I'm about to conduct a modest study of NPCs in games; and came across this article.

Having read several texts on narratives in games and played a fair share of games - many of which were well written crpgs; it seems to me that games that rely heavily on authoring player-character behavior (through non-interactive scenes - such as FMVs) - create a sort of pseudo-NPC of your player character - leaving you, as a player, passive and unimmersed in large parts of the game. This does not necessarily have to be a bad thing; but striving towards immersion and the illusion of choice and making a difference, I believe the plot is to be wrought through the NPCs - thus, I've turned to the makings of NPCs.

It's a fairly broad area; and only part of it relates to AI and programmed autonomy.

I may be looking into some of the following areas: AI/Autonomy, forms of interaction (dialogue, cooperation & other forms), Plot: Function & Relation dynamics, content (scripts, models/animation, static vs. dynamic, voice acting), extra-game presence ( npc's roles in advertising, IPs, translation between media, reception) and player reception.

I would appreciate:

- Any ideas for other NPC relevant areas
- References to articles or material regarding NPC's or AI in games
- Accounts of any particular memorable experience you may have had with NPC's in games: ( What game, What made it unique? )

Thank you :)

(P.s. Yes - my current scope is very broad, and I look to limit it - but I'm still in an early exploratory phase.)

I've watched fair share of scifi, being 31 and while I've known of doctor Who before i was a teenager, I never got around to watch it. I recently picked up the relaunch with the 9th doctor, and having my watched my way in to "new" season 4, I have to say that I'm fairly hooked. To me, the series is a sort of mix between douglas adams and startrek. It's quirky and playful; but the universe has depth and play's with interesting themes; and I find the general writing very good.

You have to accept the humerous take on aliens and the countless "impending" dooms - that's part and parcel of the show; and there's a lot of humerous meta-references involved.

You wouldnt believe how many characters croak; and while it's done tough-in-cheek, it also manages to be full of suspense. I dont recall seeing this kind of "body count" in any other series.

Watch the episode "Blink" - though somewhat different from your "average" episode - I found it more exciting than most sci-fi movies that I have seen recently.

I'm packing my bags. Word is that some dude is throwing a hugeass party in Vegas..

We were rooting for you at "the moving ending with the Borg winning"..


.. but you lost us at "(...) the surviving Borg (...) but a helpless race"


We, for one, don't applaud your idea.

Ah.. but if we were to assimilate everyone, we would render our favorite expressions obsolete.

Last christmas, my (younger) brother introduced me to guitarhero (3). he had hooked his PC up to our parents TV, while we were home for christmas. We started cooping, me on "keyboard" while he was using the Xbox controller that ships with the PC version.

A couple of days later, i headed out and picked up my own copy - and we had loads of fun co-op'ing. One of the great aspects of cooperative play in GH3 is the level adjustments; I could have fun at easy, while he was kicking ass on Hard.



I used to try to play the piano; took lessons as a kid and in my early teenage years. Poor coordination, difficult times with notes and the computer and friends probably killed it for me. Ill still dig out the synthesizer from time to time or play a few tunes on my parents piano, when i visit them, but I've yet to spend enough time on it.

Sure, GH isnt playing music; but its interacting with it and i can tell that having progressed to expert, hand-hand and hand-eye coordination does improve, even for a past-30-year-old, like myself. Ive also found that ones ear gets more tuned to aspects of songs now, that you've focused on certain instruments.

I'm still waiting for keyboard hero to come around, but ill be returning to GH3 from time to time.

I prefer a modded GH to frets-atm; and I'm well aware that the GH3 PC port is a botch-job (especially when you attempt to play it on an older machine) - but using a mod, you can import new content and keep it alive.

If you find yourself "air-guitarin'" led zep. or Guns'n Roses, why not put something tangible in your hand; even if it resembles something from FischerPrice (Lewd comments commence :P). Try GH, if you havent, and be warned that lower levels can be difficult because you fret a lot less than what's "present".

P.s. The trouble with GH is you usually want to play it when you're drunk. Good luck with that.