"Massively Single-Playing Online RPG"

[Torchickens]

Even though this is old news now, I thought it would be interesting to discuss, with Dragon Quest X Online for Wii and Wii U coming up soon.

About a month ago, Nintendo published a patent for a "Massively Single-Playing Online RPG" which they apparently filed in early 2010, with the idea of a "persistent world for players to explore" but with none of the interaction. The process was "A method and apparatus that allows a player to play a massively single-player online game without directly interacting with other players, while affecting and being affected by other players playing the online game."

It would be interesting to see an 'online Records Room' service for Pokémon, or a changing in-game economy. In one example, Nintendo said that "one player could find a pile of building materials and would build a house." and that "the next player would not find those materials, but a finished house".