CLOK BBS

I'm not sure if this is the right sub-forum place to submit this, but here goes.

I've been noticing some performance issues with Clok, especially when there are 20+ players online. I don't know if the bottleneck is computational or network related, but if it is a problem of bandwidth (which seems likely to me), then MCCP, the mud client compression protocol, might be worth implementing.

MCCP is a simple, server-side protocol that compresses text using zlib before sending the text to mud clients. All the major mud clients support this format, and it could be an opt-in, toggleable option. There are lots of available code chunks and information about the specification available online, and it is really easy to implement (I'd even be happy to help).

The benefit? 75-90% less data being sent from the server! This could mean lower latencies, a smaller bandwidth footprint, and be very nice for players who have limited bandwidth/data caps on their end (dial-up, phones, etc).

Here's some links about the protocol:
http://www.zuggsoft.com/zmud/mcp.htm
http://www.mudpedia.org/mediawiki/index.php/MCCP
http://www.mudbytes.net/index.php?a=articles&s=mccp

I've looked into this in the past, and it is certainly a consideration, but the current server issues are not network related.