The Future of Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming

Future of MMOGs

Massively Multiplayer Online  Games  are  a fledgeling  industry as  it stands,  the progression from MUDs, MOOs  and  MUSHs to fully fledged  multi-billion  dollar games has  been  rapid, but what  can  happen in the future.  This  paper has  already shown  that the boundaries are being  pushed  by MMOGs  as it stands,  what technical  advantages.

Middleware

One   of  the  most  important   advancements  in  development   of  MMOGs   is  the  use   of middleware.  Any  game   can   be  split  up  into  smaller  “areas  of  responsibility”,   such  as graphics engine, physics engine, server engine  and  character database. Most MMOGs  are very similar and  they may very well be able  to share  one or more of the same  engines.

There are  a number  of engines  commercially  available  to do  one  or more  of the roles.  A good  example  is the MathEngine's  Karma  physics  engine  employed  in a number  of high profile games:

“...eagerly  anticipated titles at  the  show  integrating   the  latest  version  of Karma  Physics.   The  line-up  includes   Sony   Online’s   highly  anticipated massively  multiplayer online  first-person action  game, PlanetSide™;  Atari’s Enter The Matrix™ and  UbiSoft’s Rainbow Six 3 – RavenShield™”  (Renderware Press Release)

Many   other  games   share   other  engines   for  example   the  Turbine  II   game   engine   and rendering engine  are  used  in Asheron's  Call  2  and  Middle  Earth  Online  (The Turbine  2 Engine,  Microsoft Games Insider) this is an  example  of a game  engine  that was  developed in house  by turbine  for Asheron's  Call  2 and  then licensed  out to Sierra  to produce Middle Earth Online.

MMOG  Frameworks

As the MMOG  market has matured,  separate engines  have  been  produced by a number  of software   publishers.   Often  they  have   been   developed  in-house  for  a project,   and   then licensed  out once  the concept  and  implementation  had  been  proven.

There are  companies, that have  dedicated time and  resources  to creating  MMOG  engines as  a whole  package or framework, the premier  producer of such  MMOG  frame  works is BigWorldTech,  who describe their product  as follows:

“The    BigWorld™    Technology     represents     the    most    scalable    and customizable Massively Multiplayer Online Game  (MMOG) middleware available anywhere in the world..

..It’s  a  total  solution  to  one   of  the  most  complex   game   development problems  facing  the games  developer community.” (BigWorldTech -  The Complete  MMOG  Soloution)

The  essence  of  projects   like  BigWorld   Techhnology   is  to  create   an   entire   functional framework  for  a MMOG,   then  allow  developers  to  flesh  it out  with  important  aesthetic aspects  such as  textures,  models,  game    logic  and  audio  effects. This  frees  the developers and   designers  up  from  the  complexities   of  implementing   the  various  components  of  a MMOG.

BigWorld  Technology  realised  when  they started  the  project  to create  this framework  that most MMOGs  followed a certain  pattern.   They generally   have  characters, items,  terrain, inventory space, vehicles,  physics and  weather, all of these were  then implemented  together in  the  game   engine.  The  graphics  engine   is  responsible  for  rendering  the  textures  and models  that the the developers have  integrated into the game  engine. The server  engine  is responsible  for  implementing   the  server  logic,  checking   characters  are   where   they  are meant   to  be,   controlling  in  game   non-player   characters  and   managing  the  user  and character databases.

BigWorld  Technology went  one  step  further by implementing  a client engine  and  a server engine, providing  a even  higher  level of abstraction, the  idea  is that  no  longer  does  the designers have  to worry about  coding  anything  at all, BigWorld  Technology  provides  tools to create   the  models,  textures  and  game  logic,  then  to embed   them  into  their  client  and server.

Future Genres

As it stands  the most prevalent  form of MMOG  is a MMORPG, the primary reason  for this is

MMORPGs are  far less demanding than other genres, although  there are  a number  of genres  which have  made  an appearance on the MMOG  scene:

The main  problem  with adapting existing  genres  to the MMOG  market is the players  are often  sceptical  about  new  genres, and  as  most  MMOGs  require  a fairly large  outlay  in terms of buying  the game  and  paying  for subscriptions,  so new untested  genres  often fail to reach  a critical mass.

Virtual Reality

In the Star Trek films created by Gene  Roddenbury, there  was  a device  known  as  a “holo emitter”  that  had  the  capability  of  re-processing  photons  (light) to create  solid  3D  objects and  avatars that  humans  could  interact  with, when  combined with the advanced artificial intelligences  that are  an  integral  part  of Star Trek a “Holo Deck” is created. A “Holo Deck” is essentially a three dimensional visual display  unit.

Within  the films and  series  in the Star  Trek franchise  there  are  a number  of times that the occupants of the  Star  Trek universe  have  used  the  Holo  Deck for a number  of purposes, realization of engineering models,  training  for real life situations  and  playing  multi-player games. Although the “Holo Deck” and  its component  “Holo Emitter” is a fictional technology it is a reality that some  interface  mediums  other than  those  which we are  accustomed to at the moment are  going  to be come available in the future.

With different technologies, comes  different options  and  challenges for MMOG  developers, the  ability  to  totally  interact  with  a Virtual World  is a very  appealing prospect   to  many games  who feel like their hands  are  tied to their desks and  they are  unable  to realise  the full potential  of a virtual  world.  The technology  to actually  produce a 3D working  model  of a virtual  world  and   project   it  in  such  a way  that  the  objects   and   other  avatars  can   be manipulated just by contact,  is a long  way  away. However  other  technologies such as  3D glasses, not only a working  technology  but a product(XForce 3D Glasses),  which project  a different image  into each  eye  giving  a stereoscopic view of  the three  dimensional  objects within the game.

Although 3D projection  equipment  can  deal with the visual aspects, what  you see  and  hear is only  half  of what  the  world  actually consists  of,  there  are  your  other  senses  touch  for discovering  the temperature, texture  or weight  and  for feed back  from events  such as  gun recoil.  In the film Minority Report26  the main character played  by Tom Cruise uses a special glove  to manipulate  a surround  screen  with information,  the  glove  controlled  the  screen, when  the screen  could  not be  controlled  the glove  would  provide  feedback  to tell the user the end of the screen  had  been  hit.

“There is no doubt that this is a virtual world, that everything we see and touch is an imitation created from data. But to us, our hearts do exist within this reality. If that’s true, then everything we’re experiencing here should also be true.” Asuna, Sword Art Online

References

Alexander, Thor, 2003, Massively Multiplayer Game Development,  Charles  River Media, ISBN 1584502436

Asher, Mark 2003 MMOs: The history of Massively Multiplayer Online Games [Online] Available: http://www.gamespy.com/amdmmog/week4/ [Last Accessed:  26th November 2003]   (Graded B)

Bartle, Richard Early MUD History [Online] Available http://www.ludd.luth.se/mud/aber/mud-history.html [Last Accessed:  27th  November 2003] (Graded A)

Bartle,   Richard   A  Zork:  A   Computerized  Fantasy  Simulation  Game  [Online] Available: http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/zork.htm [Last  Accessed:  27th  November 2003] (Graded B)