Massively Multiplayer Online Games Developed with Agents

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) are online videogames played at the same time by a huge number of players experiencing together the same virtual world. MMOGs are an important focus of research, not only because they are economically attractive, but also because a MMOG involves many technologies (3D graphics, networking, AI) and a large amount of data that is generated by the interactions of many individuals in an inherently distributed scenario, forming a complex problem. Previous work in this line of research introduced the architecture called the "Massively Multiplayer Online Games based on Multi-Agent Systems", an effort to develop a system to design, and later deploy, MMOGs using agent technologies. In this paper, we present the model and method behind this architecture, paying special attention to the definition and design of the "Game Zones", the representation of the virtual environment. Also, we detail the components and steps to follow in the design of MMOGs based on organizations.

[1]  Marc Esteva,et al.  AMELI: an agent-based middleware for electronic institutions , 2004, Proceedings of the Third International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, 2004. AAMAS 2004..

[2]  Jerry R. Hobbs,et al.  DAML-S: Semantic Markup for Web Services , 2001, SWWS.

[3]  Frank Dignum Agents for games and simulations , 2011, Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.

[4]  Estefania Argente,et al.  Issues for Organizational Multiagent Systems Development , 2008 .

[5]  Amund Tveit,et al.  Scalable Agent-Based Simulation of Players in Massively Multiplayer Online Games , 2003 .

[6]  Carlos Carrascosa,et al.  MMOG based on MAS: The MMOG Layer (Extended Abstract) , 2009 .

[7]  Carles Sierra,et al.  Narrowing the Gap Between Humans and Agents in e-Commerce: 3D Electronic Institutions , 2005, EC-Web.

[8]  Simeon J. Simoff,et al.  Virtual Agents and 3D Virtual Worlds for Preserving and Simulating Cultures , 2009, IVA.

[9]  Vicent J. Botti,et al.  MMOG based on MAS: the MMOG layer , 2009, AAMAS.

[10]  Vicent J. Botti,et al.  Characterizing Massively Multiplayer Online Games as Multi-Agent Systems , 2008, HAIS.

[11]  Estefania Argente,et al.  Supporting Agent Organizations , 2007, CEEMAS.

[12]  Robert J. Moore,et al.  "Alone together?": exploring the social dynamics of massively multiplayer online games , 2006, CHI.

[13]  Gabriela Lindemann,et al.  Multi-Agent Systems and Applications V, 5th International Central and Eastern European Conference on Multi-Agent Systems, CEEMAS 2007, Leipzig, Germany, September 25-27, 2007, Proceedings , 2007, CEEMAS.

[14]  Vicent J. Botti,et al.  MMOG based on MAS: A Game-Independent Ontology , 2008, GAMEON.

[15]  Marc Esteva,et al.  A Virtual World Grammar for automatic generation of virtual worlds , 2010, The Visual Computer.

[16]  Carlos Carrascosa,et al.  Building Quests for Online Games with Virtual Institutions , 2010, AGS.

[17]  A Min Tjoa,et al.  E-Commerce and Web Technologies , 2002, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[18]  Marc Esteva,et al.  Virtual institutions prototype , 2009, AAMAS.

[19]  Vicent J. Botti,et al.  The MMOG Layer: MMOG Based on MAS , 2009, AGS.

[20]  Shinichi Honiden,et al.  Agent-Based Participatory Simulations: Merging Multi-Agent Systems and Role-Playing Games , 2006, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..