NPC qualities.

[Fish]

In EQ there is no difference between monsters and NPC?s. They are essentially implemented exactly the same way.  If you give a monster the ability to talk and give a quest that?s an NPC.  Some might argue that they look different.  If it looks like an elf that must be an NPC.  However to the computer that?s just a different model.  For the sake of efficiency they?re still the same thing.

So my question is what traits would you like to see that would make an NPC less monster like.  There has to be away to make NPC?s that just aren?t dressed up monsters.  I only really have one idea, there has to be better ones out there.  It is if you have a rogue NPC that won?t answer your question you might have to lean on it a bit.  That means hurt it until it tells you what you need to know.  Say if you knock it down half its hit points it may be inclined to tell you what you want to know.  Or maybe just threatening it is enough. That would be a distinctly non-monster like property.

I think the key to this problem is coming up with a better behavior model for the two.  So does anybody have any ideas for how an NPC would behave differently than a monster?

[BlueScreenJunky]

I think they shouldn\'t stand still like they do, but not move randomly like monsters either. They should give the impression that they have things to do (eg : go to a shop, then to the tavern, or sit on a bench at the plaza talking to another NPC). And be there at certain times (they have to sleep too lol).
Then you would now that a specific NPC can be found at 2 or 3 different places, or maybe you could ask other players /NPC if they\'ve seen the NPC you\'re looking for.


What would be fun too is to use certain NPCs as messengers, for exemple you could tell the bartender \"next time you see [player or member of a guild] tell him [message]\", and he would deliver the message for you. That would make the world more realistic, and allow you to communicate with players if they\'re offline.

if you knock it down half its hit points it may be inclined to tell you what you want to know

but you can\'t allow players to hit NPCs, or they will all be slaughtered in a few hours lol.

[Moogie]

I think the fundamental difference between an NPC and a monster is their purpose.

The basic purpose of an NPC is to give life to the world, inhabit the towns and cities and keep the story and adventure flowing. You can interact with them, hire them as henchmen perhaps, do them favours, barter with them and so on.

Monsters, however, are for the dungeons and wildlands of the world. Most commonly agressive, there\'s not much interaction possible. They may have hides or teeth or some other ingredient you need to complete a quest or for alchemy purposes. Otherwise, they are mainly there to be bashed over the head with [insert choice weapon type here] to gain XP.

As PCs, or Playable Characters, we control our own adventures and live our own lives in the game. Non Playable Characters do the same, except they are entirely controlled by their AI scripting. NPCs would have their own homes, their own jobs, their own conversational topics. Of course, in a MMORPG, making them killable would be a bad idea. Simply allowing that and respawning in a couple of minutes like a crystal wouldn\'t go down well in a world which is supposed to be as believable as possible- moreso if they respawn with all their loot back (after the player has taken it all from the corpse).

On the other hand, monsters should respawn frequently, considering their primary goal is to die at the PCs\' hands.

Hmm... I\'ve run out of steam for this post. Still, that\'s what I think about it.

[Vengeance]

Our NPCs will not just stand there.  They will have things to do, much as the previous poster suggested.

I like the messenger idea too.  I\'ll think about whether there is an easy way to implement that.

- Venge