Yes many room based mmos get bad lag because they don't have a ping filter. If you REALLY want to join a server that you have 746 ping with in Counter-Strike (for example) you can... and you will mess up the game for everyone in there...thankfully servers auto kick people who lag too much. Unfortunately the mmos you are talking about don't have such a feature because they have too few players close enough to each other for that to be practical. (No one would get a chance to play unless they were close to many other people who played).
My idea is that while you are still exploring on the world map players will only be able to see other players that have acceptable ping with each other. So then when the player's "icons" meet and an instance/server opens they should have no problem with lag because their computers are no longer tracking the players on the entire map, only the ones in the instance/server that they are currently fighting in. Of course, like I mentioned in the previous paragraph...this would suck if this game didn't have many players close to each other because then no one would show up to fight in the first place. But, if it catches on then it will work just as well as counter-strike.
The alternative is to give up on the open world aspect altogether and do strictly room based servers (that actually kick if you lag too much). But, then that would be horribly punishing because then those who are in remote areas would simply create a server filled with monsters and no other players and be forced to basically play a single-player mmo.
And, no game-maker is going to risk that...which is why room based mmos suck so bad with the lag...because they would rather let some asshole lag up the server and keep everyone "playing" (with lag...but playing none-the-less) than consistently kick him/her...for being the only person in his/her area trying to play the game.
It really is a go big or go home kind of thing. I am thinking this hybrid room/open world will work the best. Maybe I'm missing something. But if I can play a game of Counter-Strike with 20 or so other players with next to no problems then I see no reason for a game that does the same thing accept you use swords, shields, and arrows/guns? to not work also. Of course the game would have to lack "just-frames" because that wouldn't even work in a sizable lan party. But I would be able to easily make peace with that if I actually got to hack and slash at other characters that are just as unique in fighting style/abilities as their appearance.
I mean don't you guys share a similar enthusiasm at the prospect of this kind of game existing? At least on the scale that I'm attempting to portray? Come on!?!? I mean even something as "stupid" as Devil May Cry Online would be a ridiculously fun game. Slash-Slash-Slash CLASH!!! BUTTON MASH TO RECOVER FIRST!!! OH t3h no3s he reversed my attack C-C-C-Combo breaker!!!! Lol okay...but you guys get the point right?
|