This idea is mostly for single player, as multiplayer will have an active population. Idea is: If, as I believe is the case, that you can create multiple avatars, then make them available as NPC's on the station / homeworlds. You could also then be able to access their inventories by interactiing with them, (if they all share the same universe). I love creating multiple characters and have a set of characters I usually always create, and one thing I've always wanted from games that allow this is the ability for my other characters to "interact".. even if its just that they wander around a base location. I always have the feeling that all my characters are "in it together" and yet because of how the games work they never get to actually "meet". -Pyrkie-
I like this idea! I also feel the same way about all my characters never meeting but being in the same game! Not sure if sharing inventories would ruin future plays though, unless they soulbind gear to the character you equip it on. Otherwise you'll just be able to use the same awesome gear on all your characters. Or maybe they could make the gear experience level restricted, (if there are experience levels in this game) so that you have to actually put some effort in to future characters before being able to use the awesome gear. It'd also be cool to get to specialise your character so that when it becomes an NPC it has a specific purpose on the station/homeworld. Like "Meat Vendor", "Weapons Vendor" or "Patrolling Guard" etc. And what would happen if the character NPC gets killed? Would they be gone forever (unable to play them again), just respawn, or should the account suffer some sort of loss or penalty as a whole? All in all I think this is a good idea, even if they were just NPC's mooching around the place it would still be awesome!
Maybe a way to create custom NPCs, set them into a role, such as guard, but when they die, they die, and to obtain one to begin with, you would need to either obtain a item or spend quite a bit of currency. Once obtained, you could give them gear, but once you give it to them, its lost as a invenstment towards that character. The Custom NPC then also could use the same create a character options as a normal playable one so you can still get the character appearance you would want but without the unbalanced shared inventory of playable characters. Some interesting Role Ideas would be Guard, Follower, and Miner. The miners of course would open a dialog, and you could highlight a maxium of 20 x 20 space of blocks for them to mine. but they would do it at a slower pace then your own character, but it would be left in a chest near where they were mineing. Any monsters or lava and such, would of course slow down minging or damage them accordinly. They main advantage or use though could be to flatten out areas of land while you are performing other duties such as digging down or exploreing. They would fight monsters if they are hit by them. But otherwise ignore them. Guards would have two options, patrol or hold position, and the patrol range would be around 40 x 40 block space. Followers would obviously follow you, but you would be limited to one at a time.
Whilst being able to customize the station npcs is a cool idea it wouldn't be the same as they are not an actual avatar you have been playing... And i'd never let them out from fear of them getting killed . I personally don't think that the avatar npcs should be given any more then just an existance and basic wandering, think of it as they are chilling out between their next mission, letting the actual base/station npcs do all the work. Otherwise you'd be forced to make 10 characters right off the bat, just so you can access everything.
well thats why i said use NPCs as hirelings, not use player characters, that way you are forced to unlock them via mission rewards, gold cost, or item tradeing or some other form such as recuseing them from somewhere
