A win / win approach for MMO Server emulators.

linedawg

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share my views on private / emulators for MMOS and how it could be a good thing for the player and the companies that developed the game.  Like any other business they are in it to make money, but when a game like “Star War Galaxies”, “Warhammer online” and “Tabula Rasa” are no longer generating the revenue the companies needs or want,  the game is shut down. This brings up the down side of playing an MMORPG, when a game is no longer hosted the fan base can no longer play the game and for many that can be a little heart breaking. I have always wondered why, when a game is no longer hosted by the companies / publishers they don’t package up the server hosting software and make it available for sale the fan based that still wants to play the title. This why the company can still make a profit on a game that has died by selling the server and client side software. This would require very little upkeep on the companies behalf, all they would have to do is set up a small online store to handle the transactions of the server software and development tools for player generated content used by their development to for digital downloads. From a business point of view this would still allow a dead project / game to still generate revenue for them with very little over head.

 

Player PROS:

1. They can still have a legal way to play their favorite game with their friends.

2. Allows people to host their own server

3. Keep discontinued games alive.

Player CONS:

1. By hosting your own server you are the tech support.

2. Must administer and moderate your own server.

3. No technical support from the company (unless they choose to provide such a service)

Business / Publishers PROS:

1. The company can still make a profit from a discontinued game.

2. Build player loyalty by allowing the community to ability to do this.  By winning public relation points with the community will increases popularity with their organization.

3. Once the logistic has been setup this approach will generate money with very little upkeep.

Business / Publishers CONS:

1. They will need to setup a way to package the server / client side software to work in this new model.

2. Host an online store / digital downs web site

3. Package up development tools used to that the owners of a private server can add new content.

 

This is just my thoughts on this topic; I would really like to see companies of dead MMOS allow us (The players) the ability to keep our favorite game alive as long as we flip the bill for it. Let’s face it, the company that produces the game is in it for the money, the player is in it to have fun and enjoy the product. Without the player there is no company and without the companies there are no games to play. So let try out the one team one fight approach, so that both sides can get what they want out of this deal.

 

If you would like to know one game that has done this approach (Not an MMORPG) and has been very successful, take a look at a game called “Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2”. When the game was shipped it had everything needed to host a server, build new modules and player the game. More games need to be made like that.

SpottyGekko

In most cases, I suspect that the company that developed the original game simply couldn't be bothered to license-out the code, because it wouldn't be economically viable.

They'd still have to allocate resources to manage and control the licensees.If the process was legal, players that were not happy with the way the emulated servers were run would be breaking down the doors of the company that owned the game, not those that were running the servers.

Mendel

I see a huge downside for the business -- they lose control of their game, their reputation, and their IP.

Imagine a version of the Star Wars Galaxies game being available for anyone (with enough money) to operate and modify.  Actions of the second party development team could harm the original IP by extending the content to include ideas that the original IP owners did not and does not condone.  Satanic, sexually deviant, morally corrupt, politically biased Wookies, anyone?  (That is intended as a sarcastic statement, and should be covered by fair use laws concerning parody, sarcasm, humor and the like -- but not all implementations could be considered such).  And Mr. Lucas, whom I've never met and likely never will, might not want just anyone building 'unsavory' content in his IP.  That's why the IP was licensed to a specific company for the express purpose of building the Star Wars Galaxies game.

Bottom line.  The company that built a specific game may not own the right to transfer the IP their game is based on, and the IP holder might not be willing to negotiate new licenses.

freakky

One day there will be good MMO Builder that makes building a game lot more easy. There has big some big steps in that progression lately. Problem with emu server is your slicing up the populations and lack of people kills games fun factor pretty fast. 

waynejr2

DMKano said:

Not all games are engineered the same on the server side - some have multiple databases, world servers, zone servers, Auth servers etc... there is no "package" to deploy really - you need to have people who understand the design architecture and how to deploy it correctly. 

Then comes the question of client distribution. How about updates and bug fixes? Who will do those?

Who is going to maintain backups, what about user credential security? Who will provide in-game support for hacked accounts, accidentally deleted characters or items etc.....

And on and on....

There is a crapton of stuff that goes into hosting a MMO.

You are expecting way too much from players here.


My two cents.  Why wouldn't players adopt a way until it's emulated approach to gaming?  Why buy it when eventually someone will run it for free.

LynxJSA

Line, I think you are grossly underestimating both the expense of selling/supporting the client/server software (including regional laws regarding warranty and support) and the importance of maintaining/protecting a brand.

Archlyte

Mendel said:

I see a huge downside for the business -- they lose control of their game, their reputation, and their IP.

Imagine a version of the Star Wars Galaxies game being available for anyone (with enough money) to operate and modify.  Actions of the second party development team could harm the original IP by extending the content to include ideas that the original IP owners did not and does not condone.  Satanic, sexually deviant, morally corrupt, politically biased Wookies, anyone?  (That is intended as a sarcastic statement, and should be covered by fair use laws concerning parody, sarcasm, humor and the like -- but not all implementations could be considered such).  And Mr. Lucas, whom I've never met and likely never will, might not want just anyone building 'unsavory' content in his IP.  That's why the IP was licensed to a specific company for the express purpose of building the Star Wars Galaxies game.

Bottom line.  The company that built a specific game may not own the right to transfer the IP their game is based on, and the IP holder might not be willing to negotiate new licenses.

It's a bad deal that in order to protect the IP they have to be completely inflexible, and essentially be the executioner of something that many people paid for, and would gladly do so in perpetuity. I like the fact that the creativity of the artistic is protected, but sometimes that seems to be the vehicle for locking the door on beloved ideas.