Feedback:User/Tennessee Ernie Ford/Third-party characters

Third-party characters

 * (I had this idea after reading Feedback:User/Totalhavoc/Player Run Social Status Roles, which offers something similar.)

Introduce a new type of character, the, who is the missing evolutionary link between the customer-controlled player-character (PC) and the AI-run non-player character (NPC). Their role would be to inspire passions among the player base, thereby catalyzing dynamic events.

How it might work
The human operating the 3PC would be given an open-ended script that includes goals (needs, wants, and desires), personality (loyalties, morality, ethics, manner of speech), and a history (origins, alliances, friends, enemies). Within those restrictions, the character could go anywhere and say anything in order to further their cause. They would not be able to participate in receiving/giving rewards or in fighting (although they would probably have the ability to self-heal, shield themselves, and retreat). The way in which PCs would be rewarded would remain the same: by successfully completing in-game goals; the 3PCs would only be able to generate buzz about one set of goals versus others.


 * Example 1 — The duplicitous duke.

Story: A local nobleman complains that the farmlands that he is supposed to protect are under attack by marauders from the forest. He offers substantial rewards for ridding the woods of its Dryad. The truth is the opposite: the duke wishes to log the trees to build a resort on the lake and the local sprites are doing their best to defend themselves. Worse, the nobleman has no intention of rewarding anyone who helps; instead, he intends to imprison them for crimes against the spirit world.

Mechanics: The duke and the dryad would be third-party characters, run by actors. Both would attempt to rally players (and perhaps NPCs) to their cause. If the forest emerges victorious, players would receive various levels of experience, cash, and forest-oriented loot. If the duke wins, then allied players would receive experience and then be required to defend themselves against the local guards (after which, they would receive cash and castle-related loot).


 * Example 2 — The prince of tithes

The local tax collector has gone missing. His bride-to-be is convinced he has been kidnapped by enemies of the state and commissions a rescue attempt that requires storming the nearby bandit stronghold. The bandit leader claims no responsibility, but cannot prove his innocence because he is too busy preparing for the inevitable siege from the gendarmerie.

Mechanics: the bride and bandit leader would be 3PCs. Both would attempt to convince players to help them out. The one with the most support will be able to launch an attack on the other (and hey, there's a PvP opportunity, too). Players will eventually discover that both bandit and bride have misled them (and each other); the collector took off with the last year's receipts after arranging with the bandit leader to split them 50-50. The adversaries join forces afterward to request player help in finding the double-dealing confidence man.

Characteristics

 * Player toons are run by customers; NPCs are run by the AI. 3PCs are run by actors.
 * PCs participate in combat, receive rewards (for combat and task completion); NPCs and 3PCs do not.
 * NPCs can offer rewards (per their programming); 3PCs cannot affect anything about rewards.
 * NPCs cannot use skills. Instead, they have passive skills that allow them to survive (heal or retreat) or influence a battle (e.g morale boost or penalty).
 * NPCs are fully scripted; 3PCs have open-ended scripts. They cannot act, but they can speak as they please and go where they like (within the limits of their backstory).
 * They could be played by enthusiastic fans (I'm sure there would be no end to volunteers), but the game would be better off if these were actors hired for the roles. The game would probably only need a few people at any given time (they only need be present for limited periods in and around dynamic events).

Other notes

 * I have no idea how successful this might be; it would depend a lot on (a) how well the idea is/can be implemented and (b) how good the actors are about improvising.


 * It would also cost some serious coin for ANet: each actor is taking a staff slot that could be allocated to QA or development (or, perhaps, given pay rates for actors, it might be that each lost developer slot allows three or four actors... but still: not cheap). It wouldn't necessarily be cheaper to use volunteers: ANet would have to vet each one, monitor their chat in real time, and, ensure that volunteers are playing by the rules (given the limited impact they can have player rewards, they shouldn't be able to get into too much trouble, but simply saying something out of character would unforgivably tarnish the whole concept).


 * One technique for managing the 3PC humans would be to offer incentives for those who are most successful rallying players to their cause. Actors might receive more pay; fans might receive game store credits.


 * An alternative name might be . That fits the tradition better than the bureaucratic sounding 3PC, which has the advantage of being a less-loaded term.