The Problem of Shards, Servers, and Queues In MMOs

An editorial at GamesIndustry takes a look at a couple of problems many MMOs have failed to solve as the genre has evolved over the last decade: log-in queues and a split player base. The most recent example is Aion, which launched in Europe and North America a few weeks ago. Players on some of the game's servers had to deal with lengthy queues until enough people left the starting areas and spread throughout the game. To NCSoft's credit, the queues are mostly gone already, and it wasn't simply launching with too few servers that was the problem (nor was simply launching more servers a perfect solution, as Warhammer proved). In fact, several servers had no queues at all, but many players had set their sights on the more popular ones — a problem facing other MMOs as well. At this point, it becomes a matter of programming — how can the developers for these MMOs build the networking aspect of the game such that more hardware can easily be allocated when it's needed, and also make it easier for people to play together without the restriction of different shards or servers? EVE Online has done well with a single game universe, but it's not clear how far that model can scale upwards.

Comments

Re:It's not just technical scale

[murdocj]

You might think it's a bad thing, yet that's looking at it from the WoW perspective were 'everyone is a hero'. In EVE there are only a few real hero's, yet those that are well known have done something of true significance in the game. It's not just a fake hero feeling from playing a game that was designed to make everyone achieve the same thing.

I question the meaning of being a "hero" in a video game. Are we talking about the rare gamer who has faster reflexes and a deep understanding of how to counter every move his opponent makes? Or is it just Cartman sitting in his basement spending 24x7 killing boars?

The strength of WoW is that I can go in to the game, play for a bit, have some fun, feel a sense of accomplishment, and leave. If I want to feel like a grunt supporting some massive guild or corporation, all I have to go is go in to work, where my status is abundantly clear.

What Blizzard understands and has mastered is that games need to be fun. WoW, unlike a lot of MMOs, is not necessarily an alternate life. You don't have to live in the game to enjoy the game. Blizzard makes the game fun, regardless of how you like to play: pvp, pve, exploring, crafting, alts, endgame, social experience, whatever.

Re:Champions did it too

[MichaelSmith]

I have the impression that in Eve you are a ship, while in Wow you are something more like a person, and the modeling in Eve is easier because of this.