Toward Consistency of State in MMOGs Through Semantically Aware Contention Management

Abstract

This paper presents a protocol which utilizes semantically aware, transaction-based contention management to reduce rollback and improve consistency in massively multiuser systems. Of particular relevance to massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), the proposed system is adaptive and scales with respect to connection latency. This paper presents some background to the area of state management and consistency in MMOGs, and their impact on user quality of service. Our solution is then outlined in significant detail, with particular attention paid to the manner in which it maps to the structure of MMOGs. A simulation is demonstrated and its behaviors discussed in-depth in order to support arguments regarding the suitability of the protocol.