I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that it lets people use the same name.
i.e. Spazz on Freedom and Spazz on Virtue.
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I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that it lets people use the same name.
i.e. Spazz on Freedom and Spazz on Virtue.
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That is a valid reason I honestly hadn't thought of. Good point.
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the tech for one single massive game server wasn't around in early MMO history. it became the norm to have separate shards, and it stuck around. There are benefits to that obviously, if a server goes down, others are still available so the whole community doesn't suffer. The name thing Spazz mentioned is also a pretty standard reason given.
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the tech for one single massive game server wasn't around in early MMO history. it became the norm to have separate shards, and it stuck around. There are benefits to that obviously, if a server goes down, others are still available so the whole community doesn't suffer. The name thing Spazz mentioned is also a pretty standard reason given.
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True, if the character server went down everyone would be unable to play. Another good point.
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...y'know, that actually sounds like an interesting idea.
A problem might be though is that in the current model, characters are tied to one server, which helps establish community and a character for each server.
This game's already set up to use the servers the way it does and it can't be changed, but I'd kinda like to see a server model like you suggested, as an experiment at least.
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...y'know, that actually sounds like an interesting idea.
A problem might be though is that in the current model, characters are tied to one server, which helps establish community and a character for each server.
This game's already set up to use the servers the way it does and it can't be changed, but I'd kinda like to see a server model like you suggested, as an experiment at least.
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As would I. I forsee it kind of like a hybrid of RPG lobby and World server. Preworld there would be your characters and such. You could talk to other players via lobbies or chat rooms, organize guilds, decide which server to login to for whoever you wish to play with at the time. Once in the game if you are in a guild, people would be able to see which guild members are on which server in both the preworld and server world. Friend lists would work globally similarly to the global tells in Everquest (you can send people tells across diff servers in EQ and all SOE games. IE I can send someone playing SWG a tell from Everquest etc...)
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side note: You can chat cross-server already via global tells and global chat channels.
there are a few "single world" games out there now
Guild Wars is the only one that comes to mind at the moment, but it's system is set up a bit different than most would like. there are common areas, and there are "instanced areas," areas that, once you leave the common areas, are only populated by you and your party.
it could work, but it would mean the common areas would be constantly flooded (Think Atlas Park on a Saturday night during a new issue launch on Freedom x20) and the instanced areas would be void of other players to interact with. That interaction is what makes a lot of our game experience fun for a lot of people. I know I enjoy flying up and watching a new player take out their first group of hellions, or running past someone who just hit a level on that green Tsoo they decided to kill as they were passing by on their way to a mission, there's something about that kind of experience that makes the game more fun for a lot of people. On a "Shardless world" at least the way it's done now by NC in Guild Wars that kind of stuff wouldn't happen.
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side note: You can chat cross-server already via global tells and global chat channels.
there are a few "single world" games out there now
Guild Wars is the only one that comes to mind at the moment, but it's system is set up a bit different than most would like. there are common areas, and there are "instanced areas," areas that, once you leave the common areas, are only populated by you and your party.
it could work, but it would mean the common areas would be constantly flooded (Think Atlas Park on a Saturday night during a new issue launch on Freedom x20) and the instanced areas would be void of other players to interact with. That interaction is what makes a lot of our game experience fun for a lot of people. I know I enjoy flying up and watching a new player take out their first group of hellions, or running past someone who just hit a level on that green Tsoo they decided to kill as they were passing by on their way to a mission, there's something about that kind of experience that makes the game more fun for a lot of people. On a "Shardless world" at least the way it's done now by NC in Guild Wars that kind of stuff wouldn't happen.
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the way I envision it is that the only common areas would be outside of the game world in the lobbies etc. Wherever you logged off at would be stored and you'd log back into that zone from whichever server you were on. Say for example you logged off in Grandville. The database would store your game location as Grandville. Once you chose your server you would then log back into Grandville. The coordinates would be stored int he same manner. I am not thinking anything similarly to Guild Wars. I've played guild wars but thats not the system I'm envisioning. I'm not talking about a shardless world. the shards would exist for the game content. The characters would be their own sep shard so to speak.
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Our character data is on each individual server, yes. If it was all on one server, it might be too much for any one server to handle with all the trades, xp, inf, and everything else changing constantly. That's why there is a different system for global chat... another for the market... another for AE...
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Our character data is on each individual server, yes. If it was all on one server, it might be too much for any one server to handle with all the trades, xp, inf, and everything else changing constantly. That's why there is a different system for global chat... another for the market... another for AE...
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Thats another good point to make. Its possible that its just simply too much data for all the characters to be stored in one server. However, couldn't you just add more computers to the cluster serving the data to compensate?
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Our character data is on each individual server, yes. If it was all on one server, it might be too much for any one server to handle with all the trades, xp, inf, and everything else changing constantly. That's why there is a different system for global chat... another for the market... another for AE...
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Thats another good point to make. Its possible that its just simply too much data for all the characters to be stored in one server. However, couldn't you just add more computers to the cluster serving the data to compensate?
[/ QUOTE ] Sure, but then you'll open up ways to manipulate the data and cause massive duping to occur.
Plus, just imagine the data lag between all the servers. Check out how long it takes Leveling Pact XP to apply to your character, then think about if it did that for every single aspect of your character.
Having the data on the same server that uses it is the best idea.
On another note, I wonder how big the server rooms are?
I know our main one at work is rather big, im curious to see how big they are in the game industry
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Our character data is on each individual server, yes. If it was all on one server, it might be too much for any one server to handle with all the trades, xp, inf, and everything else changing constantly. That's why there is a different system for global chat... another for the market... another for AE...
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Thats another good point to make. Its possible that its just simply too much data for all the characters to be stored in one server. However, couldn't you just add more computers to the cluster serving the data to compensate?
[/ QUOTE ] Sure, but then you'll open up ways to manipulate the data and cause massive duping to occur.
Plus, just imagine the data lag between all the servers. Check out how long it takes Leveling Pact XP to apply to your character, then think about if it did that for every single aspect of your character.
Having the data on the same server that uses it is the best idea.
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However, that is applying this game with its current model in that scenario. There's no design you can think of from the ground up where the character data is as efficient to load and read from its own server as it would be from a specific shard server?
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On another note, I wonder how big the server rooms are?
I know our main one at work is rather big, im curious to see how big they are in the game industry
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I've never visited an on site data center. I know some companies, like Blizzard contract their servers out to AT&T.
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On another note, I wonder how big the server rooms are?
I know our main one at work is rather big, im curious to see how big they are in the game industry
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I've never visited an on site data center. I know some companies, like Blizzard contract their servers out to AT&T.
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Heh, we can't do that unfortunately
But big server rooms are awe inspiring
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Our character data is on each individual server, yes. If it was all on one server, it might be too much for any one server to handle with all the trades, xp, inf, and everything else changing constantly. That's why there is a different system for global chat... another for the market... another for AE...
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Thats another good point to make. Its possible that its just simply too much data for all the characters to be stored in one server. However, couldn't you just add more computers to the cluster serving the data to compensate?
[/ QUOTE ] Sure, but then you'll open up ways to manipulate the data and cause massive duping to occur.
Plus, just imagine the data lag between all the servers. Check out how long it takes Leveling Pact XP to apply to your character, then think about if it did that for every single aspect of your character.
Having the data on the same server that uses it is the best idea.
[/ QUOTE ]Just to make sure, you do realize the "entity" referred to as a server (such as freedom) is not a single system but a cluster of computers? That is part of the reason why it's possible to have a zone, but not the whole "server" (or shard, that's part of the reason some places prefer to use the term shard over server), crash?
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So far, I dont see the appeal or rationale for the model you are proposing. To a point, I dont see that it is actually all that different from the MMO models already available either, just barely tweaked by your use of a separate 'Lobby' Server or System prior to actual gameplay. Though I am not a coder, I've got to think that there is a reason why this isnt either feasible or desirable to do.
I guess we could do something like this right now with Server transfers and a Forum on these very Boards being used as some sort of 'Lobby'. Or no need for a Lobby at all if each Guild or group of friends had their own chat room or somesuch using one of the already available programs out there like X-Fire. If Server transfers were free this would probably be used for such a System, but the games builtin naming conventions makes that problematic unless one doesnt mind being randomly renamed each time you log into a separate game Server (ie; regular Ninus could be Ninus1 or Ninus32 or Ninus 14983 during any play session depending on how many Ninuses are logged in for the day).
Like I said, I see it as bringing up as many problems as it solves (at least solved to your liking), and I dont even kow how to code or what the feasiblility is of such coding. Interesting idea though.
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Our character data is on each individual server, yes. If it was all on one server, it might be too much for any one server to handle with all the trades, xp, inf, and everything else changing constantly. That's why there is a different system for global chat... another for the market... another for AE...
[/ QUOTE ]
Thats another good point to make. Its possible that its just simply too much data for all the characters to be stored in one server. However, couldn't you just add more computers to the cluster serving the data to compensate?
[/ QUOTE ] Sure, but then you'll open up ways to manipulate the data and cause massive duping to occur.
Plus, just imagine the data lag between all the servers. Check out how long it takes Leveling Pact XP to apply to your character, then think about if it did that for every single aspect of your character.
Having the data on the same server that uses it is the best idea.
[/ QUOTE ]Just to make sure, you do realize the "entity" referred to as a server (such as freedom) is not a single system but a cluster of computers? That is part of the reason why it's possible to have a zone, but not the whole "server" (or shard, that's part of the reason some places prefer to use the term shard over server), crash?
[/ QUOTE ] Yes, but in the case of zones crashing, that isn't necessarily a single system actually crashing, but one of the applications running the zone. You don't think there is a separate system for every zone and every mission, do you? lol
Point is, the current server "entities" you refer to are in separate locations, and typing them together to one data source would still have latency issues.
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side note: You can chat cross-server already via global tells and global chat channels.
there are a few "single world" games out there now
Guild Wars is the only one that comes to mind at the moment,
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The other big player that is a single shard is EvE online.
Two smaller players that run single shard are Ryzom and whatever is left of Jumpgate. Last I heard though, both of those had tiny subscriber bases, so it'd almost be a waste of money to set up multiple servers.
I also have a vague memory that Runescape uses the server model proposed by the OP: multiple shards, and you pick the one you'll play on when you log in.
In CoH, about the best we could hope for is some sort of temporary server transfer, although that raises the specter of the naming problem. Plus I tend to agree that the different atmospheres of the different servers is a good reason to avoid, or at least minimize cross server gaming.
I know for a fact that a lot of people that play on the low pop servers want to keep them that way, which is something I can totally respect.
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In this game you have, for instance, a "victory community" and an "infinity community". The "freedom community" is much reviled, and I think some of the consequences of freedom being as it is are a matter of population scaling- just like New York doesn't have that small-town feel where you know your neighbors, neither does Freedom.
I don't know if people would have shard (or server) loyalties and I don't know if they'd develop communities the same way. I believe humans are community builders by nature. Guilds started in online FPS's where life was supposed to be nasty brutish and short, the war of each against all... people developed friendships and groups despite all attempts to make a hostile environment.
But I don't think you'd get the SAME sort of communities if a "server" was just where people decided to get together tonight.
Be interesting to see.
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the tech for one single massive game server wasn't around in early MMO history. it became the norm to have separate shards, and it stuck around.
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This. There are plenty of practical reasons for having multiple discrete game worlds and player communities, but inertia and player convention explains it the same as anything else.
It bears mentioning that most games with single-world environments have less competition for names than CoH does. Guild Wars requires you to give your characters a first name and last name. Others do this as well. But with a superhero game, a lot of folks are competing for similar-sounding stuff.
Anyway. The other thing is this; once you've chosen to do a separate 'server' system, you're stuck with it. When an MMO announces that it's merging servers, this is perceived as a sign the game is dying. It's fine if you START with a single global world, but you can't change your mind afterwards. It looks bad.
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the tech for one single massive game server wasn't around in early MMO history. it became the norm to have separate shards, and it stuck around.
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This. There are plenty of practical reasons for having multiple discrete game worlds and player communities, but inertia and player convention explains it the same as anything else.
It bears mentioning that most games with single-world environments have less competition for names than CoH does. Guild Wars requires you to give your characters a first name and last name. Others do this as well. But with a superhero game, a lot of folks are competing for similar-sounding stuff.
Anyway. The other thing is this; once you've chosen to do a separate 'server' system, you're stuck with it. When an MMO announces that it's merging servers, this is perceived as a sign the game is dying. It's fine if you START with a single global world, but you can't change your mind afterwards. It looks bad.
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I only mentioned single server worlds as one of the common models for MMOs. I'm not a fan of single server worlds personally. I would like to see the possibility of people being able to pick and choose their servers at whim rather than be tied to a choice when they make a toon. I've been the victim of having to reroll toons because people I know landed on a diff server. It would be so much more convenient just to hop over to where they are rather than have to start a new toon over. This is the main drive behind the sep character server.
However, games like to charge for server transfers, it brings in revenue. That may be another reason why the current shard models persist more than other models.
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side note: You can chat cross-server already via global tells and global chat channels.
there are a few "single world" games out there now
Guild Wars is the only one that comes to mind at the moment,
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The other big player that is a single shard is EvE online.
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I don't know about EvE Online, but Guild Wars has a pretty severe restriction on the number of character slots. I'd much rather have separate servers with lots and lots of character slots, like CoH has.
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side note: You can chat cross-server already via global tells and global chat channels.
there are a few "single world" games out there now
Guild Wars is the only one that comes to mind at the moment,
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The other big player that is a single shard is EvE online.
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I don't know about EvE Online, but Guild Wars has a pretty severe restriction on the number of character slots. I'd much rather have separate servers with lots and lots of character slots, like CoH has.
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EVE allows even less than Guild Wars. I agree our server system is much better for this simple fact.
...implement server systems where the character is tied to that server? It seems to me creating a character server where guilds, and such is stored separately from the game servers is more sensible. So far the MMO model dictates either:
<ul type="square">[*]Everyone plays in the same gameworld/server, or[*]Everyone plays on different servers but all characters are tied to the chosen server[/list]It has always made more sense to me to keep characters on their own server so that they can login to whichever server has the most or little population as they choose on a whim. Is there any reason why games don't adopt this model?
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