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On the Feasibility of Single-Server MMOs

Posted by Soulskill on from the where-are-my-ten-thousand-player-battles dept.

GameSetWatch takes a look at the issues involved in creating an MMO that does not split its users among many different servers. They suggest that running a single "shard" is the next step in the evolution of MMOs, since it better allows player choices to have a meaningful impact on the game world; supporting different outcomes across multiple shards is a technical nightmare. They estimate, from the hip, that the cost to develop the technology required to support a massive amount of players (i.e. far more than EVE Online) on a single server to be roughly $100 million. Another recommendation is the strong reliance on procedural and user-generated content creation to fill a necessarily enormous game world.

4 of 316 comments (clear)

  1. I want to see all MMORPG on one server by linzeal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Think of how much fun it would be to crash one of those Eve Online ships into the shire!

    --
    An Education is the Font of All Liberty
    1. Re:I want to see all MMORPG on one server by Canazza · · Score: 3, Funny

      NPC: Hello Bodo Gaggins, we need you to deliver some pies to various places in the shire

      Deliver pies to:
      Bree
      Stormwind
      and The Crashed Ammar Frigate that used to be Hobbiton

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
  2. Earth, fire, wind, water, heart! by CMBJ · · Score: 1, Funny

    By your servers combined, I am CAPTAIN PLANET!

  3. Re:Lag. by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, that's not 'excessive reading', per se. That's 'too complex of a world'. That's inherent with such sophisticated graphical images, but is gracefully avoided by one of my favorite games, Kingdom of Loathihg. That's a stunning example of gameplay, social interaction, humor, and creativity reducing the need for complex graphics and sophisticated local computer capabilities.