1. In a object-based computing system, a computer-implemented method for creating an object reference, wherein the object reference is associated with a local-only servant object, the method comprising: implementing a first base class to create a first object that represents the object reference, wherein the first base class is associated with an object request broker; obtaining a local-only create closure; and calling an operation on a second base class, the operation being called with the local-only create closure, wherein the operation is arranged to create a server-side representation associated with the local-only servant object, the server-side representation being arranged to be stored in the first object that represents the object reference.