With the release of Game Update #32 at the end of February, EQII was enhanced with the inclusion of a web browser that worked within the confines of the game. This provided an immediate benefit for those who interacted with our Customer Service websites, but also opened up a whole new level of convenience for people who wanted to know more about the quest they were working on. The in-game browser also gave the EQII mod community a new toy to play with and add on to.
In light of the fact that it has been a little while since the browser was released, we thought it would be interesting to ask a few questions of Don 'Silverfrost' Neufeld about the browser, its implementation, and future.
What was the initial design imperative for the in-game web browser?
Our customer service tools were being converted from our own proprietary in house stuff to a third party application with a web based interface. Without the browser players had to switch away from the game to interact with the customer service website.
Why Mozilla?
Because we have the source code! We initially tried to integrate Internet Explorer and a major problem was that Internet Explorer's ActiveX control really doesn't play well with Direct3D in fullscreen exclusive mode. After a couple of months of effort we gave up and the engineer assigned to the project went to work for the Mozilla Foundation. In contrast I had a working prototype of the Mozilla embedding working after 2 days. Source code for teh win!
What complications did you have to overcome along the way?
Getting the progress bar to work reasonably was ridiculous. The concept of 'X% progress' while downloading an unknown quantity of content is apparently complete smoke and mirrors in any web browser.
Did you discover and implement any bonus features in the development process?
One of the things I focused on was making the browser completely data driven and embeddable so players can do whatever they want with it. That's kind of a bonus, right? :D
Are there any key features not being noticed or used?
Most people won't notice this, but if you have parental controls on the browser won't let you navigate anywhere except for a very small number of approved sites.
Are there plans for future features for the browser?
I would like to get us caught up to the most recent version of Mozilla as soon as possible. I also need to work on some performance issues with the embedding.
Have you seen the interface mods designed by the community for the browser? If so, what do you think of their work?
Yes, I like the tabbed browser mods.
Playing a MMO is participating in an ever evolving game space that sees constant additions and refinements. The inclusion of this in-game browser is just one small example of how we continue to work to improve your gameplay experience. Share your thoughts about the in-game browser, and how you use it day to day in the official forums.
