Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
turn-based or trying to match up opponents on the basis of their connection
speeds. At the moment, there is no one satisfactory answer.
DROPPED AND GARBLED PACKETS
What happens to your game if it doesn't get some of the information it needs
because of a glitch in the network? Your system will require a mechanism for
detecting a missing packet or one containing bad data, and requesting that the
packet be resent from the server or host. Packets can also arrive out of order, which
can cause confusion if your client receives information that a race car is about to
cross the finish line, but the next packet indicates that the car is 100 yards back on
the track instead. Every packet must have a unique serial number, in sequence, so
that you can tell if one is missing or if packets are arriving in the wrong order.
Fortunately, middleware companies are starting to offer software packages to help
manage this problem.
It's Harder to Suspend Disbelief
For some players, gaming is a form of escapism that takes them away to a magical
place, and they want it to stay magical while they're there. To them, it's particularly
important that nothing occur in the game to break their suspension of disbelief,
but in online games there will always be players who won't stay in character or who
will talk about real-world issues and events while they're in the game. Unless
there's a strong (and enforced) ethos of in-character role-playing, people who play
in an online game have to accept that their imaginary world includes a lot of
entirely real people.
The persistent world World of Warcraf t offers players multiple versions of its game
world with different versions imposing different rules on the player. In some ver-
sions, in-character role-playing is expected—although there is no real mechanism
to enforce it.
Misbehavior
Unfortunately, playing with strangers—particularly anonymous strangers—creates
opportunities for a variety of types of misbehavior that can ruin the game for oth-
ers. These range from simple rudeness to harassment, cheating in various forms,
and outright fraud. Rudeness might not sound very serious, but it drives away other
customers. Furthermore, if you want children to play your game, it is particularly
important to make sure you offer a safe environment—you may even have a legal
obligation to make sure adults don't use your game environment to abuse chil-
dren—and that means hiring customer service people to monitor the players.
Self-contained networks such as America Online have some tools at their disposal
to manage these problems, but on open networks such as the Internet, it's much
harder. The section “Design Issues for Online Gaming” later in this chapter
addresses some of these issues.
NOTE Raph Koster
said, only partly jok-
ing, that the sole rule
in Star Wars Galax-
ies is, “Any behavior
that hurts business is
bad behavior.”
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