The Server Technology of EVE Online: How to Cope With 300,000 Players on One Server
Speaker: Halldor Fannar Guðjónsson (CTO, CCP)
Date/Time: Wednesday (September 17, 2008) 4:30pm — 5:30pm
Location (room): Room 4
Track: Online Games - Technology and Services
Format: 60-minute Lecture
Experience Level: Intermediate

Session Description
Most MMOGs separate their players onto multiple servers in order to scale; these servers are often called shards. The shards are essentially instances of the game world and the player base is thus broken into segments, based on which shard (server) they are playing on. EVE Online takes a different approach: the technology and the game is developed around the goal of one unified world. All the players log onto the same server and play in the same world. This session will explore the technology developed by CCP to achieve this goal and discuss the technology choices made by CCP, both on the hardware and software side.

Idea Takeaway
Learn about the problems that game developers typically face when scaling an MMOG server. A number of solutions presented – all in the context of a successful MMOG.

Intended Audience
Programmers and game designers who need to network a large world of players. People curious to see how you can face a daunting problem and find a successful solution.