NPC Complex AI Uses:

[The Crazy Animal]

Personally, I like complex NPCs. I would really like to see NPCs function to a point that they try to interact with players and more functionally with other NPCs. I think stuff like this could add a lot of elements and content to the game.

For example:
We have 2 NPCs: Paul and Sam, Paul is the NPC that runs the local Inn/Bar and Sam who is employed by Paul.

You walk into the Inn and over hear Paul telling Sam to take the trash out. Sam picks up some trash and walks out of the room. A few minutes later, Sam returns. You buy the last bottle of rum from Paul. Paul tells Sam to take 50 gold, go to the docks, and get him a case of rum. You see Sam grab a cart and leave. 20 minutes later Sam comes in and gives Paul a case of rum and some change. Paul tells you he has rum back in stock.

Next time you walk in:
You walk into the Inn and over hear Paul telling Sam to take the trash out. Sam picks up some trash and walks out of the room. A few minutes later, Sam returns. You buy the last bottle of rum from Paul. Paul tells Sam to take 50 gold, go to the docks, and get him a case of rum. You follow Sam out as he leaves and kill him before he gets to the docks. You return to the Inn. 20 minutes go by and Paul says where the hell is Sam he should have been back by now. A guard walks in Paul tells the guard Sam is missing. The guard leaves. 5 minutes goes by and the guard returns and tells Paul, Sam is dead. Paul yells, ?no he can?t be I just sent him on an errand? and starts to drink. (Until Sam re-spawns Paul acts like, Sam is dead and continues drinking and talking about how he misses Sam and need to hire new help.) (When Sam respawns and returns to work and Paul acts like, Sam never was missing.)

Secondly, I think it would be nice if when you looked at NPCs they had a Player like description and you could see what they were wearing. Also, I would really like to see them do stuff like pick items up, equip better items, sell items, and other similar functions.

TCA

[DeathCow]

I dunno...see lots of NPCs need to be easily findable..but maybe for some big scale stuff.

I know i want better movement fuctions for NPCs but we will have to see how that works.

[The Crazy Animal]

See that?s the thing some NPCs could stay still and others could move. The ones that are needed to be found easily wouldn?t be the ones that are moving around. I?m not really talking about moving around main characters in plots just the people that make areas look inhabited and perhaps some not so important sub-characters.?

Take for example a treasury at a castle and a local bank. ?Quest Steal the Royal Tax?
You visit the local Thieves guild and the ?stationary? NPC informs you that he would like you to rob the gold sack from the next Tax Collector that comes into town and bring it to him for a reward. You agree and leave for the bank.

You get to the bank:
When you enter the bank, a Tax Collector is spawned and walks in. He asks for the tribute tax and leaves. You follow him as he makes his way to the royal treasury. You surprise attack him and in the attack kill him. You take the bag back to the Thieves Guild for your reward.

During that time:
A player at the treasury is getting some money and can hear the ?Stationary NPC? Bank Teller talking to a Guard that a Tax Collector is missing.

?If the Tax collector wasn?t killed but only attacked the player at the treasury would hear the tax collector telling the ?Bank Teller and Guard? about getting attacked on the way.?

The idea is that the NPCs not only have some dialog content that they initiate but also interact with events that the players cause.

Edit:
Just a thought, have you thought about allowing NPCs that move read say MegaMud style path files and then just use the room data files for the defining start and stop rooms? This way you could program their paths with the record feature right in MegaMud with only minor modifications.

What are the current capabilities of the NPC AI that been implemented so far?

TCA

[ZLemur]

Absolutely love the idea. I would love to be able to spend some time just wandering around town watching the goings on.

[The Crazy Animal]

Exactly, it adds flavor and at least in my experience a lot of time people spend at keys in MMUD are times where they stop in a room to chat. So what this would really do would be basically wave content in a players face and try to get them interested again in having a look around while at keys.

TCA