Online Games

1
Online Games

• Technology
• Online Communities

2
Online Communities

• Collections of people meeting in some virtual
  world
• Around in some form since early 1980s
• MUDs
• LPMUD
• DikuMUD
• etc
• Ultima Online

3
Technology

• Central server accepts connections
• Maintains database
• Resolves all action
• Central point of failure

4
Technology

• Server maintains minimal active data
• Distribute computation to client machines
• Send simple updates
• Distributed servers
• Handle large player loads with multiple servers
• One server per geographic area
• Server hand-off when player moves to new zone

5
Game Play

• Usual structure
• Character is a particular class
• Warrior, Mage, Thief
• Character starts with
• No skills
• No property
• No money

6
Game Play

• Characters imperative
• Acquire talent
• Acquire property
• Newbie Options
• Practice areas -- full of low-level monsters
• Join a guild -- a protection racket
• Mentors get a cut of your winnings
• A trade -- Become a tailor or a baker
• A formal adventure

7
Sociology

• Common problems
• Tedium
• Lack of things to do
• Player Killing

8
Tedium

• Practice areas
• Killing 500 bunnies is dull!
• Scenery never changes
• Trade
• Baking and selling 1000 loaves of bread is dull!
• Can do that in real life!

9
Lack of Things to do

• Problem with game ecology
• Orc encampment is never populated
• Never regenerates fast enough
• Too bad termites arent like that!
• Forests lack game
• Too many predators!
• Players predators

10
Player Killing

• Logical outcome of boredom
• Killers have more fun!
• Plenty of human prey
• Newbies are easy to kill, and tasty, too!
• More fun to kill
• Unpredictable!
• Clever!
• Witty repartee!

11
Player Griefing

• Non-lethal violence
• Kill-stealing
• Get the Orc close to death, then another guy
  kills it and gets the credit
• Treasure theft
• Standing in the way
• In front of door preventing exit
• Shouting insults

12
Player Griefing

• UO Skill attack
• Can gain skill by watching
• Player has a maximum overall skill
• Attack other players skills by cooking in front
  of them
• More UO mischief
• Gang of furniture builders run up to player, drop
  a bunch of lumber and rapidly build furniture
  around player, trapping them

13
Online Justice Systems

• Administrative Control
• Ban Player--player violence involving newbies
• Limit possible corpse looting
• Limit possible theft
• Institute a policy of consensual violence only
• Policy takes place outside the system
• Problems
• Takes staff time

14
Online Justice Systems

• Player Policing
• Players police themselves
• Plays dont hate administrators
• Less admin hassle
• Mechanisms needed
• Reports of violence/theft
• Means of identifying murderers

15
Player Policing

• Ultima Online
• Flags newbies as innocents
• Robbing/Killing an innocent flags criminal
• Killing more than 5 innocents a day flags
  murderer
• Murderer
• Bank account frozen
• Cant enter stores

16
Player Flags

• No-PK flag
• Character cant be killed
• Character can be harassed, etc
• Non-murder behavior is OK
• Some staffing needed

17
Online Justice

• Keep staffing low!
• Code up a justice system
• Make it part of the game
• Flags control protections
• Make PK not worthwhile!
• Charge for it!
• Keep newbies safe