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

[Michael Sellers]

Brian wrote:
> 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?  ... Writing off the "Diablo market" seems to be a
> dangerous policy, in my opinion.

It's funny; we all seem to see 'our' corner of the market as *the*
market.  This is true in war-simulation games, sports games, RTS
games, console games, and certainly in MMO games.  It's instructive
to look at what people actually buy over time.

Which sold more, Diablo or The Sims?  Quake or Barbie Fashion
Designer?  'Soft' games like these or the various 'Tycoon' games are
rarely of interest to the GoP core, but they also outsell hardcore
games handily.  Now it's true that no one's successfully applied
this type of design to MMOs -- yet.  I wouldn't bet against it
though.  I think we can learn from other games that have come before
to see what people are interested in.

> 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.

Do you think we're anywhere close to that now?  I don't, not by a
long shot.  I think we're missing out on huge opportunities for
better, more varied, and longer-lasting gameplay because current
NPCs are boring, stupid vending machines.

> 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?

For some value of subtlety, yes.  There is a point of "good enough"
as you say which IMO involves a lot more believability than we have
now.  And getting there isn't easy.  But getting to beautiful 3D
graphics wasn't easy either (and according to some was unnecessary
and would only get in the way of gameplay too!).

> Which leads to the gameplay arguments.  The biggest problem with
> real human emotion is that it is often unpredictable and
> frustrating.

So is fighting with swords or blasters or running from dinner-plate
sized crabs.  Unpredictability is an integral part of gameplay.  Of
course if it gets away from you, it's just frustrating.  But
balanced carefully, it's part of good drama, comedy, or gameplay.
Dealing effectively with emotions in a way that adds to gameplay
isn't a trivial problem, that's for certain.  But neither is it an
intractable one.

> 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.

But in practice what happens is players burst into a store, spout
off a meaningless concatenation of things they think are key words
(often macroed for this purpose), get what they want and dash out
again.  This is sort of carpet-bombing the poor chat interface.  No
wonder no one cares about the NPC's mood -- there's no reward for
doing so.

Like I said before, if you want vending machines in the game, put
vending machines in the game (this is what Habitat did, way back
when).  Adding life to the NPCs OTOH will add many aspects of
gameplay beyond the vending machines/fedex dispensers that they are
now.

But really, this goes back to the things I said before that you were
responding to: yes, some hardcore players may not like this.  Okay.
You have to choose your market.  I think the hardcore GoPers are the
one of the smaller segments of the potential online game market;
YMMV.

Mike Sellers
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