Instances - An Explanation
Instances are my idea for running worlds that have an endpoint, allowing players to win or lose, and having some sort of long-term effect, while letting worlds 'start over' every now and then so that new players aren't immediately thrown into a world full of pain and trouble.
A new instance is created under one of the following circumstances:
- When no Active Instance for a given world is currently available, a new instance will always be initialized when someone attempts to access the World.
- When the currently Active instance progresses past a certain point (determined by a criteria based on the world, particularly current Instance population), players will have the option to join a new Instance instead of an ongoing one. Think of this as joining a new server in an MMO once the old ones are too crowded, basically.
- When an Endgame is in progress (circumstances that mean an instance is likely to end soon), if no other Instance currently exists, one will be created for players attempting to join that world (and joining it instead of the endgame instance will no longer be optional).
Each instance has a quasi-random code used to access it – if this code is used at the transport mirror, you can send a character to a given instance as long as it still exists. Instance data will remain in the system after an instance completes, and may have effects in other instances.
Attempting to enter a random 20-digit code may have… consequences, or access hidden locations or features within an existing instance.