A spatial publish subscribe overlay for massively multiuser virtual environments

Proceedings of the International Conference on Electronics and Information Engineering, 2010, v. 2, p. 314-318Peer-to-peer (P2P) architectures have become popular for designing scalable virtual environments (VEs) in recent years. However, one question that remains is whether a single overlay can be flexible enough to support different types of VEs. We present S-VON, a P2P overlay that attempts this goal by providing spatial publish / subscribe (SPS) services. Besides flexibility, S-VON also aims to be practical and efficient by utilizing super-peers and considering the physical topology (i.e., network distance) to reduce latencies. Our simulations show that super-peers provide a unique design space where both bandwidth usage and latencies can be effectively reduced, such that even a crowded Second Life region can be hosted with residential ADSL. © 2010 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Clouds + Games: A multifaceted approach

The computer game landscape is changing: people play games on multiple computing devices with heterogeneous form-factors, capability, and connectivity. Providing high playability on such devices concurrently is difficult. To enhance the gaming experience, designers could leverage abundant and elastic cloud resources, but current cloud platforms aren't optimized for highly interactive games. Existing studies focus on streaming-based cloud gaming, which is a special case for the more general cloud game architecture. The authors explain how to integrate techniques from the cloud and game research communities into a complete architecture for enhanced online gaming quality. They examine several open issues that appear only when clouds and games are put together. © 2014 IEEE

A Conceptual Business Model Framework for Strategy and Value Addition: A Case Study of a Middleware Firm

The traditional business model frameworks and concepts have been mainly used in the field of Information System (IS) and e-commerce for explanatory and descriptive purposes. I believe that there is a potential for the business model concept to be expanded for use by general businesses in strategic management. In this report, I will outline a conceptual framework for building a visual mapping of a business model. The conceptual model is a hybrid of two frameworks with the purpose of being used as a strategic tool for gaining new insight and value addition for any business. The model will be illustrated by a case study of a firm offering Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) middleware solutions for the online games industry

Re-engineering jake2 to work on a grid using the GridGain Middleware

With the advent of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), engineers and designers of games came across with many questions that needed to be answered such as, for example, "how to allow a large amount of clients to play simultaneously on the same server?", "how to guarantee a good quality of service (QoS) to a great number of clients?", "how many resources will be necessary?", "how to optimize these resources to the maximum?". A possible answer to these questions relies on the usage of grid computing. Taking into account the parallel and distributed nature of grid computing, we can say that grid computing allows for more scalability in terms of a growing number of players, guarantees shorter communication time between clients and servers, and allows for a better resource management and usage (e.g., memory, CPU, core balancing usage, etc.) than the traditional serial computing model. However, the main focus of this thesis is not about grid computing. Instead, this thesis describes the re-engineering process of an existing multiplayer computer game, called Jake2, by transforming it into a MMOG, which is then put to run on a grid

Applying Supernode Architecture for Scalable Multiplayer Computer Game

Süsteemi skaleeritavus, kiire vastamise aeg ja madal hinnatase on tähtsad atribuudid, mida tuleb arvesse võtta suurte multimängijatega online mitmikmängude loomisel. Sellistes süsteemides mängib suurt rolli arhitektuur. Partnervõrkude arhitektuuridel on madalad hinnad ning need suudavad saavutada järk-järgulise kasvu tänu nende hajususele ja koostööle. Peale selle suudavad nad kiirelt reageerida tänu otseühendustele mängijate vahel. Samas esineb selliste arhitektuuridega mitmeid probleeme. Selles lõputöös uuritakse olemasolevaid partnervõrkude lahendusi suurtele multimängijatega online olevatele mängudele. Veel uurib see lõputöö kahte hübriidarhitektuuri - esimeses on kasutatud supernode punkte koos keskse ühenduspunktiga ning teises on kasutatud keskset võrguharu ühenduspunkti ilma keskse ühenduspunktita. Lisaks sellele esitab see lõputöö lahenduse supernodemultimängijatega online mängudele, mis põhinevad multiedastuse põhimõttel.Selleks, et tulevikus analüüse läbi viia, on kogu süsteem implementeeritud simulatsiooniga.Scalability, fast response time and low cost are of utmost importance in designing a successful massively multiplayer online game. The underlying architecture plays an important role in meeting these conditions. Peer-to-peer architectures, have low infrastructure costs and can achieve high scalability, due to their distributed and collaborative nature. They can also achieve fast response times by creating direct connections between players. However, these architectures face many challenges.Therefore, the paper investigates existing peer to peer architecture solutions for a massively multiplayer online games. The study examines two hybrid architectures. In the first one, a supernode approach is used with a central server. In the contrast in the second one, there is no central server and pure peer to peer architecture is deployed. Moreover, the thesis proposes a solution based on multicast peer discovery and supernodes for a massively multiplayer online game. Also, all system is covered with simulation, that provides results for future analysing

A Systematic Mapping Study of MMOG Backend Architectures

The advent of utility computing has revolutionized almost every sector of traditional software development. Especially commercial cloud computing services, pioneered by the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft, have provided an unprecedented opportunity for the fast and sustainable development of complex distributed systems. Nevertheless, existing models and tools aim primarily for systems where resource usage—by humans and bots alike—is logically and physically quite disperse resulting in a low likelihood of conflicting resource access. However, a number of resource-intensive applications, such as Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) and large-scale simulations introduce a requirement for a very large common state with many actors accessing it simultaneously and thus a high likelihood of conflicting resource access. This paper presents a systematic mapping study of the state-of-the-art in software technology aiming explicitly to support the development of MMOGs, a class of large-scale, resource-intensive software systems.By examining the main focus of a diverse set of related publications, we identify a list of criteria that are important for MMOG development. Then, we categorize the selected studies based on the inferred criteria in order to compare their approach, unveil the challenges faced in each of them and reveal research trends that might be present. Finally we attempt to identify research directions which appear promising for enabling the use of standardized technology for this class of systems

Perfil de la investigación académica sobre Juegos Masivos en Línea para Múltiples Jugadores (JMLMJ) 2000-2009: Horizontes para la investigación educativa

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17227/01234870.38folios75.94Whilst there exists a large body of publications around Massively Multiplayer On-line Role-Play Gaming (MMORPG), there is little profiling academic research on this type of game. This study aims at unveiling what, when, where and who constitute scholarly work in research about MMORPG. A 777-register dataset was configured with primary documents taken from 16 databases and two web-portals. The dataset was drilled down using specialized text-mining software. Findings revealed four main research interests that comprise the games themselves, gaming experiences, systems architecture and educational MMORPG. It was also found that research on this topic started out in 2002 and some milestones of emerging research were charted out. The most prolific organizations and authors were also identified in which the USA, Canada and Italy occupy outstanding places. It is recommended that research profiling studies be carried out to extendmore informed literature reviews and support further research questions.La investigación sobre Juegos Masivos en Línea para Múltiples Jugadores (JMLMJ) es amplia; sin embargo, no hay mucha literatura especializada que perfile la investigación sobre este tipo específico de juegos. El presente estudio persigue describir el qué, el cuándo, el dónde y el quién que constituyen trabajo investigativo y académico sobre los JMLMJ. Se configuró una base de datos de 777 registros con documentos de investigación provenientes de 16 bases de datos académicas y dos portales web. La base de datos que se organizó fue explorada utilizando un software especializado en minería de textos. Los resultados revelan cuatro tendencias principales en la investigación sobre los JMLMJ: los juegos en sí mismos, las experiencias de juego, los sistemas de arquitectura de estos juegos y los JMLMJ relacionados con el fenómeno educativo. Se encontró que la investigación sobre estos juegos se origina en 2002 y se encontraron rutas de investigación relacionadas como desarrollo del campo. Se identificaron los autores más prolíficos quienes son provenientes de organizaciones en USA, Canadá e Italia. Se recomienda la realización de estudios de perfil para ampliar las revisiones de literatura que sustente la formulación de preguntas de investigación

A Conceptual Business Model Framework for Strategy and Value Addition: A Case Study of a Middleware Firm

The traditional business model frameworks and concepts have been mainly used in the field of Information System (IS) and e-commerce for explanatory and descriptive purposes. I believe that there is a potential for the business model concept to be expanded for use by general businesses in strategic management. In this report, I will outline a conceptual framework for building a visual mapping of a business model. The conceptual model is a hybrid of two frameworks with the purpose of being used as a strategic tool for gaining new insight and value addition for any business. The model will be illustrated by a case study of a firm offering Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) middleware solutions for the online games industry

A Systematic Mapping Study of MMOG Backend Architectures

The advent of utility computing has revolutionized almost every sector of traditional software development. Especially commercial cloud computing services, pioneered by the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft, have provided an unprecedented opportunity for the fast and sustainable development of complex distributed systems. Nevertheless, existing models and tools aim primarily for systems where resource usage—by humans and bots alike—is logically and physically quite disperse resulting in a low likelihood of conflicting resource access. However, a number of resource-intensive applications, such as Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) and large-scale simulations introduce a requirement for a very large common state with many actors accessing it simultaneously and thus a high likelihood of conflicting resource access. This paper presents a systematic mapping study of the state-of-the-art in software technology aiming explicitly to support the development of MMOGs, a class of large-scale, resource-intensive software systems.By examining the main focus of a diverse set of related publications, we identify a list of criteria that are important for MMOG development. Then, we categorize the selected studies based on the inferred criteria in order to compare their approach, unveil the challenges faced in each of them and reveal research trends that might be present. Finally we attempt to identify research directions which appear promising for enabling the use of standardized technology for this class of systems