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Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Online game and its problems

Online game become popular these days. Its connectivity with other players makes it more interesting. However, its connectivity can cause several problems.

First problem is its security. Since it is exposed to outside Web world, it can suffer for computer crimes such as
DoS attack. Network problem of Final Fantasy 11 was caused by DDoS attack. Offline games don't have such problems because they work in their individual machines. Like usual Web services, it will be the semi permanent competition between computer criminals and online game companies. Therefore, this problem is hard to solve.

Second problem is
Real-Money Trading (RMT). It is the problem that players of online games trade the imaginary currency in games with real money. It is also impossible in offline games because they have no means to interact its data with other software's data. Since online games started to involve real money, RMT can bring more fraud in online games. In addition, other players can be disturbed by those who involve RMT.

Third problem is how to charge the fee. Due to these days price competition, some companies moved from monthly fee system. They started the new system that players will be charged when they purchase in-game currency or some items with free connection. It sounds creative system, but one's wealth can influence how well players can play in this system. It may be inappropriate for original purpose of games.


In addition, although it may be same as offline game, some people are addicted to online games. One guy in Korea died because he keep playing online game for 86 hours in Internet cafe. Similar accident happened in some other countries, so be careful.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! I can't believe that someone actually died because of internet gaming. I do agree that with more connectivity in games comes more risks. The more you are willing to put your information online, the more there is a possiblilty of identity theft, computer viruses, etc. You really just have to be careful, spam is not the only thing your risk online.

管理者 said...

Thank you for the comment. Because of these risks, I can't start online games though they seem fun. I don't think I will be so addicted to it that I keep playing for more than 80 hours and die, but I'm afraid to send too much information to online world.

Ich bin Berliner said...

I think that's an interesting point about how wealthier players can enjoy more aspects of the game. While I understand the ability to purchase a faster computer can result in better game play, what about the poor kid that finally saved up for his PC but can't afford to play the games anymore? I understand the whole idea of free markets and that's just the way things go but it just doesn't really feel fair. Plus what does that make the total cost of the game become? Just a couple years ago, if you coughed up the fifty bucks for the game, you could do whatever you wanted with it and play it as often as you liked with the only limit being your skill levels. Now, with monthly maintenance fees and fees to purchase better elements of the game, the total cash value of the game seems to be rising to very high amounts. I wonder how high these costs will rise before gamers start to realize what's going on and react. Will they really just put up with it?

管理者 said...

I think connecting the amount of payment by players with how well they can play is good way for online game companies. The more addicted players are to the game (is it grammatically correct?), the more they pay. But originally, how well you can play game should only depend on players skill and maybe little bit of luck. If companies add wealth as a factor, I think good players will feel ridiculous, and quit the game.