view, I will agree somewhat with JC but would
more specifically say that there's a danger of the NPCs being "too
deep" from a development and gameplay point of view.  From the
development point of view, I think there's a point of vanishing
returns.  There's a certain level of "goodenoughness" that the NPCs
need to achieve for players not to be bothered by them.  Going
beyond this point is spending time and effort which will probably
not significantly add to the quality of your game.  Plus, it's a
tall order to fill; do you really expect a bunch of programmers and
designers to understand and capture the depth and subtlety of things
as ephemeral as human relationships?

Which leads to the gameplay arguments.  The biggest problem with
real human emotion is that it is often unpredictable and
frustrating. Consider the whole "battle of the sexes" where people
complain endlessly because they "can't understand" their partner.
Are you really going to add something to your virtual world by
adding this aspect to it?  Is it really going to be fun when the
female shopkeeper refuses to give my male character a good price
because some other male just insulted her and now she thinks all men
are evil?  While this might seem cool in some intellectual exercise,
it will do little but frustrate most people; remember that
frustration is the opposite of fun.

Personally, I think the best option is to do what Meridian 59 did
with NPCs.  (This is something you're probably familiar with, Mike.)
NPCs act just like the passive vending machines we all know and love
from plenty of other games, the main difference is that the NPCs
happen to have a rather simple chat system behind them.  The chat
system spouts random phrases from time to time, and NPCs will react
to keyword matches in PC communication (says).  NPCs also have a
"mood" setting, where they can be in either a good or bad mood
depending on things that happen around them (such as the political
faction of people in the area, the time of day, etc.).  So, the
Achievers can sell their items, refresh their inventories, and go on
with their lives.  But, those who want a bit more depth to their
world can interact with the NPC on a simple level and find out more
about the NPC and the world in general.  The main point here is that
the NPC chat system does *not* interfere with the gameplay at all.

However, I suspect that less than 10% of the people playing Meridian
59 really interact with the NPCs on any level deeper than their
vending-machine capabilities.  Most of these people don't have a
good grasp on the mood behavior, either.  People simply don't care,
and trying to force them to care is not a good use of your time and
effort as a developer.

To summarize, NPCs can use some depth, but it should be largely
optional.  Allowing players to interact with the NPCs on a basic
(vending machine) level is the best, and allowing players that care
to explore the depth as they want is the best policy.  Because of
this, there is the very real danger that you can spend too much time
and effort in this area while adding nothing of significant value to
your game.

My opinion,

--
"And I now wait / to shake the hand of fate...."  -"Defender", Manowar
          Brian Green, brian at psychochild.org  aka  Psychochild
         |\      _,,,---,,_      *=* Morpheus, my kitten, says "Hi!" *=*
   ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_               Meridian 59
        |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'        http://www.meridian59.com/
       '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)          PvP and full player interaction
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