Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

evolution taking place before our eyes. Experimentation and progress do not deliver
predictable results.
Many factors affect the success or failure of any game title, including MMOG
titles based on subscription models. Some of these factors include the following:
� Price How expensive is the title and the platform? Remember the
saturation issue.
� Availability How entrenched or available is the platform to players?
� Content particulars Is it a great game? Does it find its audience?
Does the game fill a need amongst competitors?
� Familiarity How familiar are players with the type or style of game?
Many game publishers are being very cautious about overcommitting to MMOG
development. They prefer to watch other publishers spend money and suffer the gains
or losses. Based on this observation, they may or may not choose to enter the field
and develop an MMOG title. Again, remember that the MMOG is a particularly
risky and expensive proposition. Some publishers are simply more comfortable operating
on more solid ground (like PlayStation 2 development).
Cost and Support Considerations for the MMOG
What are some of the risk areas and costs that make this form of game development
so risky? There are many factors to consider carefully, a few of which are discussed in
the following sections.
Server Installation and Redundancy
C H A P T E R 8
Since most MMOG titles are client/server oriented (where a game server hosts a game
and clients/players connect to it), there is often substantial costs involved in setting
up game server hardware (PCs) to host games. If your game is designed to host hundreds
or thousands of simultaneous players, multiple servers will be required to host
and accommodate the number of server-side game instances necessary to handle all
of these potential players.
If you plan to roll out your game regionally, nationally, or internationally, you
may need to scatter servers across the country or find a company with “regionalized”
servers already in place to host your game serving needs. Companies like Akamai
(www.akamai.com) offer server distribution and support services that can be utilized
to place your game servers strategically around the United States, for instance, as you
begin to roll out an MMOG for U.S.-based game players. For an Xbox Live game,
Microsoft will provide all the hosting services. Microsoft has enormous provisioning
right now to grow many Xbox Live game titles, running at a fraction of full capacity.
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Design Considerations for Massively Multiplayer Multiplayer Online Games