Scalable Resource and QoS Brokering Mechanisms for Massively Multiplayer Online Games

Abstract

Multiplayer online games have become an increasingly integral part of online entertainment. With advances in social media, the number of players of these games is increasing at a very rapid rate, which in some cases has been observed to be exponential. This is when resource becomes a concern. In this thesis, I investigated several challenges in developing and maintaining multiplayer games such as hotspots, genrespeci c limitations, unpredictable quality of service and rigidity in resource availability. I showed that these issues can be solved by adopting mechanisms for separation of resource concerns from functional concerns and coordination of resources. To support resource coordination, I divided the ownership of resources among three partiesgame owner, resource owner and game player. I developed the CyberOrgs-MMOG API, which supports Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) platforms capable of resource sharing among multiple peers, through mechanisms for acquiring these resources dynamically. I showed that dynamic acquisition of resources can solve the resource questions mentioned above. The API was evaluated using a 2D game with up to 250 simulated players. I also showed, how the game's responsiveness can be dynamically adjusted in a scalable way. This thesis presents the design and implementation of the CyberOrgs-MMOG API, interfaces provided to the interacting agents representing di erent parties. I integrated a 2D multiplayer game with the API and evaluated the mechanisms supported by the API.