Guild Wars 2 NPC Inspired By Player's Cross-Country Walk

I’m asking because, if it was just a generic merchant, it’s possible that they’re dynamically generated (and so the model might change as you zone out and back in, or when you get sent to an overflow server).

But, if the character is named, presumably, it will always have to look identical, so if one is getting replaced, there must be a moment when the previous one walks away, and it should be possible to follow him and see what he does.

I’ve watched several time lapse videos (and sat by several NPCs in the game) and never noticed any of them having “lives” (sleeping, eating, etc.). Most just stand in one place all the time. Some generic “citizens” move around (basically in a patrol loop), and some NPCs move as part of events (ex., escort missions), but no one ever seems to go home or have a meal (or interact with the world around them – for example, in Ultima 7 characters would make beds, open nearby windows during the day, replace and light candles at night, etc., in addition to their daily schedules).

It doesn’t have a significant impact on gameplay, of course, but makes the game feel a bit more alive and could give (currently) empty buildings a reason to exist.

Where did I (or anyone else) mention “sneaking into a bedroom at night to buy some armor”…? And how would that be “replicating real life” ? 

Was that your excuse in court? “Yes, your honor, I did sneak into his room at night, but… I was just trying to buy some armor, like people do in their normal daily lives.”

Why would you have to “chase an NPC around”? Do you normally have to chase salesmen around? And do they carry all their merchandise with them?

Personally, I tend to go to shops and department stores, and I don’t really care which individual salesman I buy things from. If salesman A is “visiting his grandma”, I’m sure salesman B will be glad to sell me the same products, or very similar ones.

And yes, I want the NPCs to have a “lifelike life”, which is kind of the measure of a simulation of life (how lifelike it is – you know, like life), since the game is essentially simulating a world with living creatures.

I don’t have any problem with vending machines being in the same place all day (that’s what vending machines do), or with shops being open 24/7 (a lot of shops are), but I do think that, if they’re going to simulate living people, they probably shouldn’t make them behave like vending machines and stand exactly on the same spot for all eternity (often in the rain or in the sun, when there’s a porch less than 3 steps away). 

Most RPG makers seems to agree, and most players seem to expect that, too. It’s not exactly a new concept; Elder Scrolls games have NPCs with daily schedules, and so did Ultima 7 (released 20 years ago), as I mentioned above. 

If you prefer NPCs to be completely static, that’s fine, but there’s really no need to come up with nonsensical scenarios to justify that preference. Do you think it would be realistic for a vendor to carry all his products with him, into his bedroom? And do you think it would be realistic for him to treat you as a client if you woke him up in the middle of the night? How would any of that be “lifelike” ?

> you want your npc’s to live a
> “lifelike” life [...] I made some
> unrealistic examples to make
> my point. 

Your point was that I wanted the game to be “too realistic”, so you made some unrealistic examples? Huh? 

If you can’t “make your point” with realistic examples, maybe your point was kind of wrong to begin with…?

>  I dont mind a bit of realism,
> i just dont want it to get too real.

So you would _want_ to have to chase a vendor around into his bedroom to buy stuff? Because that wouldn’t be realistic at all, as opposed to simply going to the shop and talking to another vendor while the first one was sleeping or having lunch, as I described (which I guess you found “too realistic”) ?

I really don’t understand your point. 

> I’m not interested in playing my
> life with a mouse and keyboard,
> i’m playing to do things i dont
> do in my rl. 

Who said anything about “playing your life” ? Is that another one of your “deliberately unrealistic points” to prove… something…?

Having a realistic world (with trees that sway in the wind, water that ripples, NPCs that move around, cities that feel alive, bears that walk on the ground, wasps that fly through the air, fish that swim in rivers, trees that grow vertically, etc.) has nothing to do with “playing your real life with a mouse”, it has to do with creating a believable and realistic game world (which is one of the most fundamental goals of RPGs) where you can play the role of a certain character (or multiple characters).

If you don’t want something that resembles life, then MMORPG is probably the last game genre you should be playing.

> This video is showing the npc
> ai i’m satisfied with.

That’s not “AI”, it’s a scripted event (basically an escort mission with multiple stages). A daily schedule isn’t AI either, it’s also a series of scripted events (which makes it even stranger why you complain about my suggestion of giving NPCs a daily schedule and then praise a video that shows something almost identical, but nevermind). 

AI would be something like the character moving indoors when it’s raining and standing outside when the weather is nice, or lighting a nearby torch when it starts to get dark, etc. (i.e., reacting to the environment instead of following a fixed script – even if that script has some branching as in the case of dynamic events). That kind of reactive behavior would be great, but it requires a lot more processing than simple schedules, so it would put a lot of load on the servers. The only actual AI the NPCs in GW2 seems to have (and, even then, only some NPCs) is to attack enemies if they get close.

If by “over-analyze” you mean “read and notice the obvious contradiction”, then yes, I guess I do.

When you say “that suggestion would make the game too realistic” in one paragraph and describe a completely unrealistic situation in the next paragraph (supposedly as a consequence of the same suggestion you just classified as “too realistic”), the whole argument is simply not logically consistent. It’s not “irony”, it’s just (literally) non-sense.

It reminds me of the guy who was simultaneously complaining that GW2 “might have the trinity after all” and “doesn’t have the trinity but some players might want it”. Maybe that made sense in his head, but no one else could understand what his point was. You can’t be simultaneously against something and its opposite.

 It was in the main city, so I dont think i got put on an owerflow.

”no one ever seems to go home”

If you had followed some dynamic event npc’s you would have noticed that this happens quite often. the guy that collects ore in the norn straing area or the guy that wants you to get meat, smokes it after you brought it.

if you haven’t yet you should watch these videos

/watch?v=6CyqGJHTjes
/watch?v=IwmtVFoZAKA

Since you have more expertise in this area, doesn’t that kind of programming create more lag, and graphical strains on a computer?  If every NPC had more realistic movements, and actions I would think that would be difficult in an MMO, or is that not right?

Cool, I agree that would make it feel more alive and different with each encounter similar to what they did in Skyrim. I’m not aware of any MMO that has done that level of detail with NPC’s but it would be a welcome upgrade.

jajajajajajajaja it comes in the picture when it said she got inspired cuz she had to walk everywhere since there were no mounts while she was playing GW2 jajajajaja, what kind of game has no mounts? jajajajajaja so innovative.

Plenty of games. Why is there a need for mounts when you have rally points?

You like being on top and riding hard, don’t cha? Jajajaja..

The lack of mounts in WvW is a pain in the ass.

I agree with you Jado, travel in GW2 is not very innovative.