[MUD-Dev] Locations vs Social Spaces (was: I Want to Forge Swords)

[Richard Aihoshi aka Jonric]

At 10:59 AM 12/05/01 -0400, Derek Licciardi wrote:

> I would have to agree with you that the trip on the boat in EQ was
> not the most fun thing I have ever done.  I played a druid as a
> result and forgot what boats looked like except in a few rare cases.
> What is adequately accomplished in the boat concept that EQ has, is
> seperation of locations.  Not only is it physical, but it is time.
> If this did not exist, I am afraid you will only increase your
> chances of having every player in the game come to a certain spot
> and crash your server.  EQ relies on the fact that its population is
> spread throughout the known world, forcing them to make time based
> cost-benefit decisions before they travel.  Subsequent releases of
> expansion packs have made travel slightly easier, as it is not
> nearly as difficult to get to Kunark as it is to get to Antonica
> from Butcherblock Mountains.(racial faction aside) The trick in my
> opinion is to find the middle ground that your players are willing
> to tolerate while keeping the locations seperate enough to allow
> them to develop their own communities.  This is what makes Paris so
> different from London and each of them different from New York.  A
> completely connected society where instant travel occurs creates a
> single social structure and no variety.

As a point of information, while current games may suffer significant
performance hits when lots of players congregate, there are server
technologies such as that developed for BigWorld with the intention of
allowing thousands of players to gather for large battles, concerts et
al.  Being a mere scribe, I can't tell you much at all about how it
works, but there's some more information available at
www.bigworldgames.com And of course, there are others working in the
same direction.

Cheers.

Richard Aihoshi - "Jonric"
RPG Vault, IGN Vault Network

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