Massively Multiplayer Online Games - Wizards and Warriors: Massively Multiplayer Online Game Creation - page 9

and their young audience. Rather than go direct to retail with a boxed product,
which can be very costly, some game companies decided to follow the online
game arcade model. If you browse the Internet, you can find many �

game arcades, using web technology such as Flash and Java. These types of sites
allow you to quickly log online and play a game instantly without the hassle of
the big budget MMO games. One such MMO that can be played in a browser is
RuneScape; you only need the Java client software installed on your PC. Once
that is installed you can get up and running quickly, as you don

“ Play Now

t need to install
RuneScape. Browser online games such as RuneScape have been very successful,
as they provide free games with a low monthly fee for additional features. It

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model that many companies are now following.

Note

RuneScapealso has a Windows client that users can download and use instead of the Java browser
client.

Note

Browsers are becoming increasingly relevant s MMO game market, and with the

increasing number of changes that are taking place within an MMO game, browsers provide a
cheaper, quicker, and easier method to get users playing your game online, especially in the casual
market, where users don

in today '

' t want to wait for hours for the latest MMO patch to be installed.

You can find out more information about RuneScape at http://www.runescape.com/.

A Gold Mine
Because MMO games have complex virtual economies where buying and selling
have a profound effect on the world that people play in, it is no surprise that
there are people who try to abuse this system to make money. Gold farming is
the process of playing a game with the sole intent of obtaining gold and objects
that can then be swapped for real money. Micro industries exist whereby players
in poorer countries play for hours in order to earn in-game currency that they
then try to sell to players who want to gain an advantage. According to some
estimates, this industry has become big business and millions of dollars is
exchanged each year. In many cases this type of activity is banned, but MMOs
have been unable to stamp it out fully. In fact, if you log onto a game like WOW,
it

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s likely that within a half hour you ll see a message from a gold seller.