Hi once again fellas, How're you guys doing? I've been looking into the network topology of MMORPG's, but I have struggled to find a lot of information. Gamasutra didn't have too much to offer (great site though!) Do you guys know of any good sites? Some of the stuff I'm looking for is: -What are some of the network structures for a single server MMORPG? (a good detailed diagram). I'm guessing some sort of tree is used? -What protocol is best to use? -Is P2P used? -How are all the players indexed? I almost forgot; I'm NOT looking to building an MMORPG. Hopefully, that'll avoid a flame-war:) My best bet would probaly be to buy a book, but if I'm just researching and not building one I feel it would be pointless and a waste of money. This question has probaly been asked before, and I'm sorry if it is! Note: I'm not looking for 'newb' information; I'm by no means a programming 'newb'. Thanks a lot, GCS584

Game Developer had a pretty good article on how EverQuest was built, about six months ago. Perhaps you could buy a back issue, if it's not mirrored on gamasutra.com? Also, there's an actual MMORPG book that's been out for a year or two, that will give some insights about how cheap and simple MMORPGs can be built.

As for how a seamless, shardless world world is built (like There or Second Life), well, it's rather more complicated than a single message board post can explain :-) The basics include mapping specific area of the world to specific servers, and using object ghosting to do seamless hand-off. In fact, I'm told Asheron's Call did this way back when, so it's a pretty well-know technique.

Thanks hplus!

Since my best bet to learn is by getting a book, I might try my local library. It has quite a vast seleciton. Could you tell me the name of the book you are referring to and/or the author? There are so many MMORPG books out there.

Thanks for the tips though,

GCS584

I suppose you could look at Quazal's Eterna product; they have some documents that I think explain the concepts they use. Might be worth a read: http://www.quazal.com.

Thanks dude...pretty interesting.