Stuck Yes?

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First up a shout-out to my friend Lee who should be working in her glass-on-three-sides swanky corner office rather than reading this. Now scoot along, back to the important work affairs that must be dealt with like bolstering your garden in Viva Pinata.

EVE Online: 1 vs Second Life: 0

The good folks at Linden Lab are having growing pains related to the number of concurrent users that their servers/software can handle.

"Since September concurrency rates have tripled, to a peak last week of over 34,000. While we love that so many people are enjoying Second Life, there have been some challenging moments in keeping up with the growth, resulting in the now somewhat infamous message “heavy load on the database”. When this happens it usually means that the demand for transmission of data between servers is outstripping the ability of the network to support it."

I must admit that I still can't understand what would draw 34,000 people at once to Second Life. A different entertainment option is EVE Online which posted the following in April of 2006.

"A new peak concurrent user record was set Sunday, Dec 3rd when 32,955 users were logged into EVE Online: Revelations. This would not be that significant if not for the outstanding performance the Tranquility server demonstrated under this enormous load. According to preliminary log analysis the server cluster was at 47% capacity - A clear indication that the new Revelation expansion along with the accompanying hardware upgrades has brought the cluster to a new level."

The concurrent numbers are similar and yes, the demands on the databases are different, but still, it's an impressive feat for the CCP team that produces EVE Online. If they had half the press that Second Life receives I would hazard a guess that their concurrent number would be at least double what it is.

I mentioned the Blizzard lawsuit versus the bot programmer in Loading... yesterday. Damon Shubert also gave his thoughts on the affair in his blog Zen of Design. His six points on why botting is a "bad thing" are worth reading, especially the last one.

I am truly trying to give Vanguard a fair shake. As I said before, I want it to succeed. I like the premise behind the game. I like the folks at Sigil. I selfishly want to see the subscriber numbers increase because it means more traffic to our network where the largest, most comprehensive encyclopedia of Vanguard knowledge lives. If Vanguard stumbles so will our Vanguard community and that would be a shame. They are some of the most passionate gamers that I have had the pleasure of meeting.

Back to the fair shake for a moment though; I spent what seemed like an eternity last evening stuck in the environment of the game. I jumped up on a rock. It seemed like a fun thing to do. I like to jump. I never understood why you couldn't jump in Guild Wars. It seemed like such an easy thing to include. Anyway, I digress, I jumped up on a rock and presto-change-o my feet became trapped while my arms waved wildly like I was trying swim up some invisible air waterfall. Fair enough I think, I'll just use the "/stuck yes" command and get out.

I was teleported to the closest altar or I should say *INTO* the closest altar where once again I was stuck. Look at our comic today. That was pretty much what I was seeing. Fair enough...I'll type "/stuck yes" again and get out.....to..... the same spot. My character is in "stuck" limbo, which is as good a reason as any for me to take a break and check out Supreme Commander.

Stick it to me.

[Vote, rank, share, comment!]

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Guild Management has never been easier! Not sure what GuildPortal is, or what it can do for your Guild? Click here to read about what GuildPortal is, why it's the most imitated, and why people have been using GP since October of 2001 to host their Guild web sites!

Exclusive TenTonHammer.com Content!

02.21.2007

Aion: New Art
"NCSoft continues to push the envelope of how MMO's evolve and reform, this time bringing players the opportunity to take to the sky in Aion. We have uploaded several art images that display the sort of skyscapes and landscapes players will be able to see in their upcoming game. Continue on to see the images and let your mind soar as far and high as your future character in Aion!" Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Beginner's Guide To Thestran Faction
"Have you found that certain races in Thestra are less than welcoming toward your own race? Then it's time you learned how to win friends and influence people through the clever use of faction. Martuk offers up this handy guide for beginners." Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Glass UI Mod
"We uploaded the new Glass UI by kegz. This new mod for your user interface replaces the black background of the default UI with some slick translucent ones. Check it out today!" Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Paladin Creation Guide
"oshmvii gets a kick out protecting the innocent and bringing justice to the wicked. If you share his zeal, be sure to read his guide for creating a Vanguard Paladin and leveling to 10." World of Warcraft: Thrall's Escape From Durnholde Keep Guide
"The Caverns of Time are an entirely new type of instance in the World of Warcraft. In them it's not so much where you are going but when! You get to travel back in time to key moments in the history of WoW to view and participate in the events that took place. While normally Nozdormu did not allow humans and other lesser races into the caverns of time, lately a force called the Infinite Dragonflight has made its way in and is attempting to corrupt the time line. Nozdormu and the Bronze Dragonflight now have little choice but to recruit would be helpers in their cause."

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Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com

- John "Boomjack" Hoskin

You can read previously enjoyed editions of Loading... in the blog archive.