More About MMOs - Wizards and Warriors: Massively Multiplayer Online Game Creation - page 38

Auction House and Shops
Many MMOs have sophisticated financial engines running seamlessly in the
background. Game worlds run very much like the real world and have an
economy that includes the buying and selling of goods, price increases, and price
deductions.

An auction house is a way for players to sell items that they no longer want or
items of high value. Auction houses are also good places to buy goods that you
need to create other items.

Shops can also provide the players with goods such as food, bags, and potions. The
laws of supply and demand can even be woven into your game. In Ultima Online,
when you sell multiples of the same items to the shopkeeper, the price of the item
decreases. The same was also true when players purchase many or all of a
particular item — the price for those items would increase.

Transportation
MMO worlds can be of epic proportions, which if traversed on foot would take
the game player many hours to walk across. This would be unacceptable to all
but the most hardcore game player, so MMOs have special ways for the player to
traverse the game world.

Initially in most MMOs the player moves around the world on foot. Then as the
player levels up and begins to make money, other transportation options become
available, such as a horse, vehicle, or maybe even a secret portal.

The ability to use a faster method of transport rather than foot is just one level of
travel. MMO worlds are still too big to cross with a horse, so other methods are
also available. Here are a few examples:

n Trains/trams: In World of Warcraft, players can travel between two cities
using an underground train; this is one form of simple travel that con-
nects to areas of interest.
n Flying creatures/vehicles: The ability to connect various areas quickly
and easily using flight paths is a positive step so that your players do not
have to travel long distances to locations they have already visited. Dif-
ferent flight paths connect to different areas, so players have to find