REDESIGNING ARCHITECTRE TO SUPPORT MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE GAMES

REDESIGNING ARCHITECTRE TO SUPPORT MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE GAMES Nimesh Subramanian CMSC 601

MMOG � Massively multiplayer online game (MMOG). � It is estimated that 55% of internet users play multiplayer online games. � The online gaming industry alone is valued at 7 billion USD. � The most famous example is World of Warcraft.

Current Problem � � � Each game in the cloud has its own dedicated hardware, thus leading to overprovisioning of resources. Even if the company has multiple games it will employ dedicated hardware for each of those games. A common problem in the online gaming industry is the sharded design architecture that is currently being employed. This sharded principle will worsen the over provisioning phenomenon Another problem to be considered is Network latency must be low enough to have a decent gameplay experience.

Solution � � Using the Spatial-locality property of the player. Using spatial locality property, three categories can be formed 1. 2. 3. � � � Area of interest Zone of interest Realm of interest Each of these will have a set of players associated with them. P 2 P connections can be formed within each set. Propagation of events can be based on priority.

Dynamic Server Consolidation � � When a particular zone reaches a certain threshold value, we can split the zone further to maintain the Quality-of-Service (Qo. S). If the zone is sparsely polulated, we can combine the zones. Reducing the number of players in a zone reduces the number of events to be propagated. Each zone can be hosted in a separate VM. When its time to combine or split the zones meta-data can be passed.

Analysis � Server consolidation. Bin-packing algorithm

Disadvantages � Internet connection: One of the main issue with cloud gaming. • If connection becomes congested or there is a packet loss, frame rate will drop resulting in degradation of game play • � Under perfomance Your system might be able to give better resolution than what your getting from the cloud servers

Advantages � Click and play � Constant Upgrades Improving a game console is impossible, and upgrading your PC is expensive and time consuming. � Reduces the investment needed. � Reduces the power consumption.

Related work � Peer@play Suselbeck, R. ; Schiele, G. ; Becker, C. , Peer-to-peer support for low-latency Massively Multiplayer Online Games in the cloud � � Nae, V. ; Prodan, R. ; Fahringer, T. , "Costefficient hosting and load balancing of Massively Multiplayer Online Games“ Yeng-Ting Lee ; Kuan-Ta Chen, "Is Server Consolidation Benecial to MMORPG? A Case Study of World of Warcraft"

Discussion