Talking to NPCs

[deos]

I think the initial idea of talking to NPC\'s is a good idea but can be tedius for the player when he has to type in the exact phrase to get information the NPC is programmed (unbeknownst to the player). So here is my solution, realistic AI powered by AliceBot. A totally modular chatbot that sounds like a real human. It\'s kinda hard to explain but go here http://www.alicebot.org for more info.

[acraig]

Basically think of the current NPC\'s as well, morons.  The simple reason for this was that we did not have the resources to give them enough intelligence. Just enough to get them going.  When people start writing better dialog for them and start making full use of the dialog system it will be much better.

Plus we store all the stuff the NPC does not understand so periodically we can update their \'brains\'.   So don\'t be suprised if a NPC suddenly gets \'smarter\' one day.

[druke]

you oughta add a reply to \"wow you got smart\" because when i see that thats the first thing i\'m saying

[deos]

oh... I guess I should have a point why a modular bot would be cool. Think about this, script out a conversation about a quest and deploy that to all relevent NPCs while still leaving each NPCs personalities in tact. In addition to that you could create modules of specific knowledge to all relevent NPCs who would know about that particular event, craft, etc. The bot already comes with basic conversation and with a bit of tweaking, it could be set for a fantasy type setting so that if you just wanted to bs with it, the conversation would appear very human-like. I think THAT is a very fundemental function of it because if say, you dont word something correctly or you ask something the bot does not know, it will not come back with a null response but rather a natural one. After playing with the bot myself I noticed it also has the ability of continuing a conversation, so asking the right things not only would you get an answer but hints as to what to ask next. I have even used this bot with aim and managed to trick a few friends of mine. They thought they were talking to a live person until after about 30 minutes I had to cut the conversation and let em know that it was a bot they were talking to.

[druke]

* squints* i so am not reading that till morning

[acraig]

Originally posted by deos
 In addition to that you could create modules of specific knowledge to all relevent NPCs who would know about that particular event, craft, etc. The bot already comes with basic conversation and with a bit of tweaking, it could be set for a fantasy type setting so that if you just wanted to bs with it, the conversation would appear very human-like

That is how the system currently works.  Each NPC has a list of \'knowledge areas\' that it searches for a response.  So for example a smith may have the following knowledge areas:

mining
smithing
smelting
forges
hydlaa_general
general
Error

If it does not understand what was said it falls into the error knowledge area and picks a random response from there.

Some NPC\'s can have their own specific areas as well so Dredic the miner may have his own:
dredic_area

So he can talk about his 4 sons and his wife etc.

 I think THAT is a very fundemental function of it because if say, you dont word something correctly or you ask something the bot does not know, it will not come back with a null response but rather a natural one.

Our system can do that as well.  Just a matter of adding the right stuff to it.  The design allows for all this.

[deos]

that is really cool. Alot of work would have to go into it but I think that once that part of the game has matured alot of players will see this as a great feature rather than an annoyance, as many of the people in the board have pointed out. Yeah it is alittle frustrating to talk to them now, but I can see the potential and hope for a great game feature down the road.

[lostprophet]

Yeah I think everyone should stop moaning about how stoopid the npc\'s are and grin and bear it. I like the system because it doesn\'t spoon feed you information like hyperlinks do, sometimes you can talk to the first npc you ever saw and find out something you never knew from them. The kran guy outside the library has a lot to say, for one.

[Maynx]

I think a lot of new players will become easily frustrated with the NPC interaction system in place. Most gamers in general, don\'t want to waste a lot of playing time finding out the proper phrases to say in order to get relevent information. The concept is great I love the idea of AI generating realistic conversation. IMHO it just makes the game more complicated then it should be, great games follow the K.I.S.S rule. (Keep It Simple Stupid)

[lostprophet]

But a lot of the people here play the game because they\'ve played a lot of other games and got bored, and are looking for something a little more challenging. Planeshift is ever evolving, which means it will also be ever innovating.

[Wedge]

If this were a single-player RPG this might be an interesting idea, but it\'s not, there are other people playing the game with you.  If you wanna have an interesting conversation, you should try and find another player to have it with, not an NPC.  This is the only issue I totally agree with Drilixer on... y\'know there really should be a sticky poll about this... except I guess something like that isn\'t fair since most people will hate the system based on what it is now.  However that\'s not why I hate it, my belief is based on the fact it is ultimately pointless and a huge waste of time better spent doing anything else for the game.  Is it really futile to complain about this system?  Do the devs really intend to go through with it no matter what?  I know it\'s early now, but how far does it have to go before it\'s considered a failure?

[lostprophet]

It sounds like you are hating it for what it is now...
I just want a more realistic and believable, and above all challenging game. I\'m a bit bored of being spoonfed information, don\'t you think it\'s fun finding it out yourself?

From what I see on the forums, though, seems like I\'m the only one backing the devs on this.

[Vengeance]

Right now, NO ONE is working to improve the dialogs and intelligence of the NPCs in MB.  However, we added that in there in its most basic form so that you could have a sense of what we\'re going for.  Imagine that system with very intelligent NPCs who rarely say \"I don\'t understand.\"  Wouldn\'t that be cool?

(As the guy who designed and wrote this system, I personally think it\'s gonna be very cool. :-)  )

[lostprophet]

I second that motion!

[Maynx]

The dialogue system is a clever idea, I just worry it will become overly complicated and hard to use for gaining information. Time will tell though.