Traditional installer-based games require users download an installer or they may even need to buy an installer disk in game shop in order to play the game. And the requirement of installing software means that users may not be able to play it wherever they want. For example, they may not have the privilege to install the software on a friend's computer or public computers.
A Flash player-based virtual world does not require downloading an installer. As long as the web browsers have the Flash player plugin that fulfills the required version, users can log in and play the whole game inside the web browser directly. Traditionally users go to the game website, download the game, install it, log in, and play it. Now with Flash player-based game, users go to the game website, log in, and play it. This simplifies the flow to start playing the game.
Moreover this will attract those first-time players. When someone is landing on the game website and finds the game quiet interesting, they are willing to give it a try. At this time, it will be much better if they can log in through the guest account and try the virtual world immediately instead of downloading a big installer and waiting half an hour before starting the game, as shown in the following screenshot (these are the screenshots of the welcome page of Club Penguin and MMOG):
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Another benefit of using Flash is the seamless update of the client application. It is common that updates and patches ship to the existing users after releasing the virtual world. In traditional installer-based virtual worlds, users have to download an update client before launching the virtual world.
On the other hand, updates and patches usually mean a recompile of some SWF files on the web server. When users connect and load the virtual world, the web browser downloads the updated SWF files in the background and even without users' notice. This seamless update advantage lets developers deliver patches more easily and blur the whole update flow in users' view. The following screenshot shows virtual world data update loads automatically when a player logs in:
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