NPC Activity to help bring the City to Life when quiet - Traffic and General Street Activity

[T33V]

It's only a small suggestion but I've been on the server a few times when the streets have been empty and when doing late night jobs Money Transporting etc the Highway and City streets are dead. 

I have seen a few other servers that have implemented more AI on the streets as well as traffic and after viewing streams of these and other videos it just looks and feels more lively when a sight seeing, walking around on your day off or even working. I love the server and enjoy playing on it without a doubt but I just thought I'd drop a suggestion here that I've seen other servers so and even with quite a high player count.

BASICS:
NPC Activity - On the streets i.e general walking around, on phones, sitting down, eating - Basically what you see in the general story mode.

*This can and has been applied to jobs from what I have seen, one example is Taxi work.*
*Obviously with Player numbers over our heads it separates us from the AI and we can be easily distinguished as a player over an AI*  

NPC Traffic Activity - Small amounts within the city and then a slightly larger amount on the freeways to make travelling long distances with work feel more lively and keep attention fluent.

*Keeps traffic interaction active*
*May also prevent people from speeding open roads in the city and create a more sticking to the traffic rules feel for both Player and NPC*
*Police can use this also within jobs, similar to the LSPDFR standalone mod for the offline game, features of interaction on the traffic side may allow a more realistic view.*

There are a few other areas that I could go into with how this can expand or bring life to areas that are quiet but I'll leave it as it is for now as this should give a general idea.

I appreciate people are busy with lots of other areas so if you get chance to read this and think it has potential (as seen in other servers) then thank you for taking the time to read it.

[IAmTurtle]

+/- its a sync issue. Also it will be very weird to have npc walking around when there has been none at all. I like the idea though 

[Charlie Mchoe]

It will just cause more issues for @IAmTurtle's driving while chasing people....

 

Seriously though one thing different with this server is that there isn't any npcs. It brings many benefits such as less fps lag, less desync and overall makes it more immersive with no npcs. Good idea though.

 

+/- brings many advantages and disadvantages to the table so its hard to decide.

[Braxton_Smith]

-1. I like the idea but I just feel as if the server should be only players. It would be good for a very small server but this server is big enough to feel alive without the stupidly AI'd pedestrians walking and driving around.

[Bodhi]

+1. I usually play when the headcount on the server is at the lowest and it gets very boring to play. Having a few npcs walking around would be a welcome addition. Also, having some traffic on the streets wouldnt hurt too much given how some 'new' players drive.

[IAmTurtle]

1 hour ago, Charlie Mchoe said:

It will just cause more issues for @IAmTurtle's driving while chasing people....

oof.

 

But it would stop people from flying 220 down the middle of the city. 

[Whitney]

-support

What was said above and also they're NPCs... Its impossible to interact with them rply. The only way you would be able to drag their attention is by attacking them and it would feel weird if someone tries to talk to them/harasses them, etc. which would happen in most cases and it would promote low quality rp. I've got to agree that it'd make the environment more alive but we already have the ambient sounds and we also don't play around the playerbase but on realistic expectations and conditions. They have a different law than what we have. I don't really think that this is needed, they would just have their own rules and if adjusted more rules are going to be applied on our side and it would only cause trouble.

Just think of that man who stands behind the counter in general stores and gun stores... The way I'd make him respond to what I said is through /do and he's standing in one place so imagine if he was moving from a street to another and not giving you attention.

Edited February 24, 2021 by Clara

[Carl Johnson]

Thats a thing I always wanted to see on eclipse. Love this suggestion!

[T33V]

I completely get the views from trying to interact with them being a problem but there wouldn't need to be any interaction for a face to face approach. They would literally be there as filler and to add noise/activity. 

The roads are dead and sometimes its great but you see so many people running red lights, speeding down the streets etc. A prime example is that I have been on the server for 5 days now both day and night times and I have literally witnessed so many people speeding running red lights and hitting people because they tried to overtake at high speeds in the middle of the city or they are just driving stupidly because the streets have nothing stopping them.

I can see both sides how it may be good and may not be good due to possibly causing problems but there are a quite a few other servers that have made this work and show that it can be done and well a couple of examples I've seen are TheFamilyRP and TwitchRP, now I don't know their exact server sizes but these are just 2 of about 4 servers I've seen implement it, I have also played on one of these servers and it works really well. If anyone in the Dev team or Admin would like to have a look I can grab some clips or screen shots.

Again I understand and can see both sides, and I'm by no means a DEV or have the knowledge of a DEV to know the true mechanics but I just thought this might be a good suggestion to be considered as I have seen it and played it.

 

[CalvinKlein]

-/+ 

- for the sync / fps issues mentioned (not sure if it can be countered from the servers side) 

Big + for immersion since you can actually blend in the surroundings when needed (since the map is small) instead of being targeted over and over by PD and for ex: you can just walk around like a normal human without getting jumped by 10 cruises since there’s other people walking around too