diff --git a/common/ruletypes.h b/common/ruletypes.h
index 9ed9fa5a2..d6a0c7346 100644
--- a/common/ruletypes.h
+++ b/common/ruletypes.h
@@ -266,6 +266,7 @@ RULE_INT(Zone, MinOfflineTimeToReplenishments, 21600) // 21600 seconds is 6 Hour
 RULE_BOOL(Zone, UseZoneController, true) // Enables the ability to use persistent quest based zone controllers (zone_controller.pl/lua)
 RULE_BOOL(Zone, EnableZoneControllerGlobals, false) // Enables the ability to use quest globals with the zone controller NPC
 RULE_INT(Zone, GlobalLootMultiplier, 1) // Sets Global Loot drop multiplier for database based drops, useful for double, triple loot etc.
+RULE_BOOL(Zone, IdleWhenEmpty, true) // Don't process NPCs while zone is empty. Defaults to true.
 RULE_CATEGORY_END()
 
 RULE_CATEGORY(Map)
diff --git a/zone/entity.cpp b/zone/entity.cpp
index 2bc1b99ed..032c35820 100644
--- a/zone/entity.cpp
+++ b/zone/entity.cpp
@@ -408,10 +408,10 @@ void EntityList::RaidProcess()
 
 void EntityList::DoorProcess()
 {
-#ifdef IDLE_WHEN_EMPTY
-	if (numclients < 1)
-		return;
-#endif
+	if (RuleB(Zone, IdleWhenEmpty)) {
+		if (numclients < 1)
+			return;
+	}
 	if (door_list.empty()) {
 		net.door_timer.Disable();
 		return;
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ void EntityList::MobProcess()
 
 		size_t sz = mob_list.size();
 
-#ifdef IDLE_WHEN_EMPTY
+	if (RuleB(Zone, IdleWhenEmpty)) {
 		if (numclients > 0 || 
 			mob->GetWanderType() == 4 || mob->GetWanderType() == 6) {
 			// Normal processing, or assuring that spawns that should
@@ -490,9 +490,11 @@ void EntityList::MobProcess()
 			// At the very least, process that.
 			mob_dead = mob->CastToNPC()->GetDepop();
 		}
-#else
+	}
+	else
+	{
 		mob_dead = !mob->Process();
-#endif
+	}
 		size_t a_sz = mob_list.size();
 
 		if(a_sz > sz) {