A Saturation Points for Virtual Worlds?
This article from CNet’s Daniel Terdiman describes the ongoing server problems that have been plaguing World of Warcraft lately. With 6 million subscribers, the company must be running something close to 1,000 servers, each one supporting several thousand accounts. Unfortunately, they seem to be crashing a lot lately. Could it be that Blizzard has topped out its ability to maintain the hardware that runs its world? This is something Linden Lab, makers of Second Life, has contemplated in the past. Part of their rationale for eventually moving to a more open-source model, as they’ve discussed doing, is that it will soon become impossible for them to run and maintain all the servers necessary to support a growing population. LL already runs close to 2,300 servers in support of its world. What’s the cut-off point? If the pace of growth picks up too much for either WoW or SL, it will simply be physically iimpossible to put on new servers fast enough to support the population explosion. How do you decide when it’s time to throw in the towel and let users host their own servers, or move to a more Web-like model in which service providers rent space to individuals? Because that, I think, will eventually be the future for virtual worlds.
Feeds
I agree, Mark, but the big question, at least with regards to SL, is how opening up the server software works with LL’s business model, which at the moment is based upon an ISP/ASP model. When people ‘buy’ a private island, they’re paying for space/cycles on a shared server. When people sign-up for a premium account they get a small stipend and the ability to own land (which then must be payed for). I’m really curious to know how LL will approach open sourcing the server software but maintain the current business goals. Licensing fees? Pay to be a part of the main grid? Maintain control over the asset server? However they do it, I can’t wait!
> “the big question, at least with regards to SL, is how opening up the server software works with LL’s business model”
That’s exactly the question. They’ve pondered all of the scenarios you mention, as well as open-sourcing most of the stack but holding on to a proprietary later. It will definitely be fascinating to see how it develops.