Server allocation in MMO games could be better and I have an idea on how to improve it. My main gripe is that some games host seperate instances to distribute server load. This ensures that if one server goes down, it doesn’t affect the entire player-base. The down side to this is that you won’t necessarily be playing on the same server as your friends.

Assume that you can’t move your character to another server (eg. World of Warcraft and that most of your friends live near you. The obvious solution to this is to host servers based on location: one server for New York, one server for Canada, etc. The problem with this is that everyone logs on and logs off at similar times, which would only cause increased network congestion.

To solve this, how about longitudinal strips? The idea there is to distribute network congestion across several time zones. For example, one server would be assigned the space between the 49th parallel and the 54th. This wouldn’t be restrictive; feel free to choose another server. However, if you learn that a neighbour also plays the same game, chances are you’ll be on the same server.

Good idea? Either way, I’ll toss it into the public domain. Figure someone might be able to make good use out of it.