Gaming Database Design

Gaming Database Design

Games have unique DB patterns: millions of concurrent players, extremely high-frequency updates, real-time leaderboards, and virtual currency requiring financial-grade precision.

Key Characteristics

• High-frequency writes → Redis cache + async persistence
• Leaderboards → Redis Sorted Set (not MySQL ORDER BY)
• Flexible item attributes → JSON columns
• Massive event logs → partitioned tables + ClickHouse archival

Leaderboard Pattern

// Real-time rank via Redis
rdb.ZAdd(ctx, "lb:pvp:server:1", &redis.Z{Score: float64(score), Member: playerID})
rank, _ := rdb.ZRevRank(ctx, "lb:pvp:server:1", playerID).Result()
// Snapshot to MySQL hourly; final snapshot at season end for rewards

Virtual Currency

Same rules as financial systems: DECIMAL columns, no direct balance updates, every change logged in a ledger table with before/after balances.