New Virtual Life & NPC Features Coming to Second Life: Should Disrupt SL's MMO & Virtual Pet Industry, and Fix the "Crowded Empty" Problem

Linden Lab is adding new features to support the development of virtual life and NPCs in Second Life, CEO Rod Humble announced last night, with live testing to happen as early as this December.

"These will make the creation of artificial life and artificial people much smoother," he writes. "For starters, we'll unveil a new, robust pathfinding system that will allow objects to intelligently navigate around the world avoiding obstacles. Imagine being able to create advanced pets, creatures or even a living town where non-player characters are walking about... and more advanced MMORPG’s or interactive experiences which use AI right within Second Life." These features were hinted at during SLCC in August, so it's nice to get more details. I can see this causing three pretty big disruptions to Second Life's economy:

• Upheavals in Virtual Pet Business: Virtual pets are a huge business in SL, and have even led to real life lawsuits. Most of these pets depend on Linden's old scripting system and off-world servers. New features means a lot of these existing lines are soon to go defunct. Which suggests better virtual animals for customers -- and a lot hustling from virtual animal creators, as they race to keep their products up to date.
• Growth and evolution of SL's mini-MMOs: There's a number of surprisingly popular mini-MMOs in Second Life. The vampire-themed Bloodlines, for example, at one point had nearly 70,000 players. Most of these have had to make do without robust use of NPCs, which are pretty much standard in most commercial MMOs. If Linden Lab can give these developers strong features, we should see these MMOs growing in quality, and likely gaining customers.
• A solution to SL's "crowded empty" paradox: Since SL doesn't have strong NPC support like most other MMOs, it has to deal with what I've called the "crowded empty" paradox: a world with high concurrency rates, but with users diffuse across the grid, leaving most areas extremely empty. Adding NPC features will be an easy way to fix that problem, giving land owners easy tools to make their place seem less empty. (And hopefully, they're less resource-intensive than the third party bots many of them use now.)

My immediate take on how these features will impact the SL economy. What other implications do you see?

Image credit: Melanie774 Kidd of Grid Expectations, LOLMeero by Hamlet.

Comments

[Rod Humble]

Thanks Hamlet. You pretty much nailed some of the applications. I also think the adult community is going to have a lot of fun with this :)

[Ordinal Malaprop]

SL does need more advanced scripting functions that would help avoid the use of bots for really quite trivial purposes, but I am a little wary of things like a whole pre-written pathfinding system.

All right, well, yes, it would be nice, but all of the functions that it actually uses should also be exposed too, which would allow scripters to not only write _alternative_ pathfinding scripts (pathfinding is something on which there are lots of opinions) but also lots of other useful functions. Hopefully this will be a consequence.

[Emperor Norton]

More good things from Humble were the real question is why wasn't something so obvious done earlier?

[Arya Markova]

I wonder if this will mean that retail stores will have NPC customer service people? :D

[MaggieL]

Fighting "crowded empty" is probably why LL allows crapmobiles to persist.

[Dirk Talamasca]

I'd like to hear a lot more with regard to resource usage. Solving the "crowded empty" problem won't be feasible if fewer people can use the region.

Will it be possible to block NPCs from entering a region or a parcel if they prove to be troublesome? Will there be options to set an NPC to idle mode so they shut down when no one is on the region or parcel to interact with them?

[shockwave yareach]

I have had pathfinding in my mazes for years now.

It's quite simple. When you generate the maze generation file for importation into SL (as a notecard) you also generate a Monster path file (as a notecard) which a script easily follows. The monster prims then move through the maze as if they could see the walls.

If you would like to see this in use, I'll be happy to create a demonstration.

[Hitomi Tiponi]

Hopefully the virtual pet providers will provide upgrades for their existing ranges - even if they charge for it. Many of us consider them to be part of our SL journey.

[Xander Ruttan]

I think the "crowded/empty" problem can only be fixed by staving off population slide of real avatars with better attractions that demonstrate to the non-SL world that SL has any relevance to their broader virtual lives (i.e., that SL offers something distinct from and superior to FB, Twitter, etc. Much as one wishes, these ongoing failures are not addressed by these developments. Artificial people may mask the world's population decline, but what we need is a genuine and expanding resident population that is immersed in the platform. Does that seem a likely result of these developments, at least in the near-term? Seems like Nero is fiddling while Rome burns.

[Jjccc]

I bet my cat will still fall through the floor and end upside down when crossing sim borders lol

[Jjccc]

I bet my cat will still fall through the floor and end upside down when crossing sim borders lol

[Ordinal Malaprop]

Crowded/empty has _always_ been an issue on the Grid - to an extent it's simply a result of the structure of Second Life. An increase of residents to the extent that everywhere felt occupied at all times would be rather difficult, to say the least. The solution has always been to have more Engaging Interactive Stuff around, which does not pretend to be People but gives visitors something to do - and new tools to help that are always welcome. (As long as they're not simply "black box" ones, and can be adapted for various different purposes.)

[Cinder Roxley]

Maggie the way that posted 3 times before anyone else made it look like crapmobile behavior. lol

[Corcosman Voom]

If you attend events or regularly meet with friends and acquaintances, the grid seems less of an empty place.

[Ciaran Laval]

NPC's and other uses for these new announcements may well help people with something to do, that's definitely something worth aiming for.

[Taro]

"I also think the adult community is going to have a lot of fun with this :)"
IF Rob's idea of virtual sex is to fuck NPCs, he should do some field research inworld. The whole adult thing only works because of actual human interaction ...

[bongo]

Yes ..now one can really get fked by their computer.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Actually, bots would be perfectly fine for the "ru a reel gril?" crowd... which on a bad day seems to be half the global male population.

But yes, we'll need program access to objects and methods, and comprehensive documentation.

Implemented correctly, this could improve overall grid performance significantly. Please just don't toss something half-assed at us and then put it on the "someday" list to complete, as was done with mesh.

[nexus burbclave]

This is good news. I agree with Ordinal and Arcadia that taking more of a "framework" approach to these new features and less of a "black box" approach could be a boon to all involved. For LL, there are all the usual benefits gained when more people have a chance to touch and improve upon your code. For creators, having a framework to work with could allow us to tweak, remix and optimize ultimately coming up with even cooler creations because of the flexibility. A more diverse set of creations resulting from a more robust set of tools could ultimately be a boon to everyone.

[Ferd Frederix]

Hopefully it will become more like The Sims, where you mostly interact with NPC's. Maybe Rod's experience from The Sims will come into play , someone will listen, and the coders will release some neat tools that 'up the ante' as far as interaction in the world without requiring me to download Yet Another Broken Viewer.

It's about time the scripters get some new tools. It takes a lot of effort to make smooth-running animals with the current state of LSL and Havoc. You would be surprised at the trickery it takes just to make a bird fly like a bird.

They've added a new command already over on a couple of sims in the beta grid http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LlSetKeyframedAnimation to allow you to smoothly move a prim to various places and pause there, then move to a new place, without using physics. It will reduce code slightly for a few applications, and may make for less lag in some circumstances, since physics takes up a lot of resources.

[desdemona enfield]

Since one of Desde's fav fun forums is watching big businesses sue each other to death, she expects endless amusement should the Lindens wade into the virtual pet business.

Pets in virtual worlds are indeed big business, big bucks, and big legal ambitions, viz., this article in the Wall Street Journal's 'entertainment' section:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904772304576470722021477098.html?KEYWORDS=virtual+pets

If you end up paywalled or 404'ed on that link, go to wsj.com and search for "virtual pets".

----------------------
The LL TOS declares that they have a usage right to everything in their artificial world. I wonder, though, if that can be construed to support the expropriation of an entire business concept under the banner of improving the SL experience?

This will be fun to watch.

I now look forward to the announcement that, given the popularity of scripted sexual interactions, another huge (?) business, LL will be plunging (?) into the Xcite business. That is sure to get a rise (?) out of someone.

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As for the claim that they are performing a service by superseding "Linden's old scripting system and off-world servers", this is the classic Microsoft strategy of creating Fear, Uncertainly, and Confusion.

Virtually (ahem) everything you do in SL other than staring at a landscape is mediated by these 'old legacy systems'.

Des.de.mona

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Footnote: I am not saying that LL should not venture into these areas. I am merely saying that it will provide good legal theater for us backseat jurists.

[foneco zuzu]

Lets be honest, for once LL have a Ceo that speaks and have reasonable, direct and understandable ideas.
And for once He didn't fear to speak about some seems to avoid like the devil.
The truth personally, is that Rod is not American and that may be the salvation of Sl as a whole.

[foneco zuzu]

Now i need to clarify that being American, is not bu any means to mock of Usa or their citizens, but to show that SL is far more then Frisco based company, its A Worldwide product and its nice to see a Non American leading it, as it just allows to perceive a much more wider connection between diff mentalities and prove that if there should be a World where no differences, no exclusion should be, is Sl.

[shockwave yareach]

@Foneco If you are feeling incensed that SL has been turned into a travesty, hey, join the Americans who feel the exact same way.

The issue was NOT that it was being run as a California company. The issue has been that the board of LL hired a man specifically to turn SL from an entertainment venue into a business tool. And no matter how hard you smash it, you cannot turn a Reeses into a hammer. That's what has been at the heart of the mess - the embarrassment by "certain" people that they'll never hit the big money because they are invested in an entertainment game. Of course, Blizzard made profits in the hundreds of MILLIONS just selling an entertainment product.

The diff between Blizzard and LL is that Blizzard isn't ashamed of its product and lets its customers enjoy what they paid for. LL on the other hand is hellbent on driving the fun out of everything, from making a viewer designed by the Marquis D Sade to stealing everyone's property and forcing all of us "icky" people and our money into a ghetto.

[David]

Earth has a crowded-empty problem too. Of course if you go in the mountains and rural areas, you're not going to find many people. If you want to find people you need to go to where the people are. SL is no different. Hence I don't think the problem will ever really go away.

I do think in the destination guide, that for each destination they should list how many people are currently at that location (but not necessarily give avatar names). This would make it easier for people to know exactly where the people are.

[Woodie]

Crowded-empty? That's supposed to be clever right? Try empty-empty. Or, as we liked to say back in the old days, dead.

SL was never conceptualized to be a functioning VR. LL made its money pimping virtual property. Now that market has died, it's floundering. It was just another rather clever Internet scam. What really grinds on me though... is that thought of the resources wasted in keeping 32,000 empty sims up and running 24/7.

"User-made content" was just another way of not having to figure out what they could do with all that 3D they were selling. Until they figured out they could just confiscate it and make money that way too. Now they're squeezing blood from a rock, overcharging people who bought into the scam and are desperately struggling to still make it work. You can't fault them for trying. If this were a chart, I'd say SL is on the downside of a declining slope... at some point capitulation comes... and then the crash. Cut your losses now.

[Thaiis Thei]

"we'll unveil a new, robust pathfinding system that will allow objects to intelligently navigate around the world avoiding obstacles."

Not feeling very excited. Did this by scripting two years ago...

[radii supras]

Nice, and thanks for sharing this info with us.Good Luck!