Way to expand capacity "on demand".

Started by ciphertext

ciphertext Lv 1

Have you considered hosting the server component of the Fold It game in a "cloud" environment? Possibly via Amazon Web Services? IBM provides a Smart Cloud system that might work as well. In this fashion, you could scale your application services as you need them, such that you wouldn't have issues with the extreme "lag" from slow server response.

infjamc Lv 1

In addition to expanding server capacity, it might also be a good idea to give moderator status to a few more veteran players in different time zones. This is necessary to keep global chat under control.

infjamc Lv 1

Addendum: If possible, the following would also make global chat more manageable.

  1. Ability to access the FAQ and Wiki through the game client.

  2. The FAQ needs to be expanded. Some of the recurring questions from new players include:

    • "How is this contributing to science?"
    • "Wouldn't someone make a biochemical weapon out of this?"
    • "What does the score mean? / How does the score function work?"
    • "How do you know that a structure is correct?"
    • "How can I get global points?"
    • "Why am I receiving a 'rank down' message immediately after starting a puzzle?"
    • "I finished the tutorials. Now what am I supposed to do in a 'real' puzzle?"

(Many of these can be linked to articles in the Wiki.)