Original Post
I have several questions for the experts in this forum, which I''ll get to in a minute. First some background...
For years I''ve been fascinated with the idea of developing a game involving a persistent virtual world whose makeup and events evolve through the actions of NPCs. Individual and Group relationships, motivations, and beliefs, all facilitate the process. Utlimately the player is placed within the virtual world, the state of which is dynamically defined (at least in part) by the behavior of the NPCs. A story develops -- it is not "generated" but simply occurs based on the behavior of all the agents working together.
I''d like to summarize a scenario I wrote that kind of explains what I mean. It''s based in a virtual world with a traditional fantasy setting, and focuses on a small geographical area containing one village and a system of nearby caves.
Consider that the world contains a male, human NPC (let''s call him John). John is one of roughly fifty NPCs that live active, believable lives in the village. Some are farmers, others are merchants, authority figures, etc.
John, however, is none of these things. The pre-generation of John''s character defined him as greedy, lazy, opportunistic, sneaky, and cowardly, yet charismatic. With these tendencies, John has a habit of sneaking into other villagers'' houses to relieve them of their more precious belongings -- whatever John believes will be most valuable.
Suspicion mounts among the other NPCs that John is the culprit. As the belief that John is guilty is shared among them, a group belief evolves that John must be confronted and, if he''s guilty, punished. John, fearing what may be done to him, packs up his relocated goods and moves off in the middle of the night to one of the nearby caves.
It turns out that John has amassed a small but loyal group of pretty tough friends among the NPC villagers. These friends join him at the cave and vow to protect him.
Enter the player. The NPC villagers are quite miffed about the whole event and would like to get even, but John has disappeared. The common belief is that John is hiding in the caves (i.e., since there''s no where else to go), but those who have sought him there have not returned, and rumors abound that John has hired superhuman thugs or even evil outerworldly beings to protect him. They want their stuff back, and they are especially interested in getting even, so they''re willing to offer a hefty reward to anyone who will confront John and return with their belongings.
The player of course has a quest laid before him, with a decent challenge and reward. But the quest was 100% dynamic -- its existence is owed entirely to the behaviors of an NPC with a certain random grouping of characteristics and a specific set of environmental factors.
So that''s the scenario.. it''s extreme and complex, and hardly perfect, but it illustrates the general concept.
There are several things I''d like to know from all you experts. First, I''d like to be able to be able to use the proper terminologies to define the idea. Second, I''d like to understand what aspects of AI are most applicable -- does fuzzy logic come into play? Where, when, and why? Is the concept of neural networks applicable here? At what level -- the individual level? The group level? Third, has any research been done in this specific[/ia] area? Where can I go to find people who are interested in exploring similar ideas? Has anything remotely like this (even on a far simpler level) been attempted?
As a final note, I want to make sure everyone understands that I''m not naive about this -- I realize it''s pretty far out there in terms of what is possible, let alone feasible, with today''s AI technologies. Even if it were practical for the right team, I expect it would take years to develop. I just need to start establishing some solid basic understanding of the concepts of AI as they relate to my particular application of interest.
All input is appreciated. Thanks.
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Brian Lacy
ForeverDream Studios
Comments? Questions? Curious?
brian@foreverdreamstudios.com
"I create. Therefore I am."
). John on the other hand will begin being more with his friends in the woods. One day, a village NPC (let's call him A) notices that one of his sheep are missing. From his knowledge base, he knows that he dislikes John and he knows that John's stats would allow for him to steal. Another NPC (NPC B) noticed John eating sheep for dinner, when those two NPC's meet, A would say "Don't like" "John" "missing" "sheep" and B would say "Don't like" "John" "John's got" "sheep". This iconographic conversation would cause the two NPC's attitude towards John to drop like a stone. A's got a so low attitude towards John that he decides to get rid of John and walks up to the woods where John usually is and attacks him. John having his friends with him, easily kills A and continues to lead their life in the woods (John got so bad attitude towards the village and so good attitude to his wood friends that he isn't even going back to the village anymore). NPC B, hasn't quite that bat attitude towards John, so he isn't going with A, but instead begins spread the word (or icons in this case) in the village "John" "don't like" "stolen" "sheep" "A" "dead", which in turn will cause the attitude of the villagers towards John to maybe drop so low that they form a party to go and take justice on John and his friends.