December 2000
- Components and Inheritence Jon Lambert
- Components and Inheritence John Buehler
- Components and Inheritence Jon Lambert
- Cash for Lawsuits UCMM Administration
- Cash for Lawsuits Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Cash for Lawsuits Patrick Dughi
- Cash for Lawsuits Matthew D. Fuller
- Cash for Lawsuits Patrick Dughi
- Cash for Lawsuits Matthew Mihaly
- Cash for Lawsuits Richard.Woolcock@rsuk.rohde-schwarz.com
- Cash for Lawsuits Richard.Woolcock@rsuk.rohde-schwarz.com
- Cash for Lawsuits Alex
- Names (was: An essay on d00dz ...) Marian Griffith
- Names (was "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG") gmiller@classic-games.com
- Names (was "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG") Travis Casey
- New and looking for a good place to get started... Graham Reitz
- New and looking for a good place to get started... Peter
- New and looking for a good place to get started... Corey Crawford
- New and looking for a good place to get started... Patrick Dughi
- New and looking for a good place to get started... J C Lawrence
- New and looking for a good place to get started... Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Permadeath or Not? Corey Crawford
- Permadeath or Not? John Buehler
- Permadeath or Not? Jeff Freeman
- Permadeath or Not? Ben Chambers
- Permadeath or Not? John Buehler
- Permadeath or Not? Travis Nixon
- Permadeath or Not? Corey Crawford
- Permadeath or Not? John Buehler
- Permadeath or Not? Madrona Tree
- Permadeath or Not? John Buehler
- Permadeath or Not? Travis Casey
- Permadeath or Not? Jeff Freeman
- Permadeath or Not? Travis Casey
- Permadeath or Not? Travis Nixon
- Permadeath or Not? Zak Jarvis
- Permadeath or Not? Koster, Raph
- Permadeath or Not? Vincent Archer
- Permadeath or Not? Koster, Raph
- Permadeath or Not? Dave Rickey
- Permadeath or Not? Ananda Dawnsinger
- Permadeath or Not? Jeff Freeman
- Permadeath or Not? Batir
- Permadeath or Not? Koster, Raph
- Permadeath or Not? Jeff Freeman
- Permadeath or Not? Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Permadeath or Not? Kwon Ekstrom
- Permadeath or Not? Jeff Freeman
- Permadeath or Not? J. Eric Townsend
- Permadeath or Not? Ananda Dawnsinger
- Permadeath or Not? Travis Casey
- Permadeath or Not? John Buehler
- Permadeath or Not? Madrona Tree
- Permadeath or Not? Marian Griffith
- Permadeath or Not? rayzam
- Greetings from Organelle o. rchaeus
- Diku & GPL Patrick Dughi
- Diku & GPL Jon Lambert
- Diku & GPL Richard.Woolcock@rsuk.rohde-schwarz.com
- Diku & GPL Jon Lambert
- Diku & GPL J C Lawrence
- Diku & GPL Richard.Woolcock@rsuk.rohde-schwarz.com
- Diku & GPL Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Diku & GPL Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Diku & GPL Vincent Archer
- Diku & GPL gmiller@classic-games.com
- Diku & GPL Lars Duening
- Diku & GPL Steve {Bloo} Daniels
- Diku & GPL Alex
- Diku & GPL Corey Crawford
- Diku & GPL George Greer
- Current Server Versions (was: "New and looking for a good place to get started...") Corey Crawford
- Current Server Versions Corey Crawford
- Current Server Versions J C Lawrence
- A list of MMORPG Questions Eric Rhea
- A list of MMORPG Questions Steve {Bloo} Daniels
- A list of MMORPG Questions Jeff Freeman
- A list of MMORPG Questions Vincent Archer
- A list of MMORPG Questions J C Lawrence
- A list of MMORPG Questions Marc Bowden
- A list of MMORPG Questions Dave Rickey
- A list of MMORPG Questions John Szeder
- A list of MMORPG Questions Dave Kennerly
- A list of MMORPG Questions Corey Crawford
- A list of MMORPG Questions Koster, Raph
- A list of MMORPG Questions Jeff Freeman
- A list of MMORPG Questions Eric Rhea
- A list of MMORPG Questions Lee Sheldon
- A list of MMORPG Questions Koster, Raph
- A list of MMORPG Questions Eric Rhea
- A list of MMORPG Questions Koster, Raph
- A list of MMORPG Questions Sage
- Distro for Intricate / Numerous Mobs Hulbert, Leland
- Levels of immersion Richard A. Bartle
- Levels of immersion Yves K
- Levels of immersion Richard A. Bartle
- Levels of immersion olag@ifi.uio.no
- Levels of immersion Richard A. Bartle
- Levels of immersion John Vanderbeck
- Levels of immersion Richard A. Bartle
- Levels of immersion Tess Snider
- Levels of immersion Tess Lowe
- Levels of immersion Travis Casey
- Levels of immersion Richard A. Bartle
- Levels of immersion Travis Casey
- Levels of immersion Tess Snider
- Levels of immersion Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Levels of immersion Richard A. Bartle
- Levels of immersion Tess Snider
- Levels of immersion Jeff Freeman
- Levels of immersion Tess Lowe
- Levels of immersion Richard A. Bartle
- Levels of immersion Jeff Freeman
- Levels of immersion Travis Casey
- Levels of immersion olag@ifi.uio.no
- Levels of immersion Richard A. Bartle
- Levels of immersion msew
- Levels of immersion J C Lawrence
- Permadeath Nigel Chapman
- Permadeath Tess Snider
- Permadeath Richard.Woolcock@rsuk.rohde-schwarz.com
- History of a Game Christopher Allen
- Levels of immersion (Warning LONG) John Vanderbeck
- NPC Goals ( Was: Dynamic Timelines) Lord Ashon
-----Original Message-----
From: mud-dev-admin@kanga.nu [mailto:mud-dev-admin@kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
Travis Casey
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 2:00 PM
To: Lord Ashon
Subject: Re: [MUD-DEV] Dynamic Timelines
> - Making NPCs behave in a consistent way. This requires the system
> to know things about the NPCs. E.g., if Bubba has a goal "marry
> Buffy", then if Bubba's first scheme to do that is thwarted, it
> makes sense that he'll try another one later. If Bubba goes after
> a different princess every few months, things will seem less
> consistent.
This statement I agree completely. The Mobile's _must_ know a couple of
things:
- They Must Know their Own Goals
- They Must know the 'shape' of the World
- They Must know how to get things done.
>The first two can be handled by a simple random event generator like
>the one the you've described, and ones that have been described here
>before, but personally, I find the last one most interesting. The
>question, then, is what kind of information would we need to keep
>about NPCs to make this work, and what do we do with it?
>Let's start with the information. It seems to me that we need at
>least two types of information about NPCs: attitudes and
>capabilities.
>Attitudes tell how an NPC feels about things. Some attitudes may
>stand alone, while others require an object. For example, "violent"
>can stand on its own, but "desires" needs to have an object for that
>desire. So, Bubba the Evil Warrior might have these attitudes:
> - desires Princess Buffy
> - dislikes Buffy's Father
> - violent
> - dishonorable
> - desires money
> - desires followers
> - hates paladins
What if we start at even a more basic level. Erwin S. Andreasen, and
Brandon Downey came up with a Bartle-Quotient test.
(http://www.andreasen.org/bartle/) To determine what 'suit' players fit into
on a mud. It seems logical to me that we should do the same to for the
NPC's. We can then use these to determine what type's of activities and the
NPC is most likely to participate in.
>You could use a system like that of the paper RPG Pendragon for this.
>In it, characters have "passions". There's a set of passions that all
>characters have to have ratings in, and these are arranged in opposed
>pairs. Characters are given numerical ratings in the passions. When
>a passion is tested, a roll is made using it. On a success, the
>character is influenced by that passion. On a critical success, the
>character is strongly influenced by that passion, and cannot hide it.
>On a failure, the character may be influenced by the opposite passion
>instead; a roll is made with it, and treated the same way. If neither
>passion succeeds, then how the character feels is up to the player or
>GM (depending on whether it's a PC or NPC).
>(Note that this is an optional rule in Pendragon. It's meant to
>simulate how the characters in Arthurian fantasy sometimes do
>things that we moderns might consider to be way overboard. In this
>case, though, I'm only proposing using it to determine NPC behavior.)
>Pendragon also has "directed passions", which are like the "desires
>with an object" above. These are optional and do not have opposites.
Passions
This is perhaps one of the most innovative ideas that I have heard of in
dealing with NPCs If we use the Bartle Suits to give 'weight' to a set of
passions, and then randomize it to give it a little variability, we can
match or 'shift' the direction of our npc's If we have to many killer
NPC's/Players we can give weight to the algorithm to shift more of the npc's
to an explorer or achiever goal.
>Capabilities are means that the character has available to affect
>things. These can be inherent abilities, such as being able to use
>magic, but could also be external things, like having an army or a
>magical item. They could even be social connections, like being
>friends with the local Duke. Bubba might have a set of capabilities
>like:
> - level 10 warrior
> - personal army
> - allied with Boffo the Evil Wizard
> - lots of money
>(This system could also be used to describe organizations, kingdoms,
>etc. One could have a set of ideals that it generally subscribes to,
>and can have capabilities in the form of significant NPC members,
>populations, etc.)
Capabilities
Each suit would have a set of capabilities. With the Bartle Quotient
Test, we get a percentage of what we are. If we use those to determine
which Capabilities are available to a NPC, we can have a NPC with a wide
array of Capabilities:
Achiever Killer Heart
----- -------- --------
5% -> Has Money 5% -> Level 1 5% -> Has Weak Ally
10% -> Has Item 10% -> Level 5 10% -> Allied with a Guild
20% -> Has Position 20% -> Spell Casting 20% -> Has Medium Ally
40% -> Has Power 40% -> Has 'Armor' 40% -> In Favor w/ a God
80% -> Has Followers 80% -> Special Combat Skills 80% -> Ally w/ Pow.
Guild
90% -> Has Artifact 90% -> Level 50 90% -> Ally w/ Power Ally
100% -> Has Organization 100% -> Level 100 100%-> Something Cool
And then as you describe, we can use these capabilities to come up with a
set of goals that is applied to the NPC.
>Major and minor characters: Characters who have many strong
>personality traits and the capabilities to do something with them
>would be more likely to be have scenarios centered around them than
>other characters. This creates a natural division of NPCS into
>major and minor characters. Allowing for scenarios to change an NPC's
>personality traits and/or capabilities can allow the status of an NPC
>to change over time.
To make the system work and feel dynamic, this would be a necessity. We
would have to be able to have minor characters who can rise to major
character. But, you could and shouldn't ever do it in reverse. A Major
Character that plot is canceled and they are thrown off their seats of
power, they can still work on re-building their previous position and
hunting down the Player that did.
>PC involvement: Plots could be generated with PCs as objects -- e.g.,
>Bubba might put a price on the head of a PC who thwarted his plans,
>causing the system to search for NPC mercenaries who might decide to
>go after that PC. I'm not sure how good an idea this would be -- it
>allows for "natural" solutions to certain problems (like paladins who
>are misbehaving), and can reward PCs who take an active interest in
>doing things on the mud by giving them more attention. On the minus
>side, however, it may focus too much attention on those characters.
Players need to be an integral part of the Plots. If Bubba is trying to
destroy a certain temple, He should know how powerful it is (How many
players attend there) and know that it will make it more difficult. So he
will go about trying to frame others for the job. Or even to go so far as
to hire players to be a part of his plot. Bubba hires a group to raid a
guildhall, and bring him back a specific Item, which he will use to destroy
the temple. or whatever.
Anyways,
-Lord Ashon - NPC Goals ( Was: Dynamic Timelines) Travis Casey
- NPC Goals ( Was: Dynamic Timelines) Lord Ashon
- Interesting EQ rant Tess Lowe
- New stuff on my site Koster, Raph
- New stuff on my site John Vanderbeck
- Tile Editor for MUD? Corey Crawford
- Moving away from the level based system John Vanderbeck
- Moving away from the level based system Corey Crawford
- Moving away from the level based system John Vanderbeck
- Moving away from the level based system Phillip Lenhardt
- Moving away from the level based system Dave Rickey
- Moving away from the level based system rayzam
- Moving away from the level based system John Buehler
- Moving away from the level based system msew
- Moving away from the level based system John Buehler
- Moving away from the level based system Jeff Freeman
- Moving away from the level based system John Buehler
- Moving away from the level based system Jeff Freeman
- Moving away from the level based system Phillip Lenhardt
- Moving away from the level based system Mike Warning
- Moving away from the level based system John Vanderbeck
- Moving away from the level based system rayzam
- Moving away from the level based system John Vanderbeck
- Moving away from the level based system Gabriel
- Moving away from the level based system Ron Moore
- Moving away from the level based system Corey Crawford
- Moving away from the level based system Jon Morrow
- Moving away from the level based system Batir
- Moving away from the level based system Ron Moore
- Moving away from the level based system Travis Casey
- Moving away from the level based system Christopher Allen
- Moving away from the level based system Travis Casey
- Moving away from the level based system David Bennett
- Moving away from the level based system Travis Casey
- Moving away from the level based system John Buehler
- Moving away from the level based system gmiller@classic-games.com
- Moving away from the level based system Hulbert, Leland
- Moving away from the level based system Kwon Ekstrom
- Moving away from the level based system John Buehler
- Moving away from the level based system Jeff Freeman
- Moving away from the level based system Tess Lowe
- Moving away from the level based system Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Moving away from the level based system Jeff Freeman
- Moving away from the level based system Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Moving away from the level based system Szii
- Moving away from the level based system Gabriel
- Moving away from the level based system Travis Casey
- Moving away from the level based system Kwon Ekstrom
- Moving away from the level based system Travis Casey
- Moving away from the level based system Hulbert, Leland
- Moving away from the level based system Travis Casey
- Dealing with high-level characters. Zak Jarvis
- Speaking of Everquest... Ananda Dawnsinger
- Magic systems, was: Moving away from the level based system Richard.Woolcock@rsuk.rohde-schwarz.com
- Immersion Types (was Levels of Immersion) Tess Lowe
- Immersion Types (was Levels of Immersion) Jeff Freeman
- Text Parsers szii@sziisoft.com
- Text Parsers Darren Henderson
- Text Parsers Travis Casey
- Text Parsers Nathan F.Yospe
- Re:Text Parsers szii@sziisoft.com
- EQ Crawling (was: Permadeath or Not?) Mike Warning
- EQ Crawling (was: Permadeath or Not?) Jeff Freeman
- Building a New MUD Ron
- Building a New MUD SavantKnowsAll@cs.com
- NPC grouping (LONG) Hulbert, Leland
- NPC grouping (LONG) ling@kanga.nu
- NPC grouping (LONG) Hulbert, Leland
- Level-less skill systems John W Pierce
- Forks or Frameworks? Gavin Doughtie
- Forks or Frameworks? Bryce Harrington
- Forks or Frameworks? Bryce Harrington
- Forks or Frameworks? szii@sziisoft.com
- Forks or Frameworks? Thomas, Chris
- Forks or Frameworks? Matthew Mihaly
- Forks or Frameworks? Tess Snider
- Forks or Frameworks? Bryce Harrington
- Forks or Frameworks? Koster, Raph
- Forks or Frameworks? bruce@puremagic.com
- Forks or Frameworks? Travis Casey
- Forks or Frameworks? Bryce Harrington
- Forks or Frameworks? Travis Casey
- Forks or Frameworks? Matthew Mihaly
- Forks or Frameworks? Dave Rickey
- Forks or Frameworks? Travis Casey
- Forks or Frameworks? Matthew Mihaly
- Forks or Frameworks? Travis Casey
- Forks or Frameworks? Tess Snider
- Forks or Frameworks? Jon Morrow
- Forks or Frameworks? Matthew Mihaly
- Forks or Frameworks? Koster, Raph
- Forks or Frameworks? Matthew Mihaly
- Forks or Frameworks? Kwon Ekstrom
- Forks or Frameworks? gmiller@classic-games.com
- Forks or Frameworks? Travis Casey
- LPC text parser Travis Casey
- "Exclusion" in Asimov's Greg Miller
- New Skill System Phil O'Donnell
- New Skill System John W Pierce
- New Skill System jsmithn@hotmail.com
- New Skill System gmiller@classic-games.com
- New Skill System John Buehler
- New Skill System Koster, Raph
- New Skill System John Buehler
- New Skill System Madrona Tree
- New Skill System gmiller@classic-games.com
- New Skill System Jon Morrow
- Curing skill spam (was: Moving away from the level based system) z032383@students.niu.edu
- Locker/Theft/Anti-Hoarding System Idea Andrew Snelling
- Locker/Theft/Anti-Hoarding System Idea Chris Lloyd
- Locker/Theft/Anti-Hoarding System Idea Travis Casey
- Locker/Theft/Anti-Hoarding System Idea Chris Lloyd
- Locker/Theft/Anti-Hoarding System Idea Andrew Snelling
- Curing skill spam (was: Moving away from the level based system) Phil Hall
- Must infrastructure dictate content? (was: Forks or Frameworks) Gavin Doughtie
- Virtual Communities olag@ifi.uio.no
- Virtual Communities Jon Morrow
- Virtual Communities msew
- Curing skill spam (was: Moving away from the level base system) Scatter
- Curing skill spam (was: Moving away from the level base system) z032383@students.niu.edu
- Curing skill spam (was: Moving away from the level base system) Batir
- Ray Feist interview Koster, Raph
- Ray Feist interview John Buehler
- Ray Feist interview David Loeser
- Ray Feist interview John Vanderbeck
- Ray Feist interview John Buehler
- Ray Feist interview Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Ray Feist interview Travis Casey
- Ray Feist interview Lee Sheldon
- Ray Feist interview Travis Casey
- Ray Feist interview Fredfish {E. Harper}
- Ray Feist interview Lee Sheldon
- Ray Feist interview Lee Sheldon
- Storytelling Games [was: Ray Feist interview] Christopher Allen
- Curing skill spam Dan
- Curing skill spam Travis Casey
- Curing skill spam Jon Lambert
- Curing skill spam Alistair Milne