Here is what I’m doing. I will have an online game that is a real exe application that clients run. Clients connect to my game server. They will have stats, achievements, and be able to buy various things for which I will use PayPal IPN service.
When a player wants to log on, I must be able to retrieve their profile and information from somewhere. When a player wins a game, the game server must be able to add a point to their profile.
Users will need to be able to access their stats from the Web Site, or from the game itself.
Would it be a good idea to use the MySQL database that comes with the Web Site for everything. In that, the game server would get and set properties through php or something?
Otherwise what might be a better solution? Is there a way for my web site to use a database that is on the game server machine, if so would that be a good idea?
How is this sort of problem usually solved?
Thanks
Where you put the database doesn’t really matter. If you already have one and it can handle the load, use it. But for security and general organization, you should create a separate database and user within MySQL for your game score information. The user should only be able to access the game data database. This way your other data in the data base is protected from your web interface to the game data in case of a PHP or SQL vulnerability.