An Apology to the EL Party-goers

[scafativ]

I would like to apologize to those of you that attended the EL Birthday party, and were disappointed by the problems with the play, and the lack of fireworks. The rest of the party went so smoothly, but those two events certainly did not. I'd like to explain what happened, and what I've done about it.

 

I've been developing that bot technology for nearly a year, and I was extremely aware of issues that a crowd would present. When there's a lot of players in an area, a lot of information goes back and forth between the EL server and everyone's clients- player movement and chattiness adds to that network traffic. I anticipated the issue, optimized the software to deal with it, and even stress tested it by running the show with about 100 summons, without any problems.

 

As it turns out, well over 200 people turned out for the shows. Since there were as many as 5 bots in each show, all of that load was multiplied by 5- it was like 1000 players to my server. It was simply more than it could handle. Splitting the load across a bunch of servers is not an option for me.

 

So... here's the plan.

 

Fireworks:

 

I did a video capture of the fireworks show running without a throng- it's not the same as a live performance, but at least you will all get to see what you missed. You can find it on YouTube:

 

 

“Over a Barrel” Theatre Production:

 

Starting next weekend, the show “Over a Barrel” will start at 2:00 game time, every game day (so 4 times per real-life day). You can wander over to see it whenever you wish. If people wander up periodically, in small groups, to watch the show, it will run flawlessly.

 

I would like to run other plays at other top-of-the-hour slots, so if you want to write one, contact me and we'll work something out. I think it would be nice to have a different play running there at the top of each hour. That's what the stage is for.

 

Please stay off the stage during the show, of course- if you interfere with the bots, it'll 1) suck, and 2) be logged, and I'll shut the whole thing down if it gets interfered with.

 

Again- I'm sorry- I gave the whole thing my best shot, and a lot of other players spent a lot of time helping me with costumes, essence, potions, stress testing, proof reading, etc, etc, so it was quite a disappointment to all of us, but hopefully I've given all of you an opportunity to see both performances in a different context.

 

And no, Gossip, you can't be in the next play.

 

Scafativ

Edited February 18, 2008 by scafativ

[Entropy]

I am a little bit confused. Why do the bots have to process most of those messages anyway? Which part of the code overloads? The networking code? What language do you use?

[LevinMage]

Scafativ: There is no need to apologize. Everyone appreciates all the work that was put into this and understand that not everything works perfectly the first time. I enjoyed watching the fireworks show that you posted, especially the faster action near the end, and also look forward to watching the play again in the theater next weekend. Thank you and everyone else again for all your work.

[scafativ]

I am a little bit confused. Why do the bots have to process most of those messages anyway? Which part of the code overloads? The networking code? What language do you use?

 

Well, I'd say that I flat ran out of bandwidth- even my client Grued.

 

scaf

[Raytray]

Dang, I never have special effects on anyway so i don't recognize any of those spells nor see the fireworks anyway.

 

Good effort though.

[LabRat]

That was an impressive bit of scripting

[Entropy]

Oh, bandwidth issue? What kind of connection do you have?

[scafativ]

Oh, bandwidth issue? What kind of connection do you have?

 

One that's usually sufficient.

 

Scaf

[Guest Annatira]

Agree completely with LevinMage. No apologies necessary for anything, it was something different and fun! I'll be watching the play again a time or two - without the crowd I think it will be easier to follow, and the vid of the fireworks was great! the end timing was right on 8)

 

Thanks for all the effort you and everyone else involved put into this Birthday celebration.

[Ghrae]

A shame about the play. I gave up my seat so wasn't able to see it. Was lucky though and saw a pre-performance that only had a couple of bugs. Would recommend others stop by and view it at the 2:00 hour at least once.

[Enly]

Awesome video of the fireworks scaf

 

Thank you so much for all of your (And gossip's) work to help with the party, we really appriciated it.

 

I to had a chance to view the performance of the play beforehand and it was very enjoyable good work.

[Lumino]

I think that your play will go over well, even though I've seen it twice I'll make sure to drop in and view it sometime

 

And the vid was great, I loved how you used EL music! Plus the ending was perfectly timed

[SleepyDragon]

Well I've just watched the fireworks video and have to say it's awesome. Fantastic work and the music just adds to it.

 

As much as it was disappointing for partygoers to not be able to see a smooth running play or fireworks display it must have been many more times so for you to not be able to run them after all the work you have put in.

 

I definately look forward to going and seeing the plays performed and would like to thankyou for your work in bringing a new and innovative idea to EL.

[Walt-Her]

I briefly had a look at the fireworks, . I will watch it tonight fullscreen with the music loud Great work

 

The show, i didn't go because i aspected it to be laggy so i'm glad there will be performances again where smaller groups will be expected.

 

I can only say thanks for the great work and there are no apology's needed. You did fine and couldn't forsee the problems there were.

[Sophee]

I admit I was disappointed, cause the theatre play would have interested me the most but as I was sitting in the last row I was asked to leave and wait the second performance and then there wasn't a second performance I didn't know you had problems and that was why it had been canceled. So I was very happy when i spotted this thread and read about you making more plays in the theatre It's a great idea to have more performances with smaller groups of audience, I will surely be there and watch it and I also think a lot people will be interested in this new feature of the game.

 

I watched the video of the fireworks, it is very nice!Congrats and thank you for your effort to try to satisfy everybody who couldn't watch the play

[Dilly]

No need to apologize, and more importantly, don't call it a fiasco! We showed up in such huge numbers, it was unexpected, but thank goodness we did, invasion wise that is. I hear Toomass had a real fieldday and one of my guildies didn't seem to care at all that he lost a few rostos

 

Practice makes perfect, next time you host a thing like this... you will see things go smoother.

 

Till then, take care!

[ccReynolds]

Glad you made the video. I liked the show. Would have been nice to see live, but it will give you something to shoot for next time.