We Can Fix That with Data

Bioware spends more money on middleware. It sounds like stuff for server programmers, but this paragraph is interesting:

Using the technology, BioWare will be better equipped to handle large numbers of player interactions and events within its MMO environment. The developer will also be able to monitor the game environment in real time and immediately offer fixes for any game oddities, and to identify and react to malicious player behavior in real time to ensure game integrity.

Earth and Beyond did something similar years ago — if something crossed a certain threshold, the server would let somebody know right away. For customer service, real-time is awesome. For design — in my experience — I don’t really care what people are doing right now. I care about how their behavior changes over time, I care about how many people were playing Class B last week as compared to last month, and if I’m making new abilities for the next patch, I want to know what the average stats have been in recent history. That stuff shouldn’t be changing on its own overnight. However, it’s probably pretty cool to know when it does.