[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] OnLive might make MMOs much easier

[Jeffrey Kesselman]

It is unclear to me from the Unity site how they secure game state.
(If they do at all.)

Without a secure game state any game that is popular enough to get
attention *will* get hacked.

JK

On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 1:44 PM, R. Scott Kennan <rskennan at gmail.com> wrote:
> I agree that the paradigm is shifting in the direction you've described.
> MMO-scale trusted computing is already here though- Check out the Unity Game
> Engine. It has the ability to run server side in a browser window with
> virtually the same experience as a dedicated client. It's built to allow
> end-users to create anything from an FPS to a full MMO. You can stream
> literally anything in real time. I have no idea of the logisitcs regarding
> proximity to a server, etc, but I've played games streamed with it on my
> pentium 4 that looked much better than my computer could render itself.
>
> I'm not a shill, but I'm using it for a much more modest project as a
> testbed for something more ambitious.
>
> On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 1:40 PM, Matt Cruikshank
> <mattcruikshank at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Have you all seen the news about OnLive?
>>
>> http://www.onlive.com/
>>
>> The rough story is that they have servers that they run the games on,
>> and they just stream the video to you at home. ?It'll be interesting
>> to see if they survive!
>>
>> Well, if they do - they bring "trusted computing" to the MMO client.
>>
>> As I understand MMO development, one of the real drags is that you
>> can't trust anything the client sends to the MMO servers, because it
>> might have been faked, spoofed, modified along the way. ?You even have
>> to be careful about what you send to the client, because it could be
>> snooped. ?In short - cheating is a major problem.
>>
>> Well, if the MMO client is running on a trusted computer, where it's
>> impossible for the end-user to fake, spoof, modify, snoop, doesn't it
>> make MMO development a *ton* easier? ?Users can't explore unchartered
>> land in your MMO simply by opening Map4307.png.
>>
>> The MMO client can talk directly to your database, if it comes to it.
>>
>> I'm just wondering how much of the *cost* of MMO development is in
>> semi-trusting the data from the client, and limiting the information
>> sent to the client. ?It seems to me from the outside that it's a lot.
>> If the client is a trusted friend, it seems like the communication
>> between client and server can be much more honest, frank, open, pure,
>> simpler, using the data objects you really want to use, doing the
>> computation much more where it's most practical.
>>
>> The client can tell the server whether or not the character hit the
>> orc. ?Hell, the client can keep track of the orc's hit points, and
>> tell the server to give the character the appropriate experience
>> points if he kills it... ?When a party goes on a raid, the client
>> computers can be totally in charge of everything that happens. ?It's
>> like a LAN party, where you know no one will cheat. ?Each computer is
>> running not just the character, but a portion of the enemies - say for
>> instance the ones he is in melee combat with. ?His computer informs
>> the other client computers what those specific enemies are doing.
>>
>> What, in this situation, does the MMO server really do? ?Record the
>> character's inventory changes and the experience points gained. ?What
>> else? ?It's a database - it might not do hardly ANY game physics or
>> simulation, any more... ?Wouldn't that dramatically decrease the cost
>> of running an MMO?
>>
>> Or am I over-inflating the costs of security, and the benefits of more
>> TRUSTED computing horsepower right at the game client?
>>
>> -Matt Cruikshank
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>
>
>
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