[jdev] how to program a jabber game server

[Andrew Plotkin]

On Thu, 1 Feb 2007, Michal 'vorner' Vaner wrote:

> Hello,
>
> On Thu, Feb 01, 2007 at 12:32:49PM -0500, Andrew Plotkin wrote:
>>
>> Hi -- I'm one of the Volity developers. I missed this discussion
>> yesterday, but I can comment on how Volity got the way it is.
>
> Do I get Volity right that just everything happens on the server and you
> can not have games without server support? It is a bit glitch for things
> like tic-tac-toe or battleship, IMHO.

I think the answer to your question is "yes, everything happens on the 
server". Except that's confusing, because I'm not talking about a *Jabber* 
server. Every game requires a Volity game server, which is a Jabber client 
(bot).

If that's what you meant too, then good. :)

As everyone has said, cheating is a problem -- both passive cheating 
(seeing private information) and active (making illegal moves). Having a 
game server makes the problems go away. And it's much easier to build a 
uniform system than to say "ok, these games don't need a server, those 
games need one, and these others don't *need* one but it'll save us a lot 
of anticheating design..." The fact that tic-tac-toe can be done more 
simply isn't a compelling argument; tic-tac-toe doesn't draw in many real 
players.

Also, the game server winds up handling a lot of infrastructure work 
(noticing new players, distributing game status to them, tracking players 
across client disconnects).

--Z

-- 
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
When Bush says "Stay the course," what he means is "I don't know what to
do next." He's been saying this for years now.