Persistent-State World

What Does Persistent-State World Mean?

A persistent-state world (PSW) is a virtual gaming environment that continues to change even after a user has logged off. Persistent-state worlds follow their own internal clock, and events continue to unfold even when no gamers are interacting with the game. This term is often used in massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

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Persistent-state world is also known as persistent world (PW).

Techopedia Explains Persistent-State World

There are different degrees of persistent-state world. With multiplayer online games this may refer to many players logging on and playing on different schedules. Events impacting a player directly (such as a major change in the game or how it is played) or indirectly (competitors reaching higher levels) will surely happen while some players are absent.

Persistent-state games emerged in the early 2000s, when the prices of bandwidth decreased and better, more affordable computer hardware emerged.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…