NPC question

[Chic Aeon]

So I do understand how NPCs work in Opensim. I have used them with very good success. But I am confused a bit on how they are used in SL. Neither Google or a search of the forum is turning up any great answers.

Some comments I found stated that in SL you run the NPCs from your own computer (not that way in Opensim where you just plunk them down and the region server does the work). 

I am guessing that NPCs need to be claimed as being used -- there is something in the web backend about scripted agents and such.  I do know that having a lot of them cuts your framerate :D, but I was thinking about some use in a new art project.

So breadcrumbs to an info page would be great.   

 

I only remember seeing them used a couple of times in SL. Once was in an art installation long ago and there was one in the autoresponder police car in a RP sim that I lived in.  So I am thinking that there must be some reason that they aren't used MORE - LOL. Logic kinda dictates that notion.

Thanks a bunch. 

[Rhonda Huntress]

Maybe it's the terms you are using when searching.  They are not often called NPC in SL.  They are usually called Scripted Agents or more simply bots.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Second_Life_bot_software_comparison

There are places that will host them for you or you can run them yourself.  They don't need a full viewer so they won't bother your frame rate much.  Not directly away.  Each instance will take a share of your CPU time and network bandwidth but much less than a full viewer. 

[ChinRey]

24 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

So I do understand how NPCs work in Opensim. I have used them with very good success. But I am confused a bit on how they are used in SL.

Second Life does not have anything similar to the Opensim NPCs. As Rhonda says, you have to use bots instead.

[Qie Niangao]

Some Labs development relevant to what folks expect of NPCs is underway in the form of "Animated Objects" (aka "animesh"). As always, Inara Pey reports the status as it evolves.

[Chic Aeon]

Thanks all. Since I don't really need another new learning curve, I think I will go with a simpler solution :D. But I am smarter now and that is good.

 

 

[Klytyna]

I suggest you try to track down the infamous Hal Titanium... 

Hal wanders the grid, the eternal nomad, chatting to everyone he meets as he wanders about. Hal is a chatbot.

Hal used to wander alone, but over the years he has developed a hardcore fanbase, some of whom follow Hal around the grid, like acolytes after a holy guru. They can get quite intense and even violently unfriendly if you don't chat politely with their scripted mentor.