NPC Emotions, part 2

This series looks at potential future approaches to Interactive Fiction – not that there is anything wrong with current approaches, or that this is the only direction to go. It’s just fun to explore the possibilities.

“People are much more difficult to simulate than rocks and trees, not just because of relative complexity, but because we’re more wired to scrutinize our fellow humans” (Artificial Intelligence In The Uncanny Valley, 2007).

In the original context this was talking about graphics, but it applies equally to text based interactions with NPCs. On thing we are wired to look for is emotion; a character who never reacts to events or varies their emotional state seems a lot less real.

Continuing from part one, here are some more ways emotions work in real life that have potential for IF.

NPC Emotions

This is part of a series about potential future developments in IF, particularly in the area of believable characters. One way to make NPCs more human is to model their emotions. This area has been explored quite a bit in the context of Artificial Intelligence.

A model of NPC emotions is particularly useful in the area of autonomous NPCs, where interactions can happen that are difficult to predict. Using general rules rather than scripting reactions to every possible combination of events is a good way to manage this kind of complexity.