Shared world illusion in networked videogames

Abstract

This thesis aims to discover pivotal points of maintaining shared world illusion in networked videogames. The paper was inspired by huge amount of games that include multiplayer components, even if it does not fit thematically. With overabundance of multiplayer games on the market, paper aims to shed a light on why exactly only few of them have acceptable, faultless networked virtual environments, while most others struggle with it. In this thesis, the difference between single- and multiplayer game’s structure is glanced on. Then, architectures like p2p and client-server, are observed from videogame point of view, with each having its pros and cons. This is followed by the establishment of challenges of replication, introduced by networking component. Finally, some contemporary solutions are presented, along with example of integration of them in a commercial product. Paper is concluded by summarizing the aspects of making coherent shared worlds, and noticing that not only there’s little to none standards of implementation for them, but also the nature of competitive market drives developers to keep the details of well-made replication mechanisms secret, thus gaining an advantage over other competitors.