To those who don't know, NPC stands for "Non Player Character". In the context of Second Life or even general roleplay it means an imaginary character or group of characters whose actions are roleplayed by an actual player character (aka people with avatars). I have used them in my roleplay in Second Life before and in Dead End too but I rarely see others use them. In my opinion NPCs can enhance a variety of scenes and may actually be necessary for others.

Lets face it player characters dont want to stand around behind the news stand or work at the bar all day long. Anyone who has rped in Dead End for any length of time has found themselves in situations where NPCs would enhance the scene. Perhaps its best that I give some example to show you what I mean:

-Though Marek has done a fantastic job with staff and activity in Lulus, sometimes people walk in and nobody is behind the counter. I have seen some people roleplay looking around and getting angry that there is no bartender. While this rp is valid, it doesn't really have much potential to develop. Next time you find yourself in this situation, why not roleplay that there is a bartender behind the counter, you can make him or her look however you want them to or don't even bother with a description if you don't want to. You can use the RPtool and other accessories to change your name as it appears in chat messages on certain channels. In this way you can actually speak and emote for the NPC bartender. Heck if you want to you can even carry on a conversation with them...yes that might seem crazy but its a great way to get other people involved, maybe they can ease drop and join the scene or maybe they overhear something about your character that makes them interested...as always your imagination is the limit.

-If you are like me and play a character who other people like to stalk and kidnap every now and then, you have been in situations where you notice someone else following you through the city. Due to the nature of Second Life its hard to type out an rp and follow characters around at the same time, so to help out your potential kidnapper you need to stop and let them type. However it seems a bit odd for a character to stop on the street for little or no purpose, using an NPC can give you a reason to stop. One example I like to use a lot is I rp going over to the magazine stand near the subway entrance in the northwest part of the city and begin flipping through a magazine. I rp that Hitomi gets the feeling someone is looking at her and she looks up and sees the guy behind the counter clearing his throat and nodding towards a "No browsing" sign or something like that. This rp sequence usually can take about 2 or 3 lines if done correctly and gives the stalker a chance to emote that he is stalking you so that his intention are made clear. Then you can rp putting down the magazine and walking off, or perhaps stealing the magazine when the guy behind the counter is distracted, this gives your stalker a valid rp excuse to confront your character in an alleyway later on.

-Another common use for NPCs is as filler or ambiance. For example when I walk into a place that should reasonably be crowded (like Lulu's or the central square in front of the court house) I tend to rp it like there are people walking about on the sidewalks or chatting to each other or something like that. This way it makes it realistic if my character doesn't spot the lone guy ogling her from across the street (at first) or some conversation between other people is drowned out by a passing car or some drunk guys laughing at a nearby table in Lulu's. Again be creative here.

Now this last example is trickery but it addresses a problem we ALL have faced in Dead End at one time or another. As dedicated as the police and medical responders in the city are...they cant always be available for every single emergency call. While posting in group chat that you need the police or an ambulance and getting a "call back later" message is funny...lets face it, its not very realistic and there are some times when an rp scene almost needs a police officer to drop by or a medic to show up in an ambulance. Here are some examples of ideas for using NPCs in those situations:

-Your friend gets hit by a car while walking along the street (a real one or npc). You call 911 but its at a time of day when nobody from the hospital staff is online or they are busy outside the sim or something. Instead of hanging up and fussing about how the public servants in Dead End stink (not really but rp wise of course) why not rp that someone on the line is sending an ambulance and while you are waiting for it he or she is trying to walk you through some basic first aid like making the person comfortable or something like that if you want. Then you can rp that the ambulance arrives and takes your friend to the hospital. Now here is the tricky part. Obviously if nobody from the DEMH staff is available to come and get you, chances are the hospital is empty. One possible solution to this rp halting issue is to fade the scene to black and say you or your friend got treated and the doctor's told them to come back later for a follow up. Then when there are people online at the hospital you can walk in and tell them what happened and rp out the follow up...not only does this keep your scene going, it also gives the medical staff a roleplay scene to get involved in...everyone wins!

-Now for the police lets say some crazy guy is holding a bartender hostage at knife-point in Lulus and sadly there are no DEPD role players available to come. Now obviously a scene like this almost demands that the police get involved. One possible idea is to rp that the police officers show up and surround the building. Then you (using RPtool or something) can rp an NPC hostage negotiator or something like that (or you can be Samuel L Jackson). You can try and talk the hostage down but obviously its hard to arrest and jail someone with npc cops so in that situation it might be best to rp that the negotiator npc (played by you) makes a deal with the hostage taker that if he lets the bartender go he can leave the building. You can play it like he leaves the building and runs with the cops in pursuit but they eventually lose him. If you want to you can even notify actual members of the DEPD later and give a witness account of what happened so they can be on the look out for the guy in a possible follow up rp.

There are several more examples out there but these should be enough to get people thinking about all the possible ways using an NPC can enrich a roleplay or get a stalled scene back in motion. I am not demanding the people use NPCs or anything like that but I just thought it might be helpful to put the idea out there as an option for people in their roleplay scenes.