Tactica Online Mini Q&A #7

MMORPG.com has published the seventh installment to their ongoing Tactica Online Mini Q&A series with Imaginary Numbers’ Luke Carruthers. Here you go:

Q: Since most of Tactica’s content revolves around player vs. player encounters, how will you deal with issues like people quitting or timing out at key moments?

A: Disconnects are the bane of every online game, and that’s even more true for one that revolves around direct competition between players. You have to allow for them, because sometimes people do legitimately have network problems, but there’s no real way to distinguish between a legitimate disconnect and a player deliberately trying to avoid a loss.

The only real solution is to allow those who have been disconnected a few minutes in which they can reconnect without penalty. If they don’t reconnect within that time, then they automatically lose the match.