I do stand for my views, though. My premise is not wrong, because it is subjective. We have no scale in which we measure how single-or-multi a game is. Any person who feels that multiplayer games are not too "singleplayer" oriented, would have no personal interest in this project.

So by your own admission, your original statement is meaningless.

I have returned to update the first post with relevant project updates. Lots of changes for the benefit of client-sided people! Scroll up!

As per the continuing conversation about the usefulness of Node World...

So by your own admission, your original statement is meaningless.

Just because only I find this project useful and meaningful, and only some others may think and feel the same, does not mean that it is useless. Subjectivity has its' place in the entertainment and education world.

Maybe a better approach to this topic would be by selecting the major downfalls of modern online virtual game-worlds, and then seeing how Node World can respond with possible solutions. Do excuse me for speaking in present-tense, while the project is hardly in alpha stage.

The Issue With MMO's & Node World's Response

ISSUE:

The modification and alteration of virtual game-worlds is currently limited by the constant need of managing 2D or 3D graphics, even before the actual representation of objects is relevant.

RESPONSE:

Node World seamlessly integrates different clients into the same world, in such a way that modifications can occur in real-time and without graphical input, but still exist, and be available for testing and conceptualization. Going even further, Node World can borrow from other existing graphical elements, and use their properties as a template for new additions.

ISSUE:

Content, interactions, and events can only be managed by the developers, or in rare cases - a select few moderators, which limits the "developers to players" ratio. It is common to have only a handful of developers maintaining an entire game-world, for hundreds, if not thousands of players.

RESPONSE:

Node World modulates and abstracts this hierarchy of content & functionality management. While it is still true that for many things, actual coding by reliable developers must take place, there is now the possibility of creating, destroying, modifying, and toggling the game-world's content, by the players, and without modifications to the code base.

In practice, players that have proven themselves reliable to the developers, can gain Master, or even Builder status. With that status, they can now freely modify the world's content, under the watchful, and mostly automatic, eye of their superiors. In short: User -> Player (registered) -> Master -> Builder -> God (generally developers.)

Masters can do minor tweaking work, such as making the world's content seem more individual and unique. Each part with slight changes that make a difference to the players.

Builders can even destroy existing content, thus making the world feel actual and imminent. Builders may create new content, by relying on the very basic templates the developers make. This removes a load off the hands of the developers, while letting actual players make meaningful changes to the game-world. A Builder may summon ingenious creations into existence, and then only need let the Masters put their hands into work, modifying and tweaking, so as to breathe life into those creations.

ISSUE:
Modern games either require the use of an existing graphical, and even gameplay engine, or the creation of one, for a new game. This adds work for indie developers, where solutions have already been made, but have either not been made available, or are not practical, due to each engine's specific limitations. The game engine market itself is a factor, for the indie developer.

RESPONSE:

By utilizing the power of NodeJS, Node World makes itself hospitable to all modern browser libraries, for the client's presentation and functionality. While a Node World client can be made with any compatible programming language and library that support Socket Networking, it is the fact that new technologies are developed daily, openly, and freely, in the browser application market. For example, a client may utilize the power of a WebGL graphics engine, or enjoy the comforts and simplistic animations of jQuery.

ISSUE:

Very few games actually let the player run their own virtual game-world, or an extension thereof, without the game itself becoming outdated or unsupported by its' own developers. This causes stagnancy and repetitiveness in most MMO's, both in the community, and in the gameplay itself. A game-world will, at most, offer different servers, which function as load-management, more than anything useful to the players.

RESPONSE:

Node World is extremely flexible, drawing from NodeJS, Javascript, WebSockets, and modern Databases, such as MongoDB. A Node World game-world can be infinitely stretched, divided, and combined. The sheer amount of abstraction in the server code goes all the way to allow this. Unlike common server code, which is made to be functional, and must not be touched by amateurs, the Node World server code expects amateurs to tweak it, edit it, remove parts, and add completely new parts to it. It does this, by keeping functionality not only relatively abstract, but by adding guards against mismatching arguments ahead of time - and relying on fallbacks, and by modulating its' own parts, as much as logically possible.

Node World, as a project, is aimed at modification. Even if it means less functionality, more unexpected results (bugs) to handle, and a harder time on client developers. Even if it means that, for a while, Node World will not be able to handle everything we have grown to expect of modern MMO's. This is to ensure that content and gameplay remain the two leading factors in Node World development.

There is doubtless more to clarify in regards to Node World, and the ideology behind this project. Naturally, the difference between ideas and practice is vast, which is why I prefer to keep my attention on the code and testing. If it turns out that Node World could only produce very limited results, well then, I would be proud to see an indie project "that could", by trying - as Monty Python put it - "something completely different."