[Meta] Re: [MUD-Dev] Future of MMOGs

[Ted L. Chen]

amanda at alfar.com wrote:
> "Ted L. Chen" <tedlchen at yahoo.com> wrote:

>> Anything that is dynamic will have data that is dependent on how
>> you represent those dynamics.  For instance, the take the simple
>> case of coordinates.

> Hmm.  Most MUDs I've used don't really have coordinates.  "Rooms"
> are linked to other "rooms", but any distribution in space is
> completely arbitrary.  Even in MMO graphical games with continuous
> terrain, coordinates are local to a "zone" or "dungeon".

And what about other types of data?  Damage rates, XPs, etc.  Unless
you lock all zones down to a single type of system, then it is
something you still need to think about when coming up with the
protocol.

> I think that VRML suffered from hitting the wrong level of
> abstraction.  Something more like NWN with in-game links between
> servers might be a little closer to what I've been pondering.
> Just like a web site, I can host anything I want (or rent space on
> someone else's server, in accordance with whatever policies they
> have).  If my content has little appeal, nobody links to it or
> visits it.  If it's really hot, it gets laggy, or I get a bigger
> pipe, or whatever.  That's the sort of direction I've been
> thinking.

On the linking front, how VRML is different from NWN?  They both
just transport you to another server and initialize you off at the
starting point of the vrml or module.

NWN servers do have a neat advantage over VRML, not in terms of
linking, but in the standardized rule-set.  That lets Bioware ignore
capability issues between servers and create their own little
protocol for transferring player data between modules.  ModuleA
knows exactly what a Longsword is and how that item operates in the
game world.

But that standardization makes all modules play-alike, with some
minor variations of course.

Question is then, do you consider the game mechanics "content" or is
content just the environment?


TLC


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