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Using the Shockwave Multiuser Server

The Multiuser Server is a separate application from the Multiuser Xtra. The server typically runs on a separate computer from the computer running your Director movie, but it can also run on the same computer as your Director movie. After determining who should receive a message, the server sends it to the recipient. The recipient's Multiuser Xtra then receives the message from the network.

When using the server, movies can communicate with other instances of the same movie (such as when two people are using two instances of the same movie to play chess together) or with different movies (such as when chess players use a chess movie to chat with other game players running a different movie in a virtual game room).

The messages your movie sends depend on how the movie is designed. Movies can share all the types of data that Lingo supports.

In addition to simply passing information from movie to movie, the Shockwave Multiuser Server also provides functions that make it easy to create a complex multiuser movie in which you can do the following:

| Store and retrieve information such as user names or profiles in databases.
| Create groups to organize users logically, such as by teams.
| Assign attributes to groups, such as a team's score.
| Send messages directly to the server to retrieve information about it and other movies connected to the server.