Follow the mob: An innovative approach for roaming characters in MMO games

In modern Massively Multiplayer Online Games, Non Playing Characters (NPCs) moving on the battlefield play a key role in term of user experience: many time players are required - alone or in groups - to fight or avoid them in order to progress in experience. Unfortunately, standard NPCs behavior, i.e., patrolling between rally points, does not put a significant challenge to players once its deterministic movement pattern is discovered. This paper addresses the problem of defining a smart, more challenging, and natural movement model for NPCs.