People will find ways around the online stuff. I'd be shocked if there weren't communities out there who continued or preserved the online stuff. Sure, it will be a tiny percentage of the present size, but there will be people. Case in point--the PLATO community. I mean, if something as obscure and specialized as that system can still exist in its online form, I have no doubt whatsoever about Xbox live or whatever it is. I've seen lots of emulators out there with online capabilities, often utilizing the web to do things the original developers couldn't do. Again, I'm sure they will be very small, niche communities doing it. But it will be there for folks who really want to seek it out.
I wonder more about pure MMOs. The problem is that so much of what they do depends on the developers themselves, and I bet there would be lots of IP problems if fans tried to run their own servers after one fell. I didn't hear of any such efforts after the fall of Garriott's game. Still, assuming that clever folks can get hold of the source code or find ways to run their own servers, I bet at least some of them will resurface eventually.
The PLATO system is an open source system - people have access to the system itself and are able to modify it.
The Xbox-Live system is closed - the only thing non-Microsoft-employees will be able to do with it is enjoy it while it lasts.
Preserving the xbox-Live system is because of its very nature - not possible without the help of Microsoft really.
Emulators with online-capabilities are only 'emulating' the system link or multi player on one console aspects of the games where both parties need to be running the exact same rom and the emulators constantly synchronise the way the game runs. Not really online-multiplayer but some sort of long-distance 'two player sonic' game, Mario Kart game.
The specific Xbox-live experience with the friend-highscore list, the ability to play a game together for a party is something very different.
By their very nature each specific MMO's will die out once they've peaked and less and less players are enjoying the environment. You see this type of thing happening to other online games - they have a peak and after some time it is hard to find other people playing a game you can join.
People will find ways around the online stuff. I'd be shocked if there weren't communities out there who continued or preserved the online stuff. Sure, it will be a tiny percentage of the present size, but there will be people. Case in point--the PLATO community. I mean, if something as obscure and specialized as that system can still exist in its online form, I have no doubt whatsoever about Xbox live or whatever it is. I've seen lots of emulators out there with online capabilities, often utilizing the web to do things the original developers couldn't do. Again, I'm sure they will be very small, niche communities doing it. But it will be there for folks who really want to seek it out.
I wonder more about pure MMOs. The problem is that so much of what they do depends on the developers themselves, and I bet there would be lots of IP problems if fans tried to run their own servers after one fell. I didn't hear of any such efforts after the fall of Garriott's game. Still, assuming that clever folks can get hold of the source code or find ways to run their own servers, I bet at least some of them will resurface eventually.
The PLATO system is an open source system - people have access to the system itself and are able to modify it.
The Xbox-Live system is closed - the only thing non-Microsoft-employees will be able to do with it is enjoy it while it lasts.
Preserving the xbox-Live system is because of its very nature - not possible without the help of Microsoft really.
Emulators with online-capabilities are only 'emulating' the system link or multi player on one console aspects of the games where both parties need to be running the exact same rom and the emulators constantly synchronise the way the game runs. Not really online-multiplayer but some sort of long-distance 'two player sonic' game, Mario Kart game.
The specific Xbox-live experience with the friend-highscore list, the ability to play a game together for a party is something very different.
By their very nature each specific MMO's will die out once they've peaked and less and less players are enjoying the environment. You see this type of thing happening to other online games - they have a peak and after some time it is hard to find other people playing a game you can join.
Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | www.markvergeer.nl
Armchair Arcade Editor