Middleware Systems Research Group

University of Toronto, Canada

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Publish/Subscribe Network Designs for Multiplayer Games

Abstract

Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), which are typically supported by large distributed systems, require a scalable, low latency messaging middleware that supports the location-based semantics and the loosely coupled interaction of multiplayer games components. In this experimentation paper, we present three different pub/sub-driven designs for a MMOG networking engine that account for the highly interactive and massive nature of these games. Each design uses not only different pub/sub approaches (from topic-based to content-based) but also serves varying degrees of responsibilities. In particular, some of them integrate game functionality, such as interest management, into the network engine. We implement, evaluate, and compare our proposed designs in the MMOG prototype Mammoth. Our real-world results show the viability of pub/sub while at the same time highlighting clear trade-offs between the different designs used, especially in the number and frequency of the various message types, such as subscriptions.

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Tags: pub/sub, publish/subscribe, online games, middleware