Title: Scalable reputation management with trustworthy user selection for P2P MMOGs

Authors: Guan-Yu Huang, Shun-Yun Hu, Jehn-Ruey Jiang

Addresses: Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Central University, Taiwan, ROC. ' Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Central University, Taiwan, ROC. ' Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Central University, Taiwan, ROC

Abstract: Recent research on Peer-to-Peer Massively Multiplayer Online Games (P2P MMOGs) has tried to find more scalable and affordable solutions to build virtual environments via the resource sharing of clients. However, P2P approaches face the problem of client misbehaviours where game rules are not processed properly, undermining a game|s fairness and normal operations. In this paper, we present REPS, a distributed reputation management system for P2P MMOGs that allows trustworthy clients be identified to perform important tasks. REPS first considers the generation, storage, and query for certain reputation factors that could be the basis to evaluate user trustworthiness. We then propose Trustworthy user Selection (TuS) to adjust the weights of each factor to give preference to the more important ones. Based on the mutual rating among users and reputation queries, REPS provides a scalable and reliable mechanism to facilitate decision making, from choosing trustworthy superpeers, to deciding whether to interact with particular users.

Keywords: massively multiplayer online games; P2P MMOGs; peer-to-peer; virtual environments; trustworthy user selection; distributed reputation management; trust; computer games; client misbehaviour; fairness; security.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAMC.2008.022222

International Journal of Advanced Media and Communication, 2008 Vol.2 No.4, pp.380 - 401

Published online: 23 Dec 2008 *

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