Richard 'Lord British' Garriott has been chatting some more about Shroud of the Avatar - notably its unique system for running the shared online world - as well as his influence on the world of RPGs.
In an interview with Gamers Nexus, Garriott details the 'unique server model' for his next MMO - it's more interesting than it sounds, honestly. The decision to keep everyone in one world together, rather than splitting them up into shards, has resulted in a method whereby the server is distributed to every player's machine running the game.
This means you'll be able to play alone, should you choose, or in a private group without the hassle of other people. But it also means there's more stability, as it's not the usual client-server/P2P relationship - as Garriott points out, barring actual machine failure, "the service has never had even one moment of unscheduled downtime."
Admittedly it's yet to be seen how Shroud of the Avatar will handle the load of an increased number of players - but for now it's promising, and Garriott seems confident about the systems that are in place.
Garriott also takes time in the interview to talk about his influence on the lexicon of modern gaming, most notably how he - or his team - had a hand in introducing terms like the aforementioned 'shard', 'MMORPG' and 'avatar' to popular discourse.
Shroud of the Avatar aims to be in alpha by summer, beta by autumn and a 'final' release by the end of the year - you can pick it up right now on Early Access, or via the game's official site. Check out our early - very early - impressions for an idea of what it's like.
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