research-article

A hybrid architecture for massively multiplayer online games

Authors:

Daniel ZappalaAuthors Info & Claims

NetGames '08: Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Network and System Support for Games

Pages 60 - 65

https://doi.org/10.1145/1517494.1517507

Published: 21 October 2008 Publication History

Abstract

Many massively multiplayer online games use client-server architectures that have enormous server-side bandwidth requirements. Peer-to-peer game architectures provide better scaling, but open the game to additional cheating, since players are responsible for distributing events and storing state. We have developed a hybrid game architecture that maintains centralized control of state, while significantly reducing server bandwidth. The architecture uses a combination of client-server and peer-to-peer event distribution, so that only critical events are processed by the server. In addition, the architecture uses measurements and monitoring to ensure that players are capable of handling event distribution and are indeed providing this service. By lowering the bandwidth needed to host a game, while also providing a simple way to prevent cheating, our hybrid architecture allows game companies to support more concurrent players while still providing a controlled game experience. We deploy a game using the hybrid architecture on PlanetLab and use a measurement study to demonstrate its advantages over a client-server architecture.

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Cited By

Kasenides NPaspallis N(2022)Athlos: A Framework for Developing Scalable MMOG Backends on Commodity CloudsSoftware10.3390/software10100061:1(107-145)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2022
https://doi.org/10.3390/software1010006
Wong AChiu CHains GBehnke JKhmelevsky YSutherland T(2021)Network Latency Classification for Computer Games2021 IEEE International Conference on Recent Advances in Systems Science and Engineering (RASSE)10.1109/RASSE53195.2021.9686848(1-6)Online publication date: 12-Dec-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/RASSE53195.2021.9686848
Hains GMazur CAyers JHumphrey JKhmelevsky YSutherland T(2020)The WTFast’s Gamers Private Network (GPN ®) Performance Evaluation Results2020 IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon)10.1109/SysCon47679.2020.9275855(1-6)Online publication date: 24-Aug-2020
https://doi.org/10.1109/SysCon47679.2020.9275855
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NetGames '08: Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Network and System Support for Games

October 2008

108 pages

ISBN:9781605581323

DOI:10.1145/1517494

Conference Chair:
Mark Claypool
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Copyright © 2008 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 21 October 2008

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NetGames08

NetGames08: Network and Systems Support for Games

October 21 - 22, 2008

Massachusetts, Worcester

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Cited By

Kasenides NPaspallis N(2022)Athlos: A Framework for Developing Scalable MMOG Backends on Commodity CloudsSoftware10.3390/software10100061:1(107-145)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2022
https://doi.org/10.3390/software1010006
Wong AChiu CHains GBehnke JKhmelevsky YSutherland T(2021)Network Latency Classification for Computer Games2021 IEEE International Conference on Recent Advances in Systems Science and Engineering (RASSE)10.1109/RASSE53195.2021.9686848(1-6)Online publication date: 12-Dec-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/RASSE53195.2021.9686848
Hains GMazur CAyers JHumphrey JKhmelevsky YSutherland T(2020)The WTFast’s Gamers Private Network (GPN ®) Performance Evaluation Results2020 IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon)10.1109/SysCon47679.2020.9275855(1-6)Online publication date: 24-Aug-2020
https://doi.org/10.1109/SysCon47679.2020.9275855
Mazur CAyers JHumphrey JHains GKhmelevsky Y(2020)Machine Learning Prediction of Gamer’s Private Networks (GPN®S)Proceedings of the Future Technologies Conference (FTC) 2020, Volume 210.1007/978-3-030-63089-8_7(107-123)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63089-8_7
Kasenides NPaspallis N(2020)Multiplayer Game Backends: A Comparison of Commodity Cloud-Based ApproachesService-Oriented and Cloud Computing10.1007/978-3-030-44769-4_4(41-55)Online publication date: 27-Mar-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44769-4_4
Kasenides NPaspallis N(2019)A Systematic Mapping Study of MMOG Backend ArchitecturesInformation10.3390/info1009026410:9(264)Online publication date: 21-Aug-2019
https://doi.org/10.3390/info10090264
Engelbrecht HGilmore J(2017)PithosACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications10.1145/310557713:3(1-33)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3105577
Ward BKhmelevsky YHains GBartlett RNeedham ASutherland T(2017)Gaming network delays investigation and collection of very large-scale data sets2017 Annual IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon)10.1109/SYSCON.2017.7934779(1-7)Online publication date: Apr-2017
https://doi.org/10.1109/SYSCON.2017.7934779
Hains GKhmelevsky YBartlett RNeedham A(2017)Game private networks performance: From geolocation to latency to user experience2017 Annual IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon)10.1109/SYSCON.2017.7934778(1-6)Online publication date: Apr-2017
https://doi.org/10.1109/SYSCON.2017.7934778
Ouimet ZCaswell HKhmelevsky YBartlett RNeedham A(2016)Game servers deployment automation case study2016 Annual IEEE Systems Conference (SysCon)10.1109/SYSCON.2016.7490578(1-7)Online publication date: Apr-2016
https://doi.org/10.1109/SYSCON.2016.7490578
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