A lot of people have complained that there isn’t enough ’skill’ to MMO combat, and it’s too stat and advancement-heavy. There are a lot of reasons why, but one that isn’t mentioned enough is that skill-based games are usually twitchy, and twitchy requires a better Internet connection. A dial-up connection automatically adds at least 200 ms to your latency. And no one wants to be a repeatedly on the losing end due to lag times.

For ages and ages, broadband was a mark of the tech-savvy elite. As recently as a couple of years ago, we were told that only 30% of Internet users had broadband in their homes. Thus, it was too soon to make a game that was broadband-only, which has the possibility to unleash a whole host of new game design concepts that involved quicker responses and more skill.

Apparently, that’s changed. Fuel Games points out that this has changed, according to this Nielsen report.

In August 2005, the percent of active U.S. Internet Users connecting online via broadband from home reached an all-time high at 61.3 percent, compared to 51.4 percent of active Internet users in August last year.

A 10% change is a remarkable amount of change – a tipping point of connectivity in the country. The study also points out that fully 42% of the overall American population now has a high-speed connection. That’s an increase from 36% in January of this year. Clearly, this is a remarkable change.

After years of talking about the possibility of broadband-only games, it’s finally time. We can really start making games, mass-market games, that involve faster reflexes, greater content downloads, and larger crowds of people.

Of course, the flip side is that marketers are also going to realize this, which has the potential to make the world of browsing much more annoying. Still, it’s a sign of hope. Being able to count on a highly responsive internet connection opens up a world of possibility to the online world designer.

The original comments thread is here.