Posted By Poldano at 11:47 PM - Fri May 17 2019
The theme of this thread mixes up all kinds of philosophical and scientific discussions. Self-awareness, in particular, is something that we don't have a good definition of. The meaning of the term in philosophy and psychology is not at the same as the meaning of the term in robotics and computer science. It's best not to use the term at all in discussions of CoE NPCs.
However, since it is probably inevitable that the term will be used in reference to autonomous or distributed agents in games including CoE, the meaning should be restricted to that used in robotics and computer science. That meaning does not risk arguments about subjective consciousness and potential moral consequences of actions toward conscious creatures.
Self-awareness DOES have a definition that is agreed upon: self-a·ware·ness
[ˈˌself əˈwernəs]
NOUN
conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires.
It it precisely WHERE these conscious thoughts & consciousness comes from that we cant figure out. We don't fully understand yet where these thoughts that embody the 'self' are formed but we still know that being aware of them is being 'self-aware'.
While AI becoming conscious is an entirely different question, we currently have robotics that can identify faults or damage to its system or 'self' so NPCs with varying levels of self-awareness are possible, its just a matter of how much of it is scripted by Devs and how much is completely random.
Personally if NPCs can decide for themselves to party up or go on quests or even turn criminal if their business is struggling would add an amazing new element to games. I just was hoping CoE Devs could touch on how NPCs (& OPCs) will be scripted vs random or even maybe 'adaptable'?