Do I have to learn SQL and/or PHP?

Hi I have been hearing lots of talk about SQL and PHP. And I am bout to start learning the basics of networking. But before I do, I want to know what all I have to learn so I dont waste my time learning something I wont be using. I have browsed through the unity networking referance guide and I dont see anything that talks about SQL or PHP. So do I need to know any one of these to make a networked multiplayer game with more than one client that also has chat and high score features?

Thanks..

I think you need to have at least rudimentary knowledge on PHP mySQL to make games with chat and high score features, unless you use some canned packages with these features. Google for PHP-mySQL tutorials, you will get tons of free setp by step tutorials.

It depends on what you are doing.

If you only need simple stuff as login, sending highscores etc. then PHP + MySQL is the right choice and you have to learn it.

If you make a multiplayer game, then you won’t use PHP + MySQL, but instead program a server. There are stuff like Photon etc. which bring the basic server structure and you can extend it with scripts. If it doesn’t suit you, you have to make a server from scratch in C#, Java, C++, whatever suits you.

Because PHP + MySQL is only good if you send simple data and in text format. For a multiplayer game want the data to be binary and not text (less traffic, easier to convert back into data and less CPU intensive than parsing a text file).