Game

TODO: This topic needs more thought. It seems like we might want a Rule concept also.

A Game is a world / playing area, and a set of rules guiding things like the game start, how playing progresses, and then end (if it has one).

It would be nice if the same game system could be used both for the overall game (a multiplayer online world) and games contained within it, such as board games, sports, and competitions.

For the overall MMORPG, the game designers want to tune the rules - e.g. how and when is playerkilling allowed, how to start organizations, what kind of characters can be created, what kind of automatic story weaving is done. The game designers also want to edit the content - what's the gameworld like, what creatures are there, what cultures and nations and cities are there, etc.

For player created in-game games, the creators want to define things like the game area (is it a grid, or a small virtual terrain, or a field with specific dimensions, or just the whole 'real' world. They also want to define the rules ('the king can move in this way, and the queen in this, and the player can move one of his own pieces when it is his turn', or, 'players who cause an injury to another player gets a red card, if a player picks up the ball the other team gets a free kick, when the ball enters the goal area the opposing team gets a point').

Despite the apparent differences, I think we might find some similarities here. And it would also make the Skycastle framework itself very flexible - it could be used to create chess games or sidescrolling shooters as well as MMORPG:s, and in a MMORPG you could have game machines that would let you play a sidescrolling shooter, or you could sit down under a tree and play a game of chess with another player (or NPC :).

There may also be a connection to laws and lawmaking - server enforced laws are basically a rule. The overall game rules might for example state that a land owner can decide on taxation rules and playerkilling rules on his land, possibly within some boundaries (taxation over 50% impossible, for example, as well as taxation under 0%).