Indeed, I'd love to work more with node.js - but not if its not going to be widely hosted. I don't want to have to pay far more than anyone else just to utilize it. I'm interested in the ability to do more real-time multiplayer things that isn't as server intensive as an ajax-php-database-php-render loop. Non-blocking sockets are definitely the way to go, and it tests well in local development... just... I can't realistically host my own stuff from my computer, you know? My baby can't handle that.