The suggestion is fairly simple - at almost any given time of the day, NPMs account for almost half - if not more - of all total users online. When they were removed from the listing a few weeks ago, the complaint was that it would affect a TylerDurden spawn. This idea would just add another ticker under the options menu that would be able to filter out the 60 seconds list of any mention from NPM's.


I know I'm not the only one slightly annoyed by the legions of NPM's roaming the streets - but I feel like this is a good start for the significant group of people, myself included, that would prefer to see only real, human "members" on their 60 second list.

In a previous thread Izzy said he would consider a toggle switch for the NPMs after the new GUI was released.

I suppose this could be used as a gauge of support, then? With the launch being a few days away, it wouldn't hurt to gauge interest in the option.

options are good - i like options! 

If using this to gauge support then i would like to register mine. I really dont want to see the things on the list all the time, its annoying

For those curious about how many NPMs are clogging the online list right now, they're colored blue in this picture.

now that is just mad. 

how did you do that?

they're all added to a contact list in that photo.

my god... they outnumber us 3:1

Quite frankly, having the NPMs on the list makes the game look more active to new users. Having played several games in beta or just coming out of beta with few users, I can say it puts a new guy off a bit. Why would you wish to play a game no one else plays? Having the NPMs on the 60 seconds list makes it look like MR has more members and I think they should stay. However, if a filter option were put in, the people that put the filter on shouldn't be able to have any contact with the "robots" in the game. That would mean NPCs, NPMs and MIAs. If you don't want to see them, you shouldn't be able to shoot them or do crimes with them. I also think this "filter" should be a one-time thing for a master account. You can flip it off one time, and it stays off. This would make the people that do not wish to see them think twice about it as they would no longer be able to shoot NPCs or MIAs. If they don't like robots in the game, they don't have to see them.

Yes, lying about/misrepresenting the game to new users is an excellent policy. Hooray for robots.

It isn't lying. They would see more people online because of the NPMs and be more attracted to the game. It's not as if we are telling them they are real players, as they are clearly marked NPM.

"They would see more people online because of the NPMs."

You just called the NPMs people. NPMs are not people. Hence, the lie.

In fact, I'd argue the opposite. If I was a new player showing up at a game for the first time and I noticed that 80% of the active accounts were robots, I'd be rather put off. What's appealing about fake players in a game that has social interaction at its core?

I highly doubt new players would realize what NPM means when they first start. Try playing a few of the games I've played. Most of them have a max of 10 players online each day, if even that. Would you play a game like that? Doubtful. Without the NPMs, our count isn't even 100 at a time.

I don't understand you in the slightest. What is your thought process here? That new players will see lots of active accounts, think they're real people and that the game is SUPER POPULAR, and want to stay? And that later when they find out that a huge percentage of active players are just fake stand ins for people, they'll just say what... well, I'm already here?

It boggles my mind that your solution to the problem of less people being active is to spam the 60 second list with robots. Did it ever cross your mind that maybe less real players are active, because this is the least important a real life player has ever been in this game?

The lack of player importance and activity is partially a player issue. But the implementation of fake players that make real life human interaction LESS important then ever is only adding fuel to the fire.

Do you honestly see NPMs as adding anything remotely positive to the experience of playing this game?

Honestly, if I joined a game and saw a bunch of people online I would notice them all to be real living and breathing people. I wouldn't know much different. This would give me a brighter out look on the game because more people equals more person to person interaction. Usually when I sign up on another game I dip around for five minutes, click around and end up forgetting about it, never logging in again.

If a game caught my attention and had me stay and later I found out that the majority of the "players" at any given time were robots and not actual players I'd be a little disappointed. To figure that out I would already be slightly hooked. I don't know if it would turn me against the game or not. I'd like to give the game a fair chance to fully catch me.

What would keep me on the game, any game, is how the game is played and how the people play the game.

As I have stated multiple times, I do not feel the NPMs are hurting the game at all. The NPMs are a RESULT of how players have made the game different. People live for years now, amass BGs and guns and when there are wars, you can usually predict the outcome. To most people, this is boring. Thus, they leave. So many people have left, or have accounts they rarely log into that we don't have near the active userbase we had a few years ago. The people fussing about the NPMs are attributing the problems with the game to them, when it's completely the other way around. As LoveGun stated above, more active players = More attraction. Sure, down the line they may get disappointed, but by that time they're hooked. Hell, this character was a looking character. I joined a family because it was someone I knew and ended up getting hooked again within a matter of days. Of course they would stick around. As for the positives of NPMs? They support the nearly-nonexistent userbase and help out crewleaders to make money. They also help in the art of Witness Statement collection as well as Organized Crimes. If you can't see the positives, perhaps you should look out of the box.

So you say many, many people are leaving because the game has changed and they're bored. But the solution isn't to look at what has changed and try to return to the core of what makes this game special... it's to try to prop up the same path that's causing people to leave with fake players?

As for the positives you stated.

Collecting witness statements? Are you serious? Right. That's a huge issue with our world. Not collecting enough witness statements.

Supporting the nearly nonexistent userbase? Uh, how about fixing the problem that's causing the userbase to shrink instead of propping up the same path with fake players?

Bringing more money into the game? How does that help any of the problems we face- particularly when for years and years, we've consistently heard the administration talk about removing/limiting the amount of money in the game?

Players may have brought about the problems we face today. But additions like crewleaders being able to buy infinite NPMs only serve to cement those mistakes.

We don't need an out of the box solution. I am not against innovation. I love the casinos. I love the Organized Crimes. I don't even mind MIAs. But change is only good when it makes things better. When it strengthens and adds to the great social center of this game, rather than weakens it. When it makes players more important and not less important. When it brings vitality to the world and not stagnation.

How exactly is limiting NPMs or removing them completely going to stop the stagnation? It will have zero effect.