What online gamers really think of the Internet?

The Internet has provided a network infrastructure with global connectivity for the games industry to develop and deploy online games. However, unlike the document interface paradigm of the World Wide Web (WWW), these online games have more stringent requirements that are not fulfilled by the Internet's best effort service model.A key characteristic of online games is the possibility of having multiple participants share the same experience. Consequently, the volatile nature of the Internet can affect the enjoyment of all, or at the very least a few, of the users. To ameliorate the impact caused by network problems that may arise during game play, game developers have adopted adaptation techniques in the design and implementation of online games. However, little is known of how the user perceives these mechanisms.This paper presents the results of a questionnaire targeted at the online gaming community to provide insight into what users really think of the Internet and its impact on their playing experience. One of the main results is to demonstrate that the existing mechanisms fail to maintain the utility of the game at all times, leading to frustration on the part of the users. In spite of this, users are not willing to pay for any service guarantees.

[1]  F. R. Farmer,et al.  The lessons of Lucasfilm's habitat , 1991 .

[2]  Scott Shenker,et al.  Specification of Guaranteed Quality of Service , 1997, RFC.

[3]  Martin Mauve,et al.  Consistency control for distributed interactive media , 2001, MULTIMEDIA '01.

[4]  David L. Black,et al.  An Architecture for Differentiated Service , 1998 .

[5]  Mel Slater,et al.  Collaboration in Tele-Immersive Environments , 2002, EGVE.

[6]  Christophe Diot,et al.  A distributed architecture for multiplayer interactive applications on the Internet , 1999, IEEE Netw..

[7]  Ralph Schroeder,et al.  Small-Group Behavior in a Virtual and Real Environment: A Comparative Study , 2000, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[8]  Dongman Lee,et al.  Scalable prediction based concurrency control for distributed virtual environments , 2000, Proceedings IEEE Virtual Reality 2000 (Cat. No.00CB37048).

[9]  Ilona Heldal,et al.  Collaborating in networked immersive spaces: as good as being there together? , 2001, Comput. Graph..

[10]  Michael Zyda,et al.  Networked virtual environments - desgin and implementation , 1999 .

[11]  Sean White,et al.  The first noble truth of CyberSpace: people are people (even when they MOO) , 1998, CHI.

[12]  Frank Biocca,et al.  The Cyborg's Dilemma: Progressive Embodiment in Virtual Environments , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[13]  Kyoung Shin Park,et al.  Effects of network characteristics on human performance in a collaborative virtual environment , 1999, Proceedings IEEE Virtual Reality (Cat. No. 99CB36316).

[14]  Yahn W. Bernier,et al.  Latency Compensating Methods in Client/Server In-game Protocol Design and Optimization , 2003 .

[15]  James B. Hittner,et al.  Relationships among Internet use, personality, and social support , 2002, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[16]  Sally Floyd,et al.  Promoting the use of end-to-end congestion control in the Internet , 1999, TNET.

[17]  P.M. Sharkey,et al.  A local perception filter for distributed virtual environments , 1998, Proceedings. IEEE 1998 Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (Cat. No.98CB36180).

[18]  Telecommunications Board,et al.  Modeling and Simulation: Linking Entertainment and Defense , 1997 .

[19]  Mel Slater,et al.  Small group behaviour in a virtual and real environment , 1998 .

[20]  Zheng Wang,et al.  An Architecture for Differentiated Services , 1998, RFC.

[21]  Steve Benford,et al.  Coping with inconsistency due to network delays in collaborative virtual environments , 1999, VRST '99.