I think we shouldn't compare Blizzards World of Warcraft with Aurans TrainzSimulator12. At first, world of warcraft based on a newer engine as Trainz does. Secondly, world of warcraft has an higher amount of players as trainz has. I think you compare apples with pears
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I'm right there with you that all about the performance is a question of money also. But I will show you other examples for multiplayer games which uses dedicated server successfully: Batteflied1942, Battelfield2, Battlefield3, TrackMania, etc.. And there are many other games. The thing is, when Auran are not able to provide a much faster system for assure the copies of Trainz, the Multiplayer component will not be such a big success as it could be - in my opinion.
I saw many guys who said that the multiplayer is a really nice thing, but the performance is horrible, and that is favourable said. For sure there is a "hard core" of users who doesn't care so much about the known problems, but in the long run you will have a big problem to get new customers, that's a fact.
By my experience I can tell you that the MP feature was a reason for a few guys to buy Trainz12. We've played a longer time together and the result was that they gone. Okay, the performance was not only the reason I think, there was a disappointment about the "trainz-build situation" as well. Users of the German TS12 version couldn't play with users of the international together, still the same today. What's the point of that?
To be honestly with you all. I don't want to be the angry German guy who only grumbles about the multiplayer. I love that feature and I'm only disappointed that the performance is so terrible and that the possibilities in my opinion are very limited. I hope that the future will bring some good news in the direction that something will be improved, for example the dedicated server option.
Greetings