Designing this clothing changing module involved far more work than I had imagined.
The biggest hurdle isn't in the software aspect; anyone in the development department could easily handle that.
The real barrier is still communication.
The Workshop runs the games Civilization and Quake, has already filled up all of GAMENOVA's server centers.
The clothing sharing mechanism they're going to implement next seems simple, but a closer look reveals that it will consume an alarmingly high amount of bandwidth.
Unlike Civilization, this system has extremely high concurrency requirements for both uploading and downloading.
Uploading each piece of clothing requires one server line to be used.
Keep in mind that this isn't a modern internet infrastructure; telephone lines are truly one less available once they're used up.
Even now, with Lin Lixin employing a distributed server design to pre-process those demands in various regions before exchanging them with headquarters, the volume of demand is still enormous.
Recently, they have received many complaints from people who are swearing and cursing because they can't get into the Workshop after dialing in for a long time.
"I never imagined I'd become a potato grower one day!"
Lin Lixin rubbed his temples helplessly.
Potato Server, you'll know how good it is once you use it.
But this was truly a last resort.
To be fair, Lin Lixin is by no means stingy when it comes to spending money on communication services.
Whether it's dedicated lines or mainframe servers, they're burning through real money.
No other game company could have the same level of boldness.
Of course, this is partly due to the economic pressure that Micron's semiconductor businesses are facing.
However, the hardware bottleneck is there, and there are very few things that can be accomplished by simply piling on materials.
"The technology development has progressed too quickly; the infrastructure hasn't kept up!"
Ultimately, this matter is also inextricably linked to Lin Lixin's overly aggressive development strategy.
TCP/IP has only become widespread in universities in the last two years.
If it truly wants to enter the public and commercial stages, it will have to wait until at least 1994 for NSFNET to open up commercial traffic.
NSFNET stands for National Science Foundation Network.
It has only been two years since it was established.
As its name suggests, this is an organization that provides high-speed network services to the scientific and educational communities through the United States. Supercomputing Center.
They were the ones who spearheaded the widespread adoption of the TCP/IP protocol, the cornerstone of the Internet.
If they wanted to build the Internet, they would have to wait until 1994 when they opened up commercial traffic so they could pull their own links from the NSFNET backbone network.
So, at this stage, is the Internet simply an unrealistic castle in the air?
"Wow—doing this is going to be pure money-burning!"
Lin Lixin clicked his tongue.
This seemingly insurmountable mountain has an inconspicuous little gap.
Admittedly, using NSFNET to run one's own online game service, business email, or other commercial services would trigger the other party's AUP restrictions, resulting in GAMENOVA being directly blacklisted by the backbone network.
but----
Who said we have to use the NSFNET backbone?
Can't I just make one myself?
The only problem is that this project is very expensive.
That's incredibly expensive!
Even with GAMENOVA's current cash reserves, this is a massive undertaking that will severely damage its reputation.
Including manpower and maintenance costs, establishing nationwide commercial network coverage in the United States would truly drain your entire fortune.
"The risk is too high."
Sam frowned.
Even though he chose to unconditionally trust Lin Lixin, this project still made him uneasy.
To drain the company's coffers to build infrastructure that currently seems to have almost no commercial potential—isn't that just pure charity?
"Couldn't that clothing sharing thing you mentioned be made into a code-based system like Fire Emblem?"
For this completely overkill need, Sam recalled the map code system he used in Fire Emblem.
Using a simple compression algorithm designed by Lin Lixin, an entire map can be transformed into a string of passwords using only 16 bits.
"The data volume is too large; the password won't work."
Lin Lixin immediately shook his head.
If it were that easy to solve, they wouldn't need to develop their own servers.
"Different clothing styles, colors, patterns—there are too many data dimensions for a single garment, and there are no obvious objective rules, making it impossible to compress them into a short string of code in a universal way."
He paused, then continued, "More importantly, this feature is for children and women who don't have an IT background. I hope that even they can enjoy the game."
After all, not all women in this world follow a science and engineering path like Vivian.
Someone like her is definitely a rare species.
If we want everyone to be able to enjoy it, then typing in the messy, dizzying code in magazines is a bit of a hassle.
In response, Animal Crossing adopted a solution that only modern players could afford to play.
In Animal Crossing, sharing an item of clothing with others is also done through a piece of code.
It's just that it's very short.
Just like the classic 2B girl's dress, it can be represented as: M0-258P-WXQ9-9FRV.
This level of injustice isn't entirely unacceptable.
However, this isn't a password, but rather an ID, or rather, an address.
When a player enters a clothing code, the data is actually retrieved from Nintendo's servers.
Who would have thought that such a simple, seemingly insignificant function, which is practically nothing by today's standards, was an unimaginable, cutting-edge technology in the 1980s?
It's worth noting that if the map code used in Fire Emblem is complex, magazines often need to dedicate an entire page for players to input it.
This doesn't exclude the possibility that input errors could lead to a completely different map experience.
Shorter code has an unparalleled advantage in social media sharing.
"Is this absolutely necessary?"
"Hmm... I'm afraid so."
Lin Lixin tapped his fingers on the Table unconsciously.
Even if they don't develop commercial networks, commercial ISPs will eventually step in and take over.
The Internet cannot be used in cutting-edge fields forever.
Sooner or later, technology will be decentralized.
Since it was bound to happen sooner or later, it's not necessarily a bad thing for them to start construction now.
The only problem might be that network technology is iterating too fast.
Perhaps before they even finish laying the first phase of the project, even faster broadband will have already been developed.
"Or—we could conduct small-scale pilot programs, using strategies like petitions and pre-sales, and start small-scale commercial testing in batches based on different regions?"
Sam thought for a moment and offered what he considered the most stable solution at the moment, "However, for this solution to be implemented—it needs demand; no one will spend money to install a useless cable."
After saying that, Sam and Lin Lixin looked at each other.
The meaning is very clear.
"A 'online game' limited to the internet system, right? --- I understand."
Lin Lixin pondered for a moment, then a slight smile appeared on his lips.
Doesn't that mean he's back in his comfort zone?
Although current internet connection speeds aren't necessarily much faster than top-of-the-line telephone modems, there's no real need for them to actually create an MMORPG.
If you can connect everyone together, there are so many things you can do.
However, before that, they need to establish a subsidiary responsible for ISP business.