Posted by someone else, somewere else. but very informative. It kills the "game is not profitable, so we need to sunset it" crap.
If a developer optimizes gamecode, one can bitstream a lot of code.
Bitstreaming means that you make a program consume more client side
processor resources in order to turn questions the server ask the client into
"Yes" or "No" questions. The placeholder for YES is 1 and for NO is 0 in binary.
Bitstreaming is about asking questions, organizing the bits together....and
sending them as a packet. YES also means (TRUE) and NO also means (FALSE).
Suppose your connection uses 7,000 bytes per second. One bit equals eight
bytes. So we have 56,000 bits per second.This was the definition of 56K. The
truth is that when one used dialup (56K), it wasn't 100% 56K and it by the
time you did reach the server, you would only have around 1,000 bytes left in the server. (8K)
What efficient netcoding does is allow more data to be send in less packets.
Ok, now we go into servers. As a person who modded RYL for netcoding and
even ran my own MMORPG server for three years that had over 8000 accounts
registered, we can have a discussion.
The number of accounts in an MMO is irrelevent. 12 million Worlds of Warcraft
accounts, or 5 million Guild Wars accounts means nothing to the server world
outside of bragging rights. What matters is the total amount of players logged
into the server at any given time. You will never have 12 million WoW players
or 5 Million GW players logged in at the same time.
As far as bandwtih goes, every player has a MAX CLIENT RATE. This is the
maximum amount of bandwith a server gives to a client (one of us playing the game).
LOTS OF CLIENT-SCAMS exist....A Good max client rate helps with framerate and ping.
Suppose I have a 100 mbps Upload/Download Connection.Given a Max Client Rate
of 7,000, how many players can play simultaneously? The answer is
100,000/56 = 1785.71. In server bandwith you do not ROUND UP, since you
will RUN OUT. The answer is always an Integer.....1785. Then there is the fact
I need to keep the connection alive....and use some bandwith for the
databases...Thanks to multicore computers I can use LESS computers to hold
the game world. What it means is that the connection can support 1785 players
before everyone gets disconnected from lack of bandwith.
Client rate really means if you have 56K upload on your connection, I have to
use 56K upload on my connection to give to you.If you have a Connection with
2mbps upload, tough luck. Im limiting you to 56K but its not like dialup since its
continuous and not 1K out of 7K. 7KB in pure text editing....is enough to write
56,000 characters....you can write a book per second!
RYL had five maps....Human Map 1, Human Map 2, Akkan Map 1, Akkan Map 2,
Caernevoron (the main battle/neutral map split evenly between the two).I
used to use one computer to run Caernevoron and another computer to run the
other four maps....with databases accessed from a third computer. Thanks to
Technology....I was able to actually reach a point I Could build One computer
and run the entire server with all the maps without it lagging from processing.
Suppose I installed a monthly fee, you know to preserve the connection
strength of the server....and I decided to charge everyone $10/month. (Yes, im
getting into Client-Rate Scamming which many companies do)...
It means that since the average amount of people who play in my server would
be around 1000...I would still collect money from all subscribed...So 8,000 x
10 = $80,000 monthly. Due to the fact a SERVER does not need a video card,
as its really pure processing.., One can make a well cooled server and put
in a well cooled room....
Client-Rate scamming is something that many companies do.
A lot of companies will say "WE JUST UPDATED OUR SERVERS TO PROVIDE MORE ROOM FOR
PLAYERS!!!! LOG IN AND HAVE FUN" and you log into the server and find you
have more lag, and see more players and crowdedness....
The truth is they DID NOT UPDATE ANYTHING...what they did was lower the
client rate, so everyone else gets less bandwith.Everyone gets worse
performance and higher ping due to the crowdedness and the parent company
makes more money from SUBSCRIPTION FEES. Of course its nice to feel you
are loved since it helps people undergo a nice placebo effect.
It requires less than 1% of all the money collected monthly to maintain an
MMORPG server.Most processes are automated... The first 1 million Guild
Wars players paid full price for three games + expansion. That is $200. This
means $200 million dollars....and that along with promotions and their in-game
store which gives you more options without having a gameplay advantage (like
more character slots (I have 12) and more storage panels (I have max), really
did a lot for the game. Before the In-game store came, people had to BUY 2
copies of Guild Wars, make 2 accounts, unlock everything on both and trade
between accounts. It was a pain in the ***...Today one can just buy Guild Wars
trilogy for a second account.
The point is that thanks to technologies today...Today a Server Computer can
hold 16 - 24 cores and requires less power to run than servers back then
that were on one core. You can use one computer with instances of the server
running on different cores to control different parts of the world and the Entire
15 server Ragnarok Online world with 50,000 server population can be done
with one of those server machines and reach near 100,000 people per server
with no problems.
In short....any MMORPG that takes 1 month of Fees, has enough money to
actually keep the servers alive for 8 - 10 years....1 million subscribers who pay
$50 for the base game and 15 for the first month is 65 million dollars. A year of
fees..is enough to keep a server running for a lifetime. In short, MMORPGs are
just moneymaking scams for the most part....to convince you that you SHOULD
PAY TO PLAY and then make you FEEL GOOD that you are PART OF SOMETHING.
Before GW 1 came out, everyone said that YOU HAVE TO PAY TO PLAY
AN MMORPG OR IT WILL DIE. After GW1 came out, everyone said "OH GW IS NOT
PERSISTENT.SO IT DOESNT COUNT" but Instanced Games take more
bandwtih to actually run than non-instanced games.....so when GW II
is released and you have a full persistent game...if it succeeds...
The world no longer has an EXCUSE to hide behind. No longer will anyone be
able to defend why a game needs monthly fees to survive.
This is why I want GUILD WARS 2 to succeed.
And regardless of the emails everyone should also remember the method of payment they used with NCSoft because M_G brings up a good point to keep in mind if they used a credit card of some type.
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