i like the idea of bots a lot. in fact i have been trying in various places for some of the bot like things. a few years ago in a mud-dev list i advocated the use of external bots and that wasnt well recieved. i was going to add that part into my mud server but it wasnt worth my time then.
the best i did was use multiple logins with scripting clients.
a bot port would be nice because there is no need for graphics just the ability to send and read messages. of course i would add in additional hooks - something that a normal player wouldnt have access to but would make the life of the bot easier. maybe a bot port wouldnt be necessary for a first pass since we were able to do a lot with just a scripting client but there are limitations to that.
i found a NWN emulator (very crude) and the guy set up a separate server for mob control. one nice thing about an external mob is that the logic can be very complex without it affecting the game server. well maybe some effect since the server and the mob controller have to talk to each other.
i dont know of any project where they have pushed the whole concept of external controllers and bots.
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