The Making of a Persistent Online Game

This project is about the design and implementation of a persistent online game. Find and try out several persistent online games, present them to the team and have everybody try them out. Figure out practical issues of implementing your own persistent online games (Which language? Can we use our server? How to scale to player numbers?). Agree (or disagree) on the conceptual questions to be explored.
Create several designs (probably with design patterns), select one of them, implement it, put it online, test it, see if and how it is used by players. Let your findings feed back into the initial questions to arrive at answers or more questions.
The game should include collaborative competition (i.e. teams) and invite social interaction between players. A possible practical outcome is a jump n' run/platform (e.g. Mario) or shoot 'em up game (e.g. Xenon II), that is played by two-player teams, but this is open to discussion. I'd favor a focussed, original and unusual idea over another fantasy fighting game.

Daniel Cermak-Sassenrath. The Making of a Persistent Online Game, Studio Project, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, 2011, Semester 2.