Node.js MMO process and or map division I am in the phase of designing a mmo browser based game (certainly not massive, but all connected players are in the same universe), and I am struggling with finding a good solution to the problem of distributing players across processes. I'm using node.js with socket.io. I have read this helpful article, but I would like some advice since I am also concerned with different processes. Solution 1 Tie a process to a map location (like a map cell), connect players to the process corresponding to their location. When a player performs an action, transmit it to all other players in this process. When a player moves away, he will eventually have to connect to another process (automatically). Pros Easier to implement Cons Must divide map into zones Player reconnection when moving into a different zone is probably annoying If one zone process is always busy (has players in it), it doesn't really load balance, unless I split the zone which may not be always viable There shouldn't be any visible borders Solution 1b Same as 1, but connect processes of bordering cells, so that players on the other side of the border are visible and such. Maybe even let them interact. Solution 2 Spawn processes on demand, unrelated to a location. Have one special process to keep track of all connected player handles, their location, and the process they're connected to. Then when a player performs an action, the process finds all other nearby players (from the special player process location tracking node), and instructs their matching processes to relay the action. Pros Easy load balancing spawn more processes Avoids player reconnecting borders between zones Cons Harder to implement and test Additional steps of finding players, and relaying event action to another process If the player location process tracking process fails, all other fail too I would like to hear if I'm missing something, or completely off track.