Title: Deadline-Driven Auctions for NPC host allocation in P2P MMOGs

Authors: Lu Fan, Phil Trinder, Hamish Taylor

Addresses: School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh EH10 5DT, UK. ' School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK. ' School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK

Abstract: We present the design, implementation and evaluation of Deadline-Driven Auctions (DDAs), a novel task-mapping infrastructure for heterogeneous distributed environments. DDA is primarily designed for hosting Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in P2P Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). Experimental and analytical results demonstrate that DDA provides four significant advantages. It is self-organising: the infrastructure is automatically managed. It efficiently allocates computing resources for large numbers (1000s) of real-time NPC tasks. It supports gaming interactivity by minimising communication latency between NPC hosts. Finally, it supports flexible matchmaking policies, and a friendly incentive policy establishes a cooperative economic model to motivate participants to contribute resources.

Keywords: deadline-driven auctions; NPC host allocation; P2P; peer-to-peer; MMOGs; massively multiplayer online games; real time; task mapping; heterogeneous environments; communication latency; matchmaking; incentive; simulation; non-player characters; self-organising; resource allocation; gaming interactivity; incentive policy; cooperative economic models.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAMC.2010.032140

International Journal of Advanced Media and Communication, 2010 Vol.4 No.2, pp.140 - 153

Published online: 11 Mar 2010 *

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