Description
This article is from the netrek
Frequently Offered Clever Suggestions list, by Tom Holub
doosh@best.com with numerous contributions by others.
31. Have a database that's shared between multiple servers.
Problem: I want to use the same character on all servers, but somone's
scummed the name on some of them.
Proposal: Have a single player database that's shared between all
major servers.
Why Not: First of all, it's a logistical nightmare; syncing all the
current player databases, getting rid of duplicate names, deciding
which person gets to keep "James T. Kirk", etc. You also create update
problems; if the database is stored on a central server that the
netrek servers query when you log in, you create a failure point for
the whole network of servers. If the database server goes down, you
can't use your character anywhere. And if you have each server
maintain its own database, what happens when you play three hours on
wormhole, quit out and then play three hours on lexus? Getting that
information into the central database is a mess.
More than that, you run into problems with ratings. Your ratings are a
measure of how often you do something compared with the average person
in the database, so if your planet rating is 2.0, you take a planet
twice as often as the average person. The problem is, not all servers
are created equal. The big-name servers like wormhole and lexus tend
to have a higher level of clue than new or lesser-known servers;
because of this, it's harder to take planets, bomb, or kill people on
wormhole than on (say) curly. You can't fairly compare planet ratings
from the two servers.
Besides, it's silly. Get some originality and come up with a unique
name. Everything from Star Trek and Star Wars has been taken, as well
as most things from Asimov books (ugh), and just about anything
containing the word "anus".
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