Left 4 Dead's "AI Director" the unexpected future for open-ended RPGs?

[dgg3565]

I started out one day with a bit of a daydream, wondering what would happen if someone were able to get Valve, Bethesda, and Bioware (perhaps 2K Boston/2K Australia as well) to come together to make the "ultimate" RPG, bringing all their respective strengths to bear. Then, I remembered Left 4's Dead's Director and how it dynamically maintains dramatic through a play session and pondered how complimentary that would be for something like Bethesda's open-ended worlds.

The perrential complaint, even with the improvements of Fallout 3 over Oblivion, is maintaining the momentum of the narrative across such a huge game world. Is an AI Director the answer?

[vegan]

The AI Director isn't THAT smart. All it's doing is deciding when to throw a mob at you. I don't see what it could possibly do for an RPG.

[dgg3565]

Originally Posted by Vegan

The AI Director isn't THAT smart. All it's doing is deciding when to throw a mob at you.

To quote from Wikipedia (I know, I know, but it's still a handy reference):

The artificial intelligence of Left 4 Dead features a dynamic system for game dramatics, pacing, and difficulty called "The Director." Instead of fixed spawn points for enemies, the Director places enemies and items in varying positions and quantities based upon each player's current situation, status, skill and location, creating a new experience for each play through.The Director also creates mood and tension with emotional cues, such as visual effects, dynamic music, and character communication.Valve has termed this dynamic set-up "procedural narrative."

What it means is that it's governing what types of zombies attack, where they attack from, in what numbers, by what methods, at what speed, and when they attack, dependent upon the condition of the player(s). That's quite a few variables to keep track of and as I understand it (I haven't had a chance to play yet), it does a hell of a job, making the game very immersive and giving the distinct feeling of horror film, which isn't to be underestimated as quite a feat of pacing.

And who said anyone would use the same AI? I'm talking more in concept, not literally transplanting the code.

I don't see what it could possibly do for an RPG.

Two words: random encounters. You know, all those creatures that tend to populate open-ended RPGs? Instead of just running smack-dab into randomly generated horde of monsters, or knowing the locations of statically placed creatures, the game world becomes that much more alive, with dynamic, pitched battles, interspersed between more story-driven random encounters and populated areas.

Perhaps the technical change would be relatively simple, but I have a feeling that it would that one thing needed to alleviate the one big flaw in open-ended RPGs.