[MUD-Dev] Requirements for MM (was Complexities ofMMOGServers)

[Ted L. Chen]

Caliban Tiresias Darklock writes:

> I would interpret Brian's list as referring not to the number of
> players that ARE online, but the number that COULD BE online
> without crowding the environment beyond a reasonable playability
> threshold. This would mean at the very least:

>   1. The system will generally accept this many simultaneous
>   logins,

>   2. The network performance of each login is generally
>   acceptable,

>   3. The game world is not so crowded as to make play difficult or
>   impossible.

We could probably diverge on a separate thread (again) about whether
players in a MOG constitute part of that MOG.  That is: "Is an 1000
player capable system with 10 people the same as an full 10 player
capable system?"  Aside from it sounding like a philosophical
chinese proverb, the answer can be both yes and no.

>From an engineering standpoint, I'd have to say no: obviously, the
first is much more technically complex.  But it could easily be yes
from a designer or players standpoint since they both deal with the
same population.

Personally, I like to include the players as part of the whole MOG
system.  In their own way, they determine whether a MOG has a sense
of massiveness, or weight, to it - instead of it being just a big
empty world.

>> VATSIM, the online ATC network that links together flight
>> simulations (MSFS, X-Plane, Fly) has about 200 people online
>> simultaneously at any given time.  They're generally spread out
>> across the world at the busiest times of the day, and across
>> continents in the wee-hours.  Most pilots don't directly interact
>> with each other, but they know they're there in the shared
>> reality.  Does that constitute a MMOG?

> I don't think any such system would qualify unless it actively
> encouraged the direct interaction of its users. (Just because they
> can or do doesn't mean it's part of the system. Likewise, just
> because they don't doesn't mean it isn't; a lot of MU*s will be
> full of players in the wee hours, but everyone is just idle.)

> Besides, if VATSIM is an MMOG, then every web site is a MUD. You
> generally don't interact with the other visitors to a website, but
> you still know they're there. A website with community interaction
> features, however -- chat clients, forums, even just a guestbook
> -- *is* a MUD. And if it can reasonably handle thousands of
> simultaneous interactions, it's a MMOG...  delphiforums.com would
> qualify, for example.

Actually, by all definitions, VATSIM is a MOG(MUD).  What's in
question is whether it would have the MMOG label with an average
user level of 200.  Each player in the shared airspace tunes into a
local radio frequency.  Effectively, this is vicinity chat.
(There's also a global chat available).  They usually coordinate
their gameplay through a live air traffic controller but without
one, they coordinate between themselves.  When I stated that most
pilots didn't interact with each other, I meant that if Buffy's
flying in Britain, she doesn't really care that I'm flying over
Canada.  I'm out of her range (i.e. zone) and any effects we have on
each other's gameplay is only through secondary and tertiary
effects.

It's a big world.  Big enough that I'd term it 'M'assive.  And going
through the same definition, delphiforums can't be considered
massive much in the same way this list isn't a MMOG.  Your
visibility in this forum is 100%.  You see my posting.  I see yours.
We both have a direct impact on each other game-wise.  This list is
basically the quake level where we have 100% active world coverage,
and it ain't that big of a world (despite so-many people tuned in).

Of course, I haven't even touched the requirement of real-time (not
just simultaneous) interaction yet.  Of what you mentioned, chat
clients, ala MIRC are the only ones that would come close to a MUD.
I'm a little fuzzy about why MIRC is, or why it isn't a MUD, let
alone massive.

TLC


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