   server side saving
  I've been working with file i/o in c++.  i have a fairly good understanding of it but i was wondering about servers.  MMORPGs appear to be popular around here, and they are a good example of what i'm curious about.  When you play the game, the server basically tells you everything, how much damage you just received, how much experience you've earned, and everything else.  Then you sign off and the server saves your information: gold, health, location, etc.  when they save the data, they have to put it in a file somewhere.  now my question is, do they have a separate file for every player, or do they put everyone in one large file with personalized sections?  Would it even matter?  I think it would be better to have individual save files for search purposes.  It would be faster to find someone's data, no?  i'm still pretty new to this so i might be wrong.  anyway, any information will be happily absorbed =)  - nyt3   
  They are probably all saved in several very huge files in which everyone has his own personalized section.  You'll usually hear talk of "databases" as being these super-organized files, which are arranged in such a way that the server can look people's data up surprisingly quickly.If you're interested in this sort of thing, I'd suggest looking into MySQL - it's a free database program that has good performance rates.  It can be a little complicated to integrate into your programs, though - it involves linking with a library and setting up a server.  SQLite is another good option that is simpler for small projects.   ;  I think it is most probable that they use a library to use MYSQL through C/C++ or any other language and simply use a database like you'd do on a website.   ;  awesome, i've played with mysql before in web design, but i never tried to incorporate it into c++.  I guess its worth a shot to play with =)  thanks.   