182 research outputs found
A survey on network game cheats and P2P solutions
The increasing popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) - games involving thousands of players participating simultaneously in a single virtual world - has highlighted the scalability bottlenecks present in centralised Client/Server (C/S) architectures. Researchers are proposing Peer-to-Peer (P2P) game technologies as a scalable alternative to C/S; however, P2P is more vulnerable to cheating as it decentralises the game state and logic to un-trusted peer machines, rather than using trusted centralised servers. Cheating is a major concern for online games, as a minority of cheaters can potentially ruin the game for all players. In this paper we present a review and classification of known cheats, and provide real-world examples where possible. Further, we discuss counter measures used by C/S game technologies to prevent cheating. Finally, we discuss several P2P architectures designed to prevent cheating, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses
Cheating in networked computer games: a review
The increasing popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) - games involving thousands of players participating simultaneously in a single virtual world - has highlighted the scalability bottlenecks present in centralised Client/Server (C/S) architectures. Researchers are proposing Peer-to-Peer (P2P) architectures as a scalable alternative to C/S; however, P2P is more vulnerable to cheating as it decentralises the game state and logic to un-trusted peer machines, rather than using trusted centralised servers. Cheating is a major concern for online games, as a minority of cheaters can potentially ruin the game for all players. In this paper we present a review and classification of known cheats, and provide real-world examples where possible. Further, we discuss counter measures used by C/S architectures to prevent cheating. Finally, we discuss several P2P architectures designed to prevent cheating, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses
Distributed game
Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia InformáticaThe demand for online games has risen over the years, expanding multiplayer support for new and different game
genres. Among them are Massively Multiplayer Online games, one of the most popular and successful game
types in the industry. Nowadays, this industry is thriving, evolving alongside technological advancements and
producing billions in revenue, making it an economic importance. However, as the complexity of these games
grows, so do the challenges they face when constructing them.
This dissertation aims to implement a distributed game, through a proof of concept or an existing game, using a
distributed architecture to acquire knowledge in the construction of such complex systems and the effort involved
in dealing with consistency, maintaining communication infrastructure, and managing data in a distributed way.
It is also intended that this project implements multiple mechanisms capable of autonomously helping manage
and maintain the correct state of the system.
To evaluate the proposed solution, a detailed analysis is carried out with performance benchmark analysis,
stress testing, followed by an examination of its security, scalability, and distribution’s resilience.
Overall, the present research work allowed for a greater understanding of the technologies and approaches
used in constructing a gaming system, establishing a new set of development opportunities to be further investi gated upon the constructed solution.A procura por jogos online aumentou ao longo dos anos, expandindo o suporte multiplayer para novos e diferentes gĂ©neros. Entre estes estĂŁo os jogos Massively Multiplayer Online, um dos tipos de jogos mais populares e bem-sucedidos na indĂşstria. Atualmente, esta indĂşstria está a prosperar, evoluindo com os avanços tecnolĂłgicos e gerando milhares de milhões em receita, tornando-se uma importância econĂłmica. PorĂ©m, Ă medida que a complexidade destes jogos aumenta, tambĂ©m aumenta os problemas encontrados durante a sua construção. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo implementar um jogo distribuĂdo, atravĂ©s de uma prova de conceito ou um jogo existente, usando uma arquitetura distribuĂda a fim de adquirir conhecimento na construção destes sistemas complexos e o esforço envolvido em lidar com consistĂŞncia, manter a infraestrutura de comunicação e gerir dados de maneira distribuĂda. Para isto, Ă© pretendido que este projeto tambĂ©m implemente vários mecanismos capazes de, forma autĂ´noma, ajudar a gerir e manter o correto estado do sistema.
Para avaliar o solução proposta, uma análise detalhada é realizada sobre o desempenho, segurança, escalabilidade e resiliência da distribuição do sistema.
De forma geral, o presente trabalho de pesquisa permitiu uma maior compreensão das tecnologias e abordagens utilizadas na construção de um sistema de jogos, estabelecendo um novo conjunto de oportunidades de
desenvolvimento a serem investigadas sobre a solução construĂda
Integrating Players, Reputation and Ranking to Manage Cheating in MMOGs
In this paper, we propose an approach that uses in-game
reputation as a solution to the problem of cheating in massively
multiplayer online games. What constitutes cheating
is however quite context-specific and subjective, and there is
no universal view. Thus our approach aims to adjust to the
particular forms of cheating to which players object rather
than deciding a priori which forms of cheating should be
controlled.
The main feature of our approach is an architecture and
model for maintaining player-based and context-appropriate
trust and reputation measures, with the integration of these
into the game’s ranking system. When an avatar loses reputation,
our approach intervenes to reduce its ranking. It
is envisaged that players will come to attach value to reputation
in its own right. We also present the results of relatively
large-scale simulations of various scenarios involving
sequences of encounters between players, with an initial implementation
of our reputation and ranking model in place,
to observe the impact on cheaters (and non-cheaters)
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Distributed virtual environment scalability and security
Distributed virtual environments (DVEs) have been an active area of research and engineering for more than 20 years. The most widely deployed DVEs are network games such as Quake, Halo, and World of Warcraft (WoW), with millions of users and billions of dollars in annual revenue. Deployed DVEs remain expensive centralized implementations despite significant research outlining ways to distribute DVE workloads.
This dissertation shows previous DVE research evaluations are inconsistent with deployed DVE needs. Assumptions about avatar movement and proximity - fundamental scale factors - do not match WoW’s workload, and likely the workload of other deployed DVEs. Alternate workload models are explored and preliminary conclusions presented. Using realistic workloads it is shown that a fully decentralized DVE cannot be deployed to today’s consumers, regardless of its overhead.
Residential broadband speeds are improving, and this limitation will eventually disappear. When it does, appropriate security mechanisms will be a fundamental requirement for technology adoption.
A trusted auditing system (“Carbon”) is presented which has good security, scalability, and resource characteristics for decentralized DVEs. When performing exhaustive auditing, Carbon adds 27% network overhead to a decentralized DVE with a WoW-like workload. This resource consumption can be reduced significantly, depending upon the DVE’s risk tolerance.
Finally, the Pairwise Random Protocol (PRP) is described. PRP enables adversaries to fairly resolve probabilistic activities, an ability missing from most decentralized DVE security proposals.
Thus, this dissertations contribution is to address two of the obstacles for deploying research on decentralized DVE architectures. First, lack of evidence that research results apply to existing DVEs. Second, the lack of security systems combining appropriate security guarantees with acceptable overhead
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