Ascend Archive
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Re: (ASCEND) Quake/QW and Pipeline 75 and NAT

At 09:42 AM 11/3/97 -0600, Jake Messinger wrote:

>Trust me, not worth answering or asking. I know a couple people in the
>Quake business, and there is little money to be made there.

        Perhaps not if one is a game vendor, but as an ISP, I see
        interactive low-latency apps (Games, Netmeeting, CU-seeme,
        NetPhone) as a major value added service that one must stress
        if one wishes to be viewed as a "premium" service.
        
>Quake players do not pay their bills. ;-)

        No pay, no play.  :)

>So are you arguing that Ascend SHOULD spend money to devise a work-around
>so that Quake works properly with Nat?

        Sure!  On a Pipeline by Pipeline basis, this makes sense as an 
        >>>optional<<< configuration parameter:

                a)  NAT makes sense, since it conserves IP space,
                    and makes for cleaner DNS.

                b)  "Power Users" (those most likely to play games)
                    tend to have more than one machine, and the
                    motivation to network them together.  They also
                    tend to buy new hardware more frequently, and 
                    buy top-of-the-line gear much as "audiophiles"
                    bought stereo equipment in the 60s and 70s.
                    Minor advantages DO sell boxes.  Look at stereos,
                    video equipment, and other consumer electronics
                    for multiple examples.
                    
                c)  NAT tends to be used by these "power users".
                    (Sometimes without the knowledge of their ISP!)

                d)  Why not make NAT work with specific "killer apps"?  
                    If no one does a decent job of supporting it, the 
                    vendor that does so has a "niche advantage" over 
                    the others.

                e)  This does not only apply to Quake.  It applies to
                    client applications in general.  Remember, it was
                    not too long ago that the concept of a "web server"
                    was applied only to pre-prints of physics papers 
                    with figures, and was therefore a non-issue at most 
                    sites/domains.

                    

           Even the Secretary General of the UN is 65% water.

james fischer                                jfischer@supercollider.com

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