More About MMOs - Wizards and Warriors: Massively Multiplayer Online Game Creation - page 40

There are a number of benefits to owning a building; first, you can safely store
lots of equipment and items you have collected. You can also create a shop
where you can purchase an NPC as a shopkeeper and sell goods. In Ultima
Online, you can build these houses and stores only in particular locations, so
very quickly the most popular routes are taken very quickly. The great thing
about Ultima Online is that there are a large number of building types to select
from

players can choose a small hovel, a farm, or even a castle-sized building
(with a castle-sized price tag, of course). If players fail to pay the rent on the
building, the building will slowly fall into disrepair and finally will disappear,
and players lose any goods that they may have stored within the rooms.

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If you are able to implement a house-based system within your MMO, it is
definitely worthwhile. Allowing the players to have a base of operations which
they can relate to, decorate, and purchase items for can make a big difference in
keeping your players interested in your MMO. The more your players invest in
your game, the more likely it will be that they will continue to play it.

PVP
PVP stands for player versus player. This is a very important aspect of many
MMOs and refers to when a player can attack another player. This is a very
simple concept but is one of the key selling points of any MMO. In many
MMOs, you will find that there are factions or races that are story-wise against
each other. In World of Warcraft, for example, there are certain servers that are
for direct PVP action, so any person from another enemy faction can be
attacked. On other WOW servers, this PVP action (where a player can attack
another player) has to be initiated, at which point a player will be flagged as an
enemy of a particular faction for a set amount of time. In World of Warcraft,
Warhammer online, and many other MMOs there are certain areas on the map
where PVP action is automatically initiated so any player in that area is at risk
from attack by other players.

PVE
PVE is player versus environment and this is effectively what all MMOs do. The
player has to fight against creatures or environmental effects, such as water, fire,
or ice.