Multi Player Interactive games are a highly popular form of recreation. A mechanism for permitting distribution of a game across a network of Web servers is described. This mechanism uses a micropayment scheme to enforce resource constraints. There is thus no need for central administration of the scheme in the traditional sense.
Multi User Dungeons (MUDs) and their object oriented couterparts MOOs are a popular recreation on the Internet. The implementation of a Web based MUD presents many challenges, including changes to the standard HTTP protocol to permit interactive notification. Such a system would not be a true WebMUD unless it permitted the distribution of the dungeon across multiple servers operating under autonamous control.
The requirement that servers be under autonamous control presents the problem of resource inflation. If any party is able to operate a server a player might cheat by providing themselves with various usefull objects in a part of the dungeon under their control and then leave to cause havoc in the rest of the system. If on the other hand players are unable to carry objects from one part of the dungeon to another there would be little coherency to the project as a whole.
In addition to flows of material it is necessary to ensure that various other resources are maintained. It would be undesirable for a character to be able to provide themselves with a "miracle cure". We may generalise this by stating that the entropy of the system should decrease. Like the real world there should be a predisposition towards decay and corruption. A server might arbitrarily decrease the health attributes (or hit points) of a character but should not be allowed to arbitrarily increase them. Note that hit points are also specific to an individual character.
In order to permit the game to be viable over a period it is of course necessary to have a mechanism for introducing new material.
The solution proposed is to use a lightweight payment scheme such as MPTP to enforce resource constraints. When a resource moves from one server to another a corresponding payment flows in the opposite direction. A central broker ensures that the total flow of goods and services into and out of particular servers is controlled. The problem of inflation is thus prevented.
Different resources are represented by different currencies. For example one currency might be used to represent swords, another to represent armour. A broker might permit certain servers the right to convert a particular amount of currency of one type into currency of another type.
Certain currencies would be specific to the individual character, hit points for example. These currencies might be stored on a particular server nominated by the player. In most MUDs a character may be reincarnated after death with a substantial proportion of previous points. Thus it would only be necessary for servers to pass between them the "risk capital" involved.
Would like some students to try out this idea!