Adding Non-Player Characters (NPCs)

Villagers and “NPCs” are non-player characters. They are humanoid characters in your worlds that can be used to provide “life” and ambiance to your city and village settings, be interacted with by visitors to your world, and also provide additional lesson information, hints, or instructions for your students to discover. This article will cover:

• NPC
• Villager
• Additional Resources

You can also learn more about NPCs on our Learn To Play YouTube Playlist: 

To create these non-playable characters in your world, you can use Spawn Eggs to place them. Find the appropriate egg (marked with an exclamation point) and bring it to your inventory, or select it in creative mode via the “Tools” tab.

NPC

• Education Exclusive: Yes
• World Builder Permission Needed: Yes (placement, editing)

NPCs are more interactive than Villagers, and we have introduced a number of new features, noted below.

• NPCs stay where you put them.
• NPCs can be named.
• Can display dialog text when interacted with.
• You can assign URLs and commands to buttons. 
• You can launch one URL from the game, or several URLs 
• You can execute multiple commands in the order they are added.
• Up to six (6) buttons in any combination of URLs and/or commands can be featured in this space. 
• You may launch or execute URLs and commands automatically when the player is finished interacting with the NPC. All automatic commands (and URLs) are executed in the order they are added to the NPC. 

If you are a World Builder, right clicking the NPC will bring up the customize screen. In this screen, you can change the name, displayed text, skin, and access advanced settings. World Builders can re-access this menu repeatedly to edit it.

The name of the NPC will remain visible from a distance, even through walls. When an Operator or non-World Builder right clicks on an NPC, they will see the displayed text.

From here you can: 

• Name your NPC.
• Enter the message you wish the NPC to share into the Dialog box.
• Choose your NPC skin.
• Click the Advanced Settings button.

At this point the Advanced NPC Settings window opens, and a brief description of each button’s function appears. You can close the settings window by clicking the ‘X’ in the upper right corner of the window.

Add a URL:

1. Click the add URL button.
2. Add your favorite website (like http://education.minecraft.net)
3. Enter it into the URL field.

Add a Command:

1. Click the add command button
2. Choose your favorite command (we will use “/give” and give players a camera).
3. Enter it into the “command field”.

With URLs and Commands:

• Use the Button Mode Toggle for any button to make this an optional command. Optional commands require the player push the button in order to activate.
• When you toggle this to ON, a line will appear so you can put a name on this button. You can use up to 12 characters, so choose wisely.
• When it is toggled to OFF, the URL will automatically be displayed, or the command will run when the player is finished interacting with the NPC.

Note: URLs launch in the user’s default web browser whether they are launched automatically or by clicking the link button.

When a non-World Builder interacts with the NPC, the options we set up earlier will appear as buttons. Command buttons have black text, URL button text displays in the classic underlined “hyperlink blue”.

To edit any of the settings, turn World Builder back on and click the NPC to return to the Advanced NPC Settings window.

Villager

• Education Exclusive: No
• World Builder Permission Needed: No

Villagers can:

• Spawn naturally within a world or be spawned via egg.
• Have an inventory and trade items with you.
• Wander aimlessly – they do not like holding still.
• Run away if attacked.

Villagers have one six randomly generated professions and one of 1-4 randomly selected careers within that profession. The career of the villager will influence the type of inventory they are carrying.

Farmer

• Farmers can be a farmer, fisherman, shepherd or fletcher.

Librarian

• Librarians can be librarians or cartographers.

Priest

• Priests are clerics.

Blacksmith

• Blacksmiths can be armorers, weapon smiths, or tool smiths

Butcher

• Butchers are either butchers or leatherworkers.

Nitwit

• Nitwits have no career path and no inventory

Below is a sample of the villager inventory and trade window you will see when you click on them.

For more information and details about Villagers, please refer to the Official Minecraft wiki on this topic.

Additional Resources

• Profile Types (go in depth with operator and world builder information)
• Creating your world: Add helpful items for your visitors (like cameras and portfolios)
• Creating your world: Get familiar with essential commands in Minecraft Education
• Share your world: Setting up Multiplayer Games