Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

The successful commercial MMOGs, at the moment, are implemented using some variant of the client-server model. This model offers simple design, good security and fast detection and treatment of cheating. However, it lacks scalability. The cost of maintaining the server becomes excessive with the increased number of customers. One approach to deal with this situation is distributing the MMOG simulation. The changes in the virtual world of the game would be processed by the machines of the clients, without interference from the server. This distribution can be achieved using the peer-to-peer model. In this paper, we describe a network engine, called P2PSE, which supports partially decentralized MMOGs, ensuring scalability and flexibility, while guaranteeing the basic properties of a client-server model, such as security and consistency. We first examine in more details the existent distributed models. After that, we discuss about the P2PSE project and its characteristics. Finally we present a simulation of the architecture in comparison with the traditional client-server model