[MUD-Dev] [DGN/BIZ] Why player dont play multi user race or is there a market for multiuser race?

[stéphane Garin <youri@wanadoo.fr>]

Hi all

We just finished our new prototype of ASTRONOID, a galactic
race/shoot persistent game base on a full P2P architecture.  Now we
look for a publisher, but they all respond something like "great
game, great engine (at least something like this) but no market!
(For such futuristic racing multiplayer game ! The problematic Words
are : 'Futuristic' if you are not Lucas art (I disagree but it is
not the purpose of this topic!) and 'Multi user' (Here we are !)
Cause, for me, it is amazing!

I think that if their is a kind of game where multi user may give
interest, just behind RPG and it's social relation, it is in race,
further more if results are persistent, championship regularly
organized and so on...  Some of those publishers justify this
incredible fact by saying that, even if they are able to play such
mode, gamers don't play multi users race game, few are gentle
enough, to tell me the tales of Motor city online to ensure their
arguments.  I had thought a lot about this, and, before trying to
convince they are wrong, I would like to hear yourur opinion on the
fruit of my cognitive doom! First, if player do not play multi-user
mode race it's because they don't find good multi-user mode race!
That is cognitive isn't it?  If they do not, it is because of a
perverse combination of Game play, technical and business investment
Issues.

  First Game Play:

  What is a good multi user race?

  It is a race where I contest real player, and where there are
  enough players to make me stress. Such stress comes with the
  proximity of concurrent. If other players are a just a little
  point in my driving-mirror or at the horizon, I prefer IA games,
  where there is always one close to me.

At the difference of a FPS where the player looks for others at
20Km/s, in a race I will try to take my distance from concurrent at
300Km/h.  Therefore, the vicious circle of multiplayer game will be
even more vicious as usual: you do not reach enough players to get
fun, so you do not have players to play multi user and so on.  So
you need a very huge centralize community to always get a potential
of enough racer.

  Second Technical:

  It's much more difficult to synchronize 'bolid' at 300 Km/h than
  man at 20 Km/h, so rare are the game who enable more than four or
  eight player.  This is not a lot, if you dispatch them on a 10 Km
  circuit (3mn at 200Km/h) Until 'X box live' very few multi user
  game get a race management centralize to a unique place, in
  general distribute to gamer or game spy and other. This limits
  drastically the potential!

  Third Business

  Racing gamer are for video gamer (11.3% of the total) not PC gamer
  (3.9 %). So difficult to invest for network algorithm solution
  (BSP not allowed in open sky circuit).

So, let's assume that the solo game are interesting, do you think
our solution may convince a publisher.  An online PC video game (5
minute to install, no configuration) An multi user mode only, all
game create are always joinable to others.  A distributed load
balancing network technology, to allow 30 players race.  A
centralize persistent Web server to manage game (30 sec to join),
results and community.  A race with long-range arm ship, to enlarge
the range of interaction.

Do you thinks there is a market for such game ?

Thank to react, and to take the time to translate in English my
Frogy style!

Best reggards

Stephane Garin
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