Managing latency and fairness in networked games

J. Brun, University of Wollongong
F. Safaei, University of Wollongong
P. Boustead, University of Wollongong

Article comments

This article was originally published as: Brun, J, Safaei, F & Boustead, P, Managing latency and fairness in networked games, Communications of the ACM (CACM), 2006, 49(11), 46-51. Copyright 2006 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The journal webpage is available here.

Abstract

Networked games can be seen as forerunners of all kinds of participatory entertainment applications delivered through the Internet. Physically dispersed players are immersed in a common virtual environment where they interact in real time. When a user performs an action, other users must be made aware of that action. Otherwise, there is a discrepancy in the perceptions of participants about the overall state of the virtual world. This discrepancy could lead to undesirable and sometimes paradoxical outcomes. In particular, first-person shooter, and to a lesser extent role-playing games impose stringent constraints on responsiveness and consistency.