Remember the main video advertisement for boundless where it takes you through a busy market place that is swarming with activity? It was that single scene that brought me to finally purchase the game however…now that I’ve played the game I now realize that kind of busy trade center will never happen…at least not like it was presented in that video…UNLESS…we introduce Some sort of A.I. Shop keep. It could be as simple as once the player places 10 selling plynths an a.i. Shop keep appears. In large cities they would make the city appear to be busy and alive with activity instead of ghost towns. What do you guys think?
Well some A.I. just to move around would be just a decoration, since trade system does not need A.I.
I can see how it would be more livelier, and I guess some quests and stuff would also be nice to have to earn additional coins or resources. I’m not against it, but I do hope that it will be much more livelier when game goes into final stage.
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Yes they would only be decoration but they would definitely add to the much wanted bustling cities.
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That’s how it was in uo. To sell you’re goods you needed to hire a shop keeper. I would totally back your idea! As long as it was all player driven.
You would just use a plinth or hire a shop keeper. The shop keeper could sell multiple things of different types but would use a small amount of coin as fuel.
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That right there is a great idea.
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The more I think about it the more I really like it. I would totally set up shop keepers like this. What if you could customize them to with outfits and different heads.
On another note this could aid the needed coin sink and maybe we could go down to a 5% tax.
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I really like this idea!
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When I first saw this earlier today, I started thinking about it some more and how it could fit into the existing world and current plinth buying/selling system… it fit pretty much into this quote…
I think this would be really cool if you needed to hire an NPC shopkeeper from the Central Guild - they would always be there and, as mentioned, they would make the markets seem like someone was in them (I can’t imagine anyone playing the game in 1.0 and just standing around in a shop waiting for people to happen by). You could make them the primary hub for your buying /selling within your beacon area (so any plinths would effectively be linked to your shopkeeper). Having the shopkeeper there would also explain away the need for the coin sink on Plinths, as you would need to pay them a wage, and with them being assigned by the Central Guild, they would automatically take the fees owed to them and the CG.
For the existing buying / selling plinths, they could instead just be used to display your wares or wanted items (as they do now) and to actually set the prices, but you couldn’t actually buy/sell directly from them - you would need to interact with the shopkeeper instead.
This is also a really good idea … you could dress them in your own created uniform to match the theme of your shop.
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It also would be nice if we could refill the shop through the shop keepers and get our coin to. Hopefully we could do it from a distance.
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To get the coins some delivery would be cool, but the refilling of the stocks should still be made by hand. I backed the game because it’s about exploration and traveling merchants, not because it’s another one with a menue coltrolled auctionhause ^^
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EDIT: lol never mind my original post (if anyone seen it - I misread the proposition at first glance)
im ok with and without npc’s but im pretty sure when the game is out there will be cities swarming with people that you start thinking that it would be nice to have less populated ares 
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my thoughts exactly 
its good to remember we are in pre- pre- pre- alpha/beta/something version and players base is still limited.
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I truly hope that’s the case.