Persistent world

A persistent world is a virtual world which is based in certain parts on a real world and permanently, at any time ( at least in principle ), is available for the player. Thank pen & paper role-playing game or MMORPG universes is based on a persistent (persistent) game world. The most important feature is that events happen when the player is not actively involved in the action.

Properties

In the case of a computer game the game can not be paused or saved, only the current player character is retained. In MMORPGs this effect is necessarily achieved (often through client-server systems)., The player has, as already mentioned no control and can not stop even the world Of course, it can still come in special cases, short-term non- accessibility (such as power outages, congestion game server maintenance ), therefore a continuous persistence can only be guaranteed theoretically.

Persistent worlds exist in off-line video games (such as Animal Crossing ). Because after leaving the world held no more events, this can be simulated with the help of the internal clock - for the player, it looks as if events took place while he was not in the game.

In pen -and- paper role-playing game of the flow of time is at certain levels in the hand of the game, so can a group of players to interrupt a fight and continue for example, two weeks later, without wasting time. However, this does not change the persistence of the game world itself, but affects only the current action - on advancing the timeline itself, the player has no ( or little ) influence on commercial role-play takes care of this, the publisher or the authors in the form of campaigns or novels.

In another sense, you could also assign the Tamagotchi or Nintendogs a persistent world. Also, Pokémon includes aspects of a persistent world.

Development

Elements of persistence can already find in computer games from the 1980s, for example in the games Trade Wars (1984) Wasteland (1988) and Orb Wars (1989). Video games such as the aforementioned Animal Crossing created with a style similar to the natural time day -night rhythm and non -player characters who are also pursuing their activities between the individual game units, also in the early 1980s the idea of a persistent time course.

In the 1990s, persistent worlds then won by the advent of multiplayer games (MMOGs ) final in popularity. With the seemingly constant over time, the perception of the game is enhanced as a parallel world, there is produced a greater closeness to the real world. Therefore, many MMOGs also advertise with the persistence of which is to secure their players a gaming experience more real property.

The challenge in the development of persistent worlds is to integrate newly added players who do not know the plot and their previous history in the game. Most online role-playing games ( MMORPGs) solve this problem by providing players or groups of players for a tutorial individual tasks. The complexity of the game world is revealed then gradually.

Examples

• Forgotten Realms
• Aventuria
• Azeroth ( World of Warcraft )
• Midgard (Midgard (RPG) )