When you are playing your favorite MMO, how much do you think about what goes on behind the scenes? If your interest goes beyond general gameplay and lies within the actual nuts and bolts of how it all works, Gamasutra has a feature that will fascinate you.
"Restless Entities Never Sleep" is a feature that takes a close look behind the scenes of Warhammer Online, exploring the multiple complicated processes that keep the game up and running. The feature explores the basics of how the servers keep the game up and running and what exactly they do, and continues with excerpts from a previous interview with Online Technical Director Andrew Mann. They also cover the challenges of trying to maintain the servers and minimize downtime, as well as improvements planned (or hoped for) down the road.
As a few readers noted, it's an Intel-sponsored feature and it shows a bit, but that doesn't make it any less interesting to the tech-minded out there. The full feature can be found here.
Reader Comments (16)
Posted: Jan 2nd 2010 10:22PM (Unverified) said
This game is a lot better than anyone gives it credit for, and between the endless trial and the server merge, its actually getting back on its feet.
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Posted: Jan 3rd 2010 1:46AM (Unverified) said
@Fess
Name me one CURRENTLY SUCESSFUL MMO that was perfect, balanced, bug free, etc., at launch. I admit they have taken their sweet time fixing all the problems, but WAR is quickly becoming a pretty solid, and very fun, game.
I don't understand this whole "to little, to late" mentality that so many people have about this game.
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Name me one CURRENTLY SUCESSFUL MMO that was perfect, balanced, bug free, etc., at launch. I admit they have taken their sweet time fixing all the problems, but WAR is quickly becoming a pretty solid, and very fun, game.
I don't understand this whole "to little, to late" mentality that so many people have about this game.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2010 2:04AM Neurasthenic said
I don't think I'd lose any sleep if I never heard the "too little too late" line again. Give it a rest, people. You're so eager to jump ship, and once you're gone, who cares what happens to the game? Updates are irrelevant, of course. If the game is patched after your subscription runs out, it never happened.
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Posted: Jan 3rd 2010 2:32AM Taawa said
I've played since late closed beta. Game performance and other factors have improved greatly. They are taking too long to fix career bugs and repair seriously damaged careers, though. I'm glad I still subscribe and play the game. Its pvp is really fun. And lots of old-time gamers are returning from Aion. I'm seeing more and more familiar names pop up on the battlefield.
There's no easy replacement for Warhammer Online. No other current generation game offers its accessible faction-based pvp. I think some upcoming games may, though. I hope the market can still support Warhammer after those games release.
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There's no easy replacement for Warhammer Online. No other current generation game offers its accessible faction-based pvp. I think some upcoming games may, though. I hope the market can still support Warhammer after those games release.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2010 3:58AM Sente said
Besides the Intel advertisement text parts, the article had some interesting bits about running an MMO, although not that much and not that detailed that I had hoped for.
As for the other comments here; I really do not get why people just have to make comments on articles related to a game they obviously do not like, especially when it has very little to do with the actual content of the article, which I dount they even read.
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As for the other comments here; I really do not get why people just have to make comments on articles related to a game they obviously do not like, especially when it has very little to do with the actual content of the article, which I dount they even read.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2010 6:01AM (Unverified) said
It's probably because of the bad experience that they (we?) had with the game and it's publisher/developers.
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Posted: Jan 3rd 2010 8:54AM (Unverified) said
just resubbed as no other mmo has the same pvp. And this game is here to stay nay sayers, We get it you dont like it just move on and play your current mmo for a month and then move on again why are you wishing this game to die (and people to lose there jobs)when you dont play it, is it affecting you in some way we dont know about?
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Posted: Jan 3rd 2010 10:25AM (Unverified) said
I resubbed after 6 months as well, and I have to say that the game is REAL fun, nuff said.
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Posted: Jan 3rd 2010 11:18AM Nearly Departed said
I played for a few months at launch, was fun but half-broken and unbalanced. Just came back for a try last month, much better, still not perfect, but well worth the sub. I have met alot people in the endless trial that are subbing now that they leveled past Tier 1.
If you join Iron Rock, look for Flanka, I am always willing to help out.
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If you join Iron Rock, look for Flanka, I am always willing to help out.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2010 1:03PM Xii said
"[In this Intel-sponsored feature, part of the Visual Computing section, the technical experts behind Mythic and EA's Warhammer Online discuss the mechanics of keeping the MMO running across multiple servers and data centers.]"
This is a sponsored ad for Intel. While vaguely informative, it won't offer much for fans.
Reply
This is a sponsored ad for Intel. While vaguely informative, it won't offer much for fans.
Posted: Jan 4th 2010 8:42AM nevin said
I for one am really enjoying it and I'm an endless trial player who has bought and subbed. A lot of people I speak to are subbing off the back of the trial.
I think the rumours of WAR's demise are greatly exaggerated. Sure it has issues but even right now it's great fun and that's all I ask of the games I play...maybe I'm easily pleased.
Reply
I think the rumours of WAR's demise are greatly exaggerated. Sure it has issues but even right now it's great fun and that's all I ask of the games I play...maybe I'm easily pleased.
Posted: Jan 4th 2010 1:42PM (Unverified) said
Any guesses as to what will happen next to that Magus in the screenshot? :P
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