EverQuest

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EverQuest

• Sonys online game
• Setting in middle age
• Can be a dwarf, troll, priest or warrior etc.

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Goal

• Accumulate experiences and get rich
• Could get together with some other players
• The game is played around the clock
• The virtual world keeps changing even if youre
  not online

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Profit

• In US, 11 billion per year on computer and video
  game (EverQuest, Xbox, relevant hardware)
• Expect 30 billion in 2009
• For EverQuest, 600K gamers pay 13 to 15 per
  month. CD-ROM cost 50
• Less than 3 million to bring to the market

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Scaling up

• At any time, 150K gamers are online
• More than 1500 servers
• In one data centers, more than 30km wires connect
  computers

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Scaling up

• In 1999, gamers flood into San Diego
• Force Sonys ISP to add more lines
• Still remains long trench in the pavement of San
  Diego
• Now the transaction rates rival Visas and Wall
  Street

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Death Star

• A room contains servers of Sonys online game
• To prevent overcrowding, servers are divided into
  clusters
• Each cluster is a world of EverQuest, consisting
  of 20-30 dual-processor computers

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• Each world can support 2500 players
• Now there are 52 worlds
• Sony has begun using blade servers
• Still a limit, need space to cool them down

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Just in time system

• Allocates computer resources based on user demand
• System looks up the data and software in one
  machine and use other idle processing resources

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If cant beat them, join them

• NOC (Network Operations Center) handles all
  problems
• Bugs related to economy are the most bothersome
• Estimate size of underground market of virtual
  items 150 million
• NOC in charge of checking hackers
• Official exchange site of Sony

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How big?

• How big the market can be?
• The learning curve for a new player in EverQuest
  is tough, and tend to spend 20 hours a week on
  the game
• To increase, Sony recently tested a service to
  let players order pizza in the game