NPCs and AI

[Lance Blair]

Here's an overview of the latest tech for using AI to build NPC characters in Persistent Worlds.
On one hand, you get characters that can react to how the game changes. You get spontaneity. And you break out of a dialog tree.
On the other hand, you get more content but lose the authenticity of human voice acting.
To read more plus links on the matter even including a spiffy research paper: https://lanceblairvo.com/npcs-and-ai-in ... nt-worlds/

There is also an accompanying piece about the categories and subcategories of NPCs for gaming here: https://lanceblairvo.com/npc-archetypes ... ver-guide/

Yes, I still blog a lot *AND* I write on message boards. Party like it's 2005!

Enjoy.

[Mike Paul]

I don't game much, but it would be amazing to see a world where the NPCs can say whatever comes to their mind—all AI of course—while the voice actor whose voice was cloned gets fairly compensated for that. There are responsible uses of AI, but how we get there... some big huge game development shop needs to take lead.

And thank you for being so 2005. May we all continue to keep the best parts of the World Wide Web alive and kicking. We'll be the ones who were already doing the "what's old is new again" thing when everybody has finally had enough of social MEdia.

[Deebs]

Thanks for this!

In the Elder Scrolls Online, we kinda killed ourselves to come up with so many possible NPC contingencies-- with text and emphasis.
There were loads of built-in triggers for different exchanges of dialogue, like race, faction, possession of certain epic items. That NPC would remember that the player is a warden, or is part of the Ebonheart pact, or is a Khajiit, or had the Sword of a Thousand Truths (aaaah!)

Procedural dialogue sounds interesting. I'm looking forward to reading your paper.

[Lance Blair]

Ah, yes, it's crazy to try and write for a persistent world, or a complex live world! We aren't in "Animal Crossing" anymore, Toto!
The research paper is spiffy, but it is by Guanwei Zeng from Zhejiang A&F University.