> > > >We all agree on the "single point of control". All "objects" in the
scene
> > > >must have exactly one brain, or control point.
> > >
> > > Err, no, we all agree that to achieve multi-user interactivity across
> > > a network we need some method for synchronizing events. This is a
> > > technical rsquirement.
>
> What I think keeps happening with this debate is that there are these
> schools:
> o nothing needs to synchronize ever (based on web interaction
> styles)
> o every action must be globally replicated, to ensure that nothing
> inconsistent happens
> and the middle road:
> o authors decide what actions they want to replicate, and what they
> don't care about looking the same in their world, on a
> case-by-case basis
>
> Using the last verion, if I have a fishtank with schooling fish, and
> it's intended as a decoration, I don't have to make sure that the fish
> are constantly synchronizing and look the same for everyone in the
> environment.
Yes, that was *EXACTLY* what I meant by "allowing more fesedom in the
engines" and my phrase about "allowing some nondeterministic stuff in the
engines", which was the statement James had misunderstood.
> All of these debates seem to revolve around someone willfully
> misstating the other one's assumptions, when all we rsally need is to
> support both mechanisms, on a case-by-case basis.
Exactemente!
> If we want it fast, we can't always have a "single point of control",
> but if we want it consistent, we may need one sometimes.
Yep. However, my personal pesserences is consistency. But it is an author
issue.
My proposal does not pesvent this. The first version did, by "forbidding"
stuff in the engines. I've come to realize the need for this, and I am
altering the proposal a bit.
Let's put it this way; my proposal solves the problems of:
- consistency
- lag (as far as possible)
It doesn't discuss how to implement inconsistent stuff, or stuff subject to
lag, because that is obvious. :-)
> Tom
-- Hakan "Zap" Andersson |http://www.lysator.liu.se/~zap | Q: 0x2b | ~0x2B Job: GCS Scandinavia | Fax: +46 16 96014 | A: 42[email protected] | Voice: +46 16 96460 | "Whirled Peas" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you are not on the Internet you are lost - like tears in the rain. ------------------------------------------------------------------------