[MUD-Dev] business models

[Steven Veltema]

Auli wrote:

> Sure, but can't this be 'virtualized'?  Can you have the third shift
> hired for their language fluency (and can you afford that added
> labor cost)?  Are customers Internet-savvy enough to care if the
> 'Japanese' server is really in Japan?

As an occasional player of netgames from Japan, it does matter a great
deal, at least for more "twitch" oriented games.  Just figuring
network latency on a wide open connection from Japan to the US, it
comes out to something like 200ms. This means that if your game has 5
updates per second, the Japanese players are always at least 1 update
behind everyone else.  That compounded with lags due to full
international pipes at peak times, and playing a game with a server in
the US can be a real drag. The difference in response times between
servers in Japan and the US are as clear as night and day.

This is not to say however that Japanese players aren't willing to put
up with lags etc to get their fix if that is the only option open.
Just that most Japanese players I know prefer playing on servers
located in Japan.

Steve Veltema

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