| Gateways Ultimately all players have to connect to the Uplink Online world through a Gateway. In real world terms this Gateway gives them access to Server listings, does the authorisation needed to make sure that person is allowed to connect, and looks up the Players character profile from our Central Database. In game terms the Gateway is the place where your physical system is stored, and is also where your hardware Upgrades are handled. Initially we would run a Gateway as an entrance to the Uplink Online world. In time we would encourage a small number of Gateways to be set up around the world. These would be similar to the concept of Guilds - groups of people could form into a guild with their own Gateway, defended by their own Server systems and Agents. All of their agents would then enter the game through that Gateway. Considering there would be less than ten Gateways in total, these would be big targets for hack attacks. The Gateway does a similar job to the Central Database, so it is possible the two could be merged. It would be difficult for these Gateways to be regulated - they could provide cheap hardware or could modify people's accounts. |