Networking and Online Games: Understanding and Engineering Multiplayer Internet Games

Acknowledgements.

1 Introduction.

2 Early Online and Multiplayer Games.

2.1 Defining Networked and Multiplayer Games.

2.2 Early Multiplayer Games.

2.3 Multiplayer Network Games.

3 Recent Online and Multiplayer Games.

3.1 Communication Architectures.

3.2 The Evolution of Online Games.

3.3 Summary of Growth of Online Games.

3.4 The Evolution of Online Game Platforms.

3.5 Context of Computer Games.

4 Basic Internet Architecture.

4.1 IP Networks as seen from the Edge.

4.2 Connectivity and Routing.

4.3 Address Management.

5 Network Latency, Jitter and Loss.

5.1 The Relevance of Latency, Jitter and Loss.

5.2 Sources of Latency, Jitter and Loss in the Network.

5.3 Network Control of Lag, Jitter and Loss.

5.4 Measuring Network Conditions.

6 Latency Compensation Techniques.

6.1 The Need for Latency Compensation.

6.2 Prediction.

6.3 Time Manipulation.

6.4 Visual Tricks.

6.5 Latency Compensation and Cheating.

7 Playability versus Network Conditions and Cheats.

7.1 Measuring Player Tolerance for Network Disruptions.

7.2 Communication Models, Cheats and Cheat-Mitigation.

8 Broadband Access Networks.

8.1 What Broadband Access Networks are and why they Matter.

8.2 Access Network Protocols and Standards.

8.3 Cable Networks.

8.4 ADSL Networks.

8.5 Wireless LANs.

8.6 Cellular Networks.

8.7 Bluetooth Networks.

8.8 Conclusion.

9 Where Do Players Come from and When?

9.1 Measuring Your Own Game Traffic.

9.2 Hourly and Daily Game-play Trends.

9.3 Server-discovery (Probe Traffic) Trends.

9.4 Mapping Traffic to Player Locations.

10 Online Game Traffic Patterns.

10.1 Measuring Game Traffic with Timestamping Errors.

10.2 Sub-second Characteristics.

10.3 Sub-second Packet-size Distributions.

10.4 Sub-Second Inter-Packet Arrival Times.

10.5 Estimating the Consequences.

10.6 Simulating Game Traffic.

11 Future Directions.

11.1 Untethered.

11.2 Quality of Service.

11.3 New Architectures.

11.4 Cheaters Beware.

11.5 Augmented Reality.

11.6 Massively Multiplayer.

11.7 Pickup and Putdown.

11.8 Server Browsers.

12 Setting Up Online FPS Game Servers.

12.1 Considerations for an Online Game Server.

12.2 Wolfenstein Enemy Territory.

12.3 Half-Life 2.

12.4 Configuring FreeBSD’s Linux-compatibility Mode.

13 Conclusion.

13.1 Networking Fundamentals.

13.2 Game Technologies and Development.

13.3 A Note Regarding Online Sources.

Index.