Dream MMO - Part II

Dream MMO - Part II By Ron Fair Ron Fair is a very passionate writer and scholar whose strong and sometimes unconventional opinions have stirred controversy - though his arguments and logic are often stronger than one might suspect. He is very active on MMOsite as an Associate Writer for the blogs (LordYanLiang) and moderator on the forums.

Back in August, the so-called "MMO Misanthrope" (I thought I deserved that title personally, but what can you do?) crafted their dream MMO using four core ideals (amongst others) based on somewhat radical thinking. And if I may say so myself, the dream the MMO Misanthrope crafted is a very, very beautiful one. I think I would play that "Dream MMO", but at the same time that dream MMO isn't MY dream MMO. I can definitely appreciate the "radical" approach, but my dream MMO is just a little more grounded, and built with just a little more universal appeal. This is the sort of dream MMO that I think everybody might enjoy, so I will share the core principles with as much detail as I am able to muster clearly, to see if you share my dream as well.

Dream MMO - Part I - Point 1 and 2

Point 3 and 4

Full Size

3. Make the garden-variety NPC even more valuable, dynamic, and unique.

Originally, the MMO Misanthrope suggested that all NPCs really be controlled by "actors", so that dialogue was unique and genuine, and should hostiles ever come to attack them, they acted intelligently. I like this idea, but not only is it impractical, I can go one step further with the original idea the Misanthrope had in mind. First, however, I will provide a compromise for the lesser NPCs.

The problem with paying somebody ten bucks an hour to puppet an NPC is that the application is very limited, and an NPC can't be puppeted 24 hours a day. And with a product that anybody in the world can access, you'll need to keep somebody on 24 hours a day. And I have to be honest, I'm a little bothered by the idea of multiple people playing the same NPC, because you can get completely different personalities that you really don't need to worry about juggling. Again, for lesser NPCs, it's really not necessary.

Full Size

But I still like the idea of intelligent NPCs who can react appropriately to any situation, who can adapt to a situation, and who has a self-preservation instinct. So, my dream MMO would be run with the Euphoria engine. There's really no platform that's not suited for Euphoria, but I'm willing to say that the Euphoria engine is perfect for the MMO (it's perfect for any genre, really). We've seen it executed in Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption, but the Euphoria engine hasn't yet been used to its full potential. But if applied so and used fully for how it was meant to be used, the end result would be NPCs with a unique data-driven understanding of its surroundings. NPCs can learn and adapt, and NPCs can be programmed with different levels of skill to the point where their actual fighting technique would change without any outside interference. They'd make strides to learn the patterns of attackers, and they'd call for help if they couldn't handle a given hostile. If they needed weapons or lost their weapons, they'd know where they were dropped and would go to get them. And most importantly, if they found themselves overwhelmed, they wouldn't be afraid to run. Certainly, with the right programming, they'd also know to return to their homes when they were no longer in danger. This would also mean that NPCs could keep a regular schedule, and act as any regular person would.

And just to up the ante, NPCs can be semi-unique. If a shopkeeper or a villager dies and they're not resurrected, they're dead for good instead of respawning some ten minutes later. And then a GM or a player could spawn a new one when it was appropriate, and then even towns would be forever changing. Of course, every now and then, a GM could take over an NPC or a boss, which would make the experience even more unique, but this leads me to my next point, and how I think I could go a step better.