An NPC For The Rest Of Us

Some people think that most other people on this world are wholly uninteresting, and insofar as they think this, they are probably correct. Good personality traits are hard to cultivate, yet nothing else can cause a person to remain interesting to another over a long time scale. As a result of this state of affairs, I find that (1) very few people are interested in engaging their fellow citizens in any sort of meaningful dialogue, for fear that the results will be ineffective or unimportant, and (2) those who attempt to do so must typically confront reactions of stupor, surprise, or even derision. Humans are social beasts, to be sure, but we're usually not outwardly friendly beasts. For the most part, we leave that task to the dogs.

How lucky we gamers are, then, that we can enter the jolly and welcoming land of video games, wherein it seems every character with a speaking role has something substantial to say to us! But is lucky really the right word to use? Upon closer examination, the ubiquity of approachable, talkative characters in games takes on a different likeness. Most games that depend on dialogue (whether it be written on-screen or spoken aloud) for their immersive power seem stilted, bizarre, and alien when compared to real-world experience. The reasons for this problem are at least partially identifiable, and so too, I hope, are the appropriate solutions.
The term "non-player character" originated with tabletop role-playing games, but NPCs of some form or another are now present in a huge variety of video games. Computer and console RPGs supplement NPC interaction with player development and combat; adventure games, with puzzle-solving sequences; first-person shooters, with lots of combat. But even first-person shooters frequently derive a great deal of their gameplay value from NPC interaction. (One need only think of Half-Life or No One Lives Forever.) Even many console-style action games and platformers are now interspersed with dialogue.

The problem, though, is that the vast majority of NPCs speak in a manner that an educated person might write, and almost never in a manner that a real person -- educated or not -- would speak. Allow me to illustrate by contrasting the game designer's common mode of thought with an example pulled from my own spoken, day-to-day interactions with people in the real world. (It does happen occasionally, I promise!)

Three weekends ago I packed my car with all the necessities of amateur astronomy and headed north to Franklinton, Louisiana, where my astronomy society maintains a piece of property under some exceptionally dark skies. Before leaving my hometown of LaPlace, I stopped at my local Shell station to fill up on gas. I'm one of the losers who prefers not to pay at the pump, so I made my way into the station itself. Strangely, the attendant was nowhere to be seen.

I assumed that he or she (usually a she, at this gas station) had run off to the bathroom and forgotten to lock the front door. I stood idly for a moment, and was startled by the sound of glass bottles clanging together behind me. I turned and noticed that the cashier, a rotund black woman of perhaps forty years, had thrust her rather large physique into one of the standing, refrigerated drink cases that lined the back wall. Her front half was obscured while her rump wiggled in the air, and she seemed to be searching for something in the back of the refrigerator, or perhaps in the hidden inventory loading space beyond. I offered a weak "Hello."

She didn't hear me. Her entire body sagged mightily, and as she rested her weight on the shelf beneath her it emitted a dangerous creak. I stood watching for a few seconds before repeating my greeting. The woman straightened and extricated herself from the refrigerator. As she walked toward me, she didn't seem troubled or embarrassed in the least. She said, as she approached the register, "It sure did get cold today. It wasn't supposed to get cold."

As chance may have it, she was absolutely right about the weather. It was supposed to have been a warm day, but the temperature had fallen to about 60 degrees Fahrenheit -- quite chilly by southeast Louisiana standards. Later that evening in Franklinton, it would actually drop below freezing. But for the moment, it seemed more likely to me that the woman's frigidity may have been caused by the full minute that she had spent inexplicably wedged in the refrigerator.

"Yeah, it certainly did," I said. "Could I put ten dollars on pump number one? I'd like a receipt too, please."

"Okay. Just goes to show you, only the good Lord knows what's really gonna happen." She didn't look to me for a reply; instead, she gazed out the window at the sky, as though basking in her God's presence.

I'm sure that at this point in the exchange, space-time forked into two separate universes. In that alternate reality, I said, "Interesting that you should mention that. See, I don't believe in God. Therefore, I don't think that anybody knows what's really going to happen. Although I suspect that the people capable of making the most educated guesses on the matter are the very meteorologists who were wrong about today's weather. I think that their error is one of carelessly dogmatic speech habits. Rather than saying something like, 'The data indicate the weather will be moderate today', they instead say, 'It will be warm throughout the day.' The television meteorologists should be in the business of interpreting the science for people -- not stating their conclusions as facts. When they do this, it engenders unrealistic expectations of accuracy on their part, which in turn are responsible for the feelings of betrayal, resentment, and mistrust that are so common among their audience. Of course, much of the problem should be attributed to an ignorant populace. If the meteorologist says that there's a 20% chance of rain today for a person in a given area, then why do so many of those people become enraged when the weather goes sour?"

But in the real world, I merely proffered a "Perhaps so." She looked at me then, as though she were somehow capable of intuiting the sacrilegious words of my multi-dimensional self in their totality. I thanked her, took my receipt, and left the store. It was a totally surreal and memorable experience, but there was very little verbal interaction between us.

Now, in games, NPCs are generally of two types: those that are vital to the game's plot, and those that aren't. The latter category may be further divided into two subspecies: NPCs of fair to high intelligence, and NPCs of low intelligence. If the cashier had been an NPC of fair to high intelligence instead of a real person, the exchange of words would have resembled this:

"Hello."

"Hello there, and welcome to my store. It's called the LaPlace Shell Station, and although it's not much to look at, I'm pretty proud of my wares. I wish I could say I were the only gasoline vendor in this town, but you'll find a Texaco station just across the road and a BP next door. I don't have any rooms to let, but you'll find a Holiday Inn just south of here along Highway 51; it's cozy, but not too pricey. Anyway, you feel free to look around, and if you need anything, just ask. I'll be here behind the counter, waiting for night to fall... and for my shift to end..."

Had she been an NPC of low intelligence, the exchange might have been:

"Hello."

"Hi. Me cashier. You stranger. You want buy something? Say yes."

Both of these hypothetical NPC scenarios are remarkable; for although they exhibit speech habits totally foreign to the real world, they are all too common in games of every variety. (In neither scenario would the NPC have been burrowing into a frickin' refrigerator, but I digress.) This sort of literary idiocy often hampers even really good games. I have concluded that the way that NPCs have been crafted in the past is terribly flawed. NPCs of every station and walk of life speak and act in a manner that is almost impossible for a person born of this earth to assimilate. If the goal is to make NPCs into convincing characters, they must act in the manner we expect real people to act.

At this point, the game designer's objection may be raised: Everyday people are boring and dull. Gamers don't want to live their lives in the real world, only to come home and play through the same thing in a game.

Fair enough. However, allow me to suggest that if the objective is to create exciting games, turning every NPC into a robotic (but well spoken!) non-human is not a good way to go about it. Instead, give us worlds in which NPCs don't care about who the player is; that way, when they do take interest in the player, it'll be something special. Give us worlds in which NPCs totally freak out when a player enters their house unannounced, or when a player engages in fisticuffs in the street, or when the alien spaceships descend. Give us worlds that we may make into playgrounds, rather than worlds that make playthings out of us.

Model your games after The Last Express. The Last Express is a brilliant game in many respects; so much so that it's worthy of its own article, so I won't spill all the beans here and now. Let it suffice to say that the NPCs are totally independent of the player. They often have conversations among themselves, which the player can only hear by eavesdropping. They have their own agendas and concerns, to which the player is not automatically privy. They move while the player sleeps, speak a variety of languages, and pursue their own hobbies. They are the most believable and authentic NPCs ever designed for a game, and if you think that The Last Express suffers because of it, you're crazy.

And speaking of crazy folk, the next time you're thinking of making an NPC into a "totally crazy person", remember that actions speak much louder than your cumbersome words. Instead of giving the character a ridiculous speech impediment, a penchant for outrageous and unprovoked hallucination, or what have you, why not consider making them burrow into a refrigerated drink rack? I promise you, things like that are crazier than the most deranged words.

--Lobo

Comments

By the way, before anyone mentions the fact that I started this article on a dreadfully depressing note... blame SlyFrog. It's all his fault, really.

George Lucas writes all NPC dialog. It's an effect of his evil, mind controlling ray that makes people see the Star Wars prequels. Call it the Jar Jar effect.

Great article

" If the goal is to make NPCs into convincing characters, they must act in the manner we expect real people to act."

But real people are unpredictable - isn't that what makes us all unique?

Great work, again, Lobo!

I hate to mention these games again, but I will. Fallout, and its sequel Fallout II, were the first two PC RPGs that I played all the way through. What I loved about it, and its predecessor, was how alive their world's felt, including the NPCs. They seemed to have day-to-day chores, knew the difference between night and day, would yell at me or question me; in effect, they were as alive as my character, therefore the world around them became "more" alive, too.

In fact, most RPG designers now people their games with "alive" NPCs. It is when you run into an adnormal NPC (goofy, mad, weird, etc.) that they now seem out of place and you know you'll have some sort of interaction with them.

Much like your situation at the service station! I can see the dialogue/action tree now:

"You notice that the cashier, a rotund black woman of perhaps forty years, has thrust her rather large physique into one of the standing, refrigerated drink cases that line the back wall. Her front half is obscured while her rump wiggles in the air. She seems to be searching for something in the back of the refrigerator, or perhaps in the hidden inventory loading space beyond. What do you do?"

A) Say "Hello."
B) Walk up behind the clerk and slap her on the ass, saying, "Who's your daddy?"
C) Walk up behind the clerk, pull out your sawed-off shotgun and shoot her.

The options would then branch off, as you've suggested. Her actions prior to any sort of exchange between the two of you beg you to talk to her, interact!

And what game had the annoying NPC named "Noober" or somesuch?

Again, really good work, Lobo.

There have been a few games, here and there, which have been able to really get at the core of a 'real world NPC.' Unfortunately, I expect there are limitations to an exceptionally versitile NPC world - disk space for dialogue, as an example.

The other problem, I suspect, is that if an NPC has nothing plot-related to say, some players would find no value is chatting with NPCs. I find this to be their loss, but I digress.

I think the sort of game you aspire to has a limited market (in the grand scheme of things) nowadays. NPCs in action games exist for the sole purpose of selling a weapon powerup, or pointing in the direction of the next important level. In RPGs, they would like to inform you about all manner of things which somehow relate to quests, sud-plots, or the main storyline. If they didn't, why then the gamer might not feel like the most important person in their game - and I think gamers like this feeling.

Regardless, your article starts despessing. I blame you and only you.

edit: Noober was BG. He didn't last a minute before my axe.

magnus wrote:

But real people are unpredictable - isn't that what makes us all unique?

I'm not sure I follow the train of thought, here. Compare with this sentence:

"Every individual is unique; that's what makes us all unpredictable."

Both arguments make sense. This is an indication that the argument is true by definition; i.e., tautological; i.e., circular.

However, your argument should also be interpreted as a response to the quoted segment of my article. To that end, allow me to respond in turn: No, I'm not convinced that most people can be accurately described as generally unpredictable with respect to their conscious actions. I think that the evidence is largely at odds with that proposition, but that we are often led to believe that people are unpredictable owing to severe confirmation bias. On the rare occasions when people act in an unpredictable manner, we tend to remember those data and exclude other, less interesting data. For example, when gas station cashiers shove half their bodies into refrigerators, we tend to make a mental note of it, tell stories about it, and write about it on the Internet. But I could not possibly recount -- nor be motivated to recount -- all the times I've paid for gas without anyone doing anything out of the ordinary. Etc.

Take note of the fact that, even in so strange a situation as that, my eccentric dialogue got channeled into an alternate universe, and the real-world conversation itself stayed pretty mundane. See, I'm as "predictable" as anyone!

puck4604 wrote:

Much like your situation at the service station! I can see the dialogue/action tree now:

"You notice that the cashier, a rotund black woman of perhaps forty years, has thrust her rather large physique into one of the standing, refrigerated drink cases that line the back wall. Her front half is obscured while her rump wiggles in the air. She seems to be searching for something in the back of the refrigerator, or perhaps in the hidden inventory loading space beyond. What do you do?"

A) Say "Hello."
B) Walk up behind the clerk and slap her on the ass, saying, "Who's your daddy?"
C) Walk up behind the clerk, pull out your sawed-off shotgun and shoot her.

I'd buy that game in a heartbeat, and I'd play that scene over and over again, to the point of pathological disorder.

DrunkenSleipnir wrote:

I think the sort of game you aspire to has a limited market (in the grand scheme of things) nowadays.

Now who's the one being negative?? Huh, HUH? I hate you all!

Lobo wrote:

Take note of the fact that, even in so strange a situation as that, my eccentric dialogue got channeled into an alternate universe, and the real-world conversation itself stayed pretty mundane. See, I'm as "predictable" as anyone!

Indeed, and I claim you are fault for doing so! Your alternate dimension conversation may have prevented you from getting gas, but I can swear that the cashier would be remembering you, and the horrified glare she would have given you. I agree with your point though - people really aren't all that unpredictable. In fact, as I watch the laughable 'Hot Topic' crowd, I see how unpredictable behavior can quickly become mundane if the repetition if great enough.

Lobo wrote:

Now who's the one being negative?? Huh, HUH? I hate you all!

Nu-uh! You are!

Besides, something like that I think would come from the hallowed halls of BlackIsle/Interplay...and we all know how that went
Don't fret, I'm sure sooner or later there will be some new games in that league...just gotta be patient.

DrunkenSleipnir wrote:

Noober was BG. He didn't last a minute before my axe.

Unthinkable! Noober was one of the best NPCs in BG, simply because his sole function was to irritate the hell out of players. Even more laughable was the fact that he gave you sling bullets if you endured him long enough.

In a move of brilliance BioWare even included a "cousin" in BG2 - Neeber.

Good article, Lobo.

(A bit off-topic, but still to do with NPCs: Did anyone else find Abdul-Azziz-something in BG2? Very funny encounters, those. Or how about the NPC in Morrowind that you can ask about nudity, multiplayer, etc?)

If the goal is to make NPCs into convincing characters, they must act in the manner we expect real people to act.

Designers traditionally haven't seen NPCs as characters that flesh out the emotional landscape of the game world. They have seen them as information repositories and checkpoints. It's the "porn storyline" syndrome that John Carmack has said, the gameplay trumps the storyline. So if you need to know where the inn, gas station and weapons shops are, the first NPC you meet will tell you. They just don't bother to find ways to tell the player these things that fit into the game world, instead they just have them say it.

What's that rule about fiction, show things don't say them?

Anyway great article, the "fake gaming dialogue" was really rather depressing because you didn't have to exaggerate much to get to that point.

Lobo wrote:

The Last Express is a brilliant game in many respects; so much so that it's worthy of its own article, so I won't spill all the beans here and now.

I look forward to your article on TLE. I have a feeling that I'll disagree with you on some or most of it.

Good job Bo! As a Mississippi native, I can almost picture that gas station...

The way I see it the main difference between Game Life and RL is that in RL we are all NPCs. Why should the big lady cashier bother being emberassed about wagging her ass in your face, or try to convince you that her station is better than the BP down the road? It's not like you're there to save the world or anything.

Here's a couple games I've played recently that have NPCs which were enjoyable to me. And they are kinda at the opposite ends of the spectrum as far as npc technology is concerned.

HL2
Mario Sunshine

The first one did it for me with not just well-written dialouge but also great voicing and lip synching. And this is done in game. Cutscenes don't count. Probably the game which felt the most realistic in this dept.

The npcs in the same second game aka Mario Sunshine just have some great witty and charming text. I find it very pleasant and fun. They also offer an air of brevity. They don't attempt any half-ass lip synching which to me is worse than not moving the lips at all. The dialouge isn't voiced over (for the most part.) But it works.

And speaking of voices. I think I'd rather read the same text twice in a row then hear the exact same voice and enunciation twice in a row. RE4 is currently annoying me whenever I visit the traveling salesperson. 'What are you gonna buy?' 'What are you gonna sell?' Argh shut up please. Once is enough. I don't want to hear you say the same phrase again everytime I switch menus. Same goes when selecting units in most rts games. Oh do I hate those 'ready to work' voices after the 3rd or 4th time.

Excellent read, I especially liked the part with the dumb NPC talking.

There is this really smart DB/Game Programmer that I'm trying to help out bringing a game to market..

Its a very simplistic looking Ultima 6 ish looking game with an isometric tile based world. Actually most of the games graphics right now are lifted from Diablo and Ultima 6 (I believe)

What is intriguing about this single player CRPG is that every NPC has an agenda that moves independtly of the "hero" and the hero's party. While the game is psuedo turn based it has a timer for each move that will eventually result in a pass if the main character does nothing.. each turn a complex set of variable is checked with AI routines for the various classes of NPC's in the game.

While its still on a small scale already shopkeepers not only keep store hours and dinner/lunch and sleeping timetables but they will engange in a virtual commerce with a second Cities shopkeepers and AI "heroes" and traveling merchants.

Yes there are AI heroes in the game that move and act on their own.. if an NPC talks to your hero about a certain stronghold of goblins chances are they've talked to or will talk to the AI heroes about the same set of goblins also.. so if you wait to long your hero may stumble across an empty razed goblin stronghold thats already been cleared by the AI Heroes.

Everything in the game is designed to be a persistant ever changing RPG that evolves even when your hero does nothing.. though right now the game only evolves when your actually running the game... though you could minimize it and leave the world on its own...

Add a complex faction system that influences how all the NPC's react to your hero and eachother it makes for a very interesting theory of a game.

Right now it runs way to slow...and cannot support the amount of NPC's required to make a believable world so its very much a work in progress.

But it was very cool to watch a Dragon move into an area and begin clearing out everything...not just friendly NPC's but a nearby Orc Village and a swamp full of Lizard Men...then get killed by a larger Dragon that decided that this Dragon may become a threat at some point.

The idea is to create a living world that gives the illusion of an MMORPG for a single player but is persistant and dynamic to the point that no two players will play even remotely the same game.

Sadly its a pet project that no one outside of myself has any interest in so getting money has been a struggle.

Yes there are AI heroes in the game that move and act on their own.. if an NPC talks to your hero about a certain stronghold of goblins chances are they've talked to or will talk to the AI heroes about the same set of goblins also.. so if you wait to long your hero may stumble across an empty razed goblin stronghold thats already been cleared by the AI Heroes.

This is something Fable touted that never really came to pass. I think the true measure for this sort of thing will be a game where the world changes, events occur and things move on whether the player does anything or not. We're not there yet but man, that would be awesome.

Certis wrote:

This is something Fable touted that never really came to pass. I think the true measure for this sort of thing will be a game where the world changes, events occur and things move on whether the player does anything or not. We're not there yet but man, that would be awesome.

Star Control 2 was kind of like that. Seemed like some people didn't really like that part, but I thought it was awesome.

TheGameguru wrote:

The idea is to create a living world that gives the illusion of an MMORPG for a single player but is persistant and dynamic to the point that no two players will play even remotely the same game.

I would buy that for $70+. Just so ya know.

If I had any money at all right now I would invest in that project. In a heartbeat.

Fletcher1138 wrote:

I would buy that for $70+. Just so ya know.

Absolutely. I'd probably just let it run for days and see what happens. Hmmm...might need births and aging as well then.

Yeah I hate the way NPCs talk in most games. Too wordy, too little content.

The idea is to create a living world that gives the illusion of an MMORPG for a single player but is persistant and dynamic to the point that no two players will play even remotely the same game.

This is the type of dream game that I am continuously aspiring to make.

So far the only games that gave me the true feeling in being in an alive and dangerous world were Fallout and Battlezone (1).

The idea is to create a living world that gives the illusion of an MMORPG for a single player but is persistant and dynamic to the point that no two players will play even remotely the same game.

The .hack series on PS2 tried to do something similar, but not as succesfully. I never really played it, tho.

Sounds like a game called Animal Crossing.

trip1eX wrote:

Sounds like a game called Animal Crossing.

I loved Animal Crossing. I bought a gamecube just so I could play that one game. It stayed the only gamecube game I owned for over a year.

Actually most of the games graphics right now are lifted from Diablo and Ultima 6

I'm sure you and he know this, but since you didn't point it out... "Warning! Danger Will Robinson!" Tell us they'll be replaced before shipping.

Before I comment, let me say that this is something many, many gamers want, or at least we think we do. It's the holy grail of RPGs. Kudos to him for having a go at it, kudos to you for helping! Seriously. That said...

each turn a complex set of variable is checked with AI routines for the various classes of NPC's in the game.

While its still on a small scale already shopkeepers not only keep store hours and dinner/lunch and sleeping timetables

There's a mod for Morrowind as well as several attempts in NWN that implement this sort of daily schedule. How could both houses not known this should be in there? Fortunately, it's planned to be in Elder Scrolls IV.

but they will engange in a virtual commerce with a second Cities shopkeepers and AI "heroes" and traveling merchants.

Clever. Possibly even original. Supply and demand driven?

Yes there are AI heroes in the game that move and act on their own.. if an NPC talks to your hero about a certain stronghold of goblins chances are they've talked to or will talk to the AI heroes about the same set of goblins also.. so if you wait to long your hero may stumble across an empty razed goblin stronghold thats already been cleared by the AI Heroes.

Hmm... cool, but potentially a turnoff to many would-be messiahs. Can you kill your competition? I'm assuming that, unlike an MMOG, the stronghold would not respawn, so if there was a necessary quest item there, have you now failed the quest, short of tracking and killing/bargaining with/stealing from the AIs?

Everything in the game is designed to be a persistant ever changing RPG that evolves even when your hero does nothing.. though right now the game only evolves when your actually running the game... though you could minimize it and leave the world on its own...

Interesting... how intelligent are the AIs? How random? How different could two games, played identically by the player, be?

Add a complex faction system that influences how all the NPC's react to your hero and eachother it makes for a very interesting theory of a game.

Another alleged feature of TES IV. Not to burst bubbles, but just to make sure you know it's out there and comparisons are bound to be made, depending on time to market.

Right now it runs way to slow...and cannot support the amount of NPC's required to make a believable world so its very much a work in progress.

That's the killer with extensive AI as well as "realistically" simulated worlds. The clocks required for that make 3D physics look like child's play.

But it was very cool to watch a Dragon move into an area and begin clearing out everything...not just friendly NPC's but a nearby Orc Village and a swamp full of Lizard Men...then get killed by a larger Dragon that decided that this Dragon may become a threat at some point.

The idea is to create a living world that gives the illusion of an MMORPG for a single player but is persistant and dynamic to the point that no two players will play even remotely the same game.

Sadly its a pet project that no one outside of myself has any interest in so getting money has been a struggle.

I'm really interested, but I can't really fund it. I make a good devil's advocate, though, and am always willing to test out indy/pet projects. I'd love to see it, especially if he can beat TES IV to the punch with "living" NPCs.

Dude.

You're totally on one of those "Quote, then reply" kicks aren't you Lama?

It comes and goes. Besides, it makes more sense than "Reply, then quote," at least to me.

duckilama wrote:

It comes and goes. Besides, it makes more sense than "Reply, then quote," at least to me.

Hey, whatever floats your boat. I'm just glad you're on our side.

You have alot there Duck...

I can summarize pretty generally and say that this project isnt even in the same league as Elder Scrolls... Its just one guy who is a DB/AI guy first and a DirectX guy second..

To even get close to a project that could get released...even using a 2D Tile Based world would probably require a few more programmers and of course money..

Both of which are unlikely at this stage..given the market climate.

There hasnt been much progress made simply because he was forced to take a DB consulting gig in Cleveland 5 days a week and he's only back at home on weekends.

He's a brilliant DB guy and a pretty good AI guy though.. he's probably the best DB guy I've ever met and has developed several of the DB's that online mortgage companies use..and he's an avid Gamer and D&D guy.

Its very cool to play around with even in its limited form... sorta of a Ultima6/Civ/Mule type game.

As the world develops it can even support changes to the world.. you could in theory find a village has prospered to a town and vice versa.

I've toyed with the idea of approaching the SpiderSoftware guys to see if this is something they would like to pursue...

Bwhahahahah. Really, you made me laugh out loud. Yay you. Having been raised, and driven through almost all of the Deep South, I can picture that gas station, and it's attendant fridge burrowing worker so very clearly.

And on the discussion of insane but funny NPC speech, I would just like to say "Kip yer fit on da grrrrrrrrawnd!"