Is this a popular idea in the community, to turn player characters into NPC when they log out. They could be controlled by the main computer the developers use, to entice action and create events such as faction warfare events. When the player logs in, the NPC could have a recall animation or something back to the original log out spot.

could make the game world continue to feel alive and active when player population is low.

And could be used to promote faction war or something to generate faction vs faction (or as somebody in another thread calls it, RvE).

Whats your feelings about this?

Originally posted by Phry
You could (can?) do this in everquest, by buying a trade bag you could leave your toon in the bazaar when you log out, with items in it for sale..  in Eve online also, you can't dock Titans etc, so when you log out, you need to be parked in a very secure location.. in most themepark mmo's though, you can imagine what it would look like if peoples toons hung around once they logged out, all those lifeless bods just standing around, would look pretty creepy.

Well thats what I mean, they wouldnt be standing around. they would be doing things. the main computer could send a group of player NPC to come together to form a army and attack a faction city, calling players of that faction to defend.

RvE like that.

It's a great idea.. It's content.. But I think they should take it a step further..

Have the Offline player have AI that fights based on statistics taken during play.. Like how often a skill is used and items and such..

This could make offline players turn mobs in their own right, combined with randomly generated dungeons you have yourself cycled content right there..

Even if people play a game and never come back, at least the game would have content generated by their abscence for those who do log in to play..

its a cool idea.

I like the idea of combining this with an eve like skill progression system.

e.g. you log out while next to an archery range you improve your archery skills while off line, you log out while next to your stall you have a shop for people to buy stuff from.

This actually was part of a concept MMO in making back where I studied.

In theory there where no difference in mobs, npcs or pcs. You just would take control over "your" character when logging in. But last I know this part wasn't anywhere near ready.

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Originally posted by nariusseldon
and leave my toon there for hackers to exploit?

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If your gona get hacked, It doesn't matter if your logged on or off...

I think this would be excellent for player housing.  I would love to leave my character hanging around his house and around my guilds city to protect the city if it is attacked.  It would be necessary for our NPC player characters to wander around a bit, maybe have some dialog (that we choose?) when clicked on.  It would suck if they just turn into pieces of still furniture or something :-/.

As far as those games go that allow toons to sit in cities selling stuff...  That is terrible!  There should just be an auction house or player shops as part of player housing.

Reminds me of the movie The 13th Floor.  When logged into the simulation a player occupies an NPCs body, when logged out the NPC regains themselves.

Originally posted by wormywyrm

I think this would be excellent for player housing.  I would love to leave my character hanging around his house and around my guilds city to protect the city if it is attacked.  It would be necessary for our NPC player characters to wander around a bit, maybe have some dialog (that we choose?) when clicked on.  It would suck if they just turn into pieces of still furniture or something :-/.

As far as those games go that allow toons to sit in cities selling stuff...  That is terrible!  There should just be an auction house or player shops as part of player housing.

This is why I support it. Logged off players remaining in game to protect player housing and halls 24/7 is the next step in making a persistant world. Making long term goals that need to be protected 24/7 is ultimate sandbox concept.

In Lineage you could have a player store while you were online.  NCSoft offered an improved version in Aion.

It would be cool if you could set up your character to have useful in game actions while you were logged out.  Take the store concept from Lineage and Aion and blend it with offline leveling like in EVE and some other skill based games.  Your avatar would remain in the world.

If you're training weapons, crafting, or another skill type that is what your character would be doing while you were offline.  If you wanted to sell stuff have your character setup a shop where you could have a WTS and WTB tabs.  There would be no global or central search.  Online players would actually have to visit shops.

This would help keep the world feeling populated.  It would offer offline advancement, but you would have to choose between skill progress or financial progress.  That would let you devote your active online time to adventuring or roleplaying or getting setup for your next offline session.