|
Valve had a major problem. At the time they begin introducing the online authorization not even 50% of US households had always on internet, hell some had no internet at all - Me included. I had to go to a friends house to set up my game and download that first patch.
This isn't going to just be the biggest thing ever overnight. It's starting out small, almost un-noticed. It's starting with a simple "myspace" world where you just hang out. It'll probably be subscription based with in-world advertisements to support the currently very high costs. Who knows how cheap or expensive it'll be finance it. There's a lot riding on the success of this first step into server side rendering. If Liveplace does half as well as something stupid like Myspace, There will be copy cats. The technology will be perfected and it'll lead to all kinds of different interactive worlds.
Heck, There may not even be different servers. The server rendering that city could probably easily render a Fantasy world at the same time. The only difference is which models are used. Just give everyone or at least certain developers the ability to create a wide range of triggers(if, then and else commands) and I guarantee you'll see games within the game.
__________________
“It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick” - Dave Barry
|