[MUD-Dev] MMORPG/MMOG P2P design

[Crosbie Fitch]

From: lynx at lynx.purrsia.com

> ... or you must abandon that particular style of entertainment and
> find a different kind of game.

Yes.  I fancy empire building. Perhaps a bit like the board game
'Dimplomacy'.

> Alternately, if this is about 'empowering the people', make it an
> open source project and get things started with enough code and a
> powerful enough design that others can build on it and will feel
> compelled to help, because they share your idealogy.

Yup that's the one. But, it's slow going building up that initial
code base.

> Arbitration does not imply a hierarchy, but in fact, simply the
> existence of another entity who is considered to be neutral.
> *Authoritative* arbitration, where the entity is selected from a
> class of entities which are accorded that authority, does indeed
> have a hierarchy, but the imeplementation of such is a design
> decision.

Well, I didn't figure out any other way that would work as well or
better, so that's the design decision I came to.

> I disagree that the p2p design requires all computers to run the
> same software as well.  You can certainly have them do so, by
> bundling all the information for it in every box distributed, but
> allowing players to specialize might make things more
> efficient. This player has high bandwidth, but not much disk
> space.  That player has a lot of disk space, but little CPU
> processing power.

I don't see why differing amounts of resources implies different
software configurations, but I guess it's possible. Anyway, I'm
suggesting a single software install if only to make maintenance
easier, and coincidentally to emphasise the absence of separate
client and server packages.

> > I'd agree to remove the assumption that all players should be
> able > to interact with every other player, or at least 'interact
> with > equal fidelity'.  > Not sure why the quotes here - I don't
> think I said that, did I?  Nor that players should never be able
> to interact with every other player, should they choose to enter
> the same universe as another player.  You may be misinterpreting
> my aim here.

I use quotes also to indicate a difference in emphasis, or a
slant. I was just trying to say that players shouldn't have to
interact with every other player, but that doesn't mean they
shouldn't be able to if they wanted to.  However, even if they
could, because of distance, it's inevitable that some interactions
wouldn't be able to have the same fidelity as others.

>> But 'single, seamless world'?  You don't want this? I suppose
>> that one way to solve scalabilty - simply have multiple shards
>> instead. End of problem.

> No, the purpose of having multiple universes is not for
> scalability, though that's certainly a win, but to allow everyone
> to choose their own authorities and create their own settings, and
> for players to choose what kinds of settings they want to visit
> and possibly, contribute to.

Hmmn. Terminology. I used 'world' for 'universe'. For a given game
or universe (set of rules, theme, etc.) I don't think you can kid
players that it's a bonus that it's split into multiple shards when
this is really only because you have to have fairly independent
servers.

As for games/universes, yeah, as many as you want.

> The small P2P graphic MUD could be a very cool discussion subject.
> Trying to beat every MMOG out there...  Not so interesting,
> because it's just not going to happen on a shoestring budget, and
> it's hard to discuss the nitty-gritty details with such a huge
> canvas.

I hear what you're saying, but sometimes that isn't enough to stop
one trying.

> Play what?  > Gameplay that someone has designed and has
> implemented, possibly with the help of others?

Yep.

> With art, stories, and characters that people have designed and
> might want to keep restricted to their particular setting, rather
> than sharing freely and without recompense with others?

I'm addressing that issue too. You can sell the release of content
to multiple players concurrently. www.digitalartauction.com



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