NPCs Not To Include In Your Game

 

Don't have NPCs in your game who could easily solve all your problems, but don't, and yet still act friendly.

Hey it's the Zombie Apocalypse and I have this ultra secure outpost, and you're wearing grass for a shirt. What? No, you can't stay here at night when the zombies are active, don't be silly. Make your own house somehow, with your stone axe. Oh and can you run a fetch quest for me? I have lots of cool merch for sale! If you have money, that is.

Hey the Earth has been destroyed by alien space monsters, and we have this outpost with food and technology. Oh, your ship is stuck in orbit over a strange planet and you're hunting aliens with a handmade bow and arrow in order not to starve? Cool. We have stuff for sale. And can you run a fetch quest for me?

Ugh, it's really difficult to get over this stuff. I get that you want trading in your game, or something, but when it totally invalidates your survival-crafting game, then it's bad. Why should I go back to my hut? Why am I wearing a grass shirt? Dumb!

Does this bug anyone else or am I just me? There's definitely some tension between survival crafting and wanting to have a bigger world with people and things to do, but, this solution just seems awful to me, PARTICULARLY when it's introduced near the very beginning of a game that's asking you to chop wood, collect fiber, and all that. Like, if there's a city for end game stuff, let me earn access to it by reaching near-civilized tech level myself. Because if I get access to it sooner, why would I ever go back to my hut?