packet loss and latency in unreal tournament 2003 tom beigbeder rory coughlan corey lusher john...
Post on 20-Dec-2015
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Packet Loss and Latency in Unreal Tournament 2003
Tom BeigbederRory CoughlanCorey LusherJohn Plunkett
Background Major draw of first person shooters (FPS) is
the multiplayer aspect The Internet was not designed for the real-
time nature of computer games Most games descend from one of two
lineages – Quake or Unreal
Game Information Majority of research has been done on
Quake-engine based games, in particular Half-Life
Unreal Tournament 2003 is a popular fast-paced FPS game
Includes multiple types of weapons, typical of most other FPS
Network Traffic Unreal Tournament 2003 transmits over
5000 packets per minute Majority of game traffic is carried over the
User Datagram Protocol No retransmission functions built in Need for precise movement and aiming
requires constant updates from a game server, which requires low latencies and packet loss rates
Goals of the Project Determine the impact of packet loss on
player performance
Contrast with the effects of latency
Determine the specific components of gameplay that are most effected by network connection degradation
Methodology Divided game into basic components such
as precise aiming, and movement Performed controlled tests at different
levels of packet loss and latency Analyzed results
Conclusions Despite making gameplay less enjoyable,
levels of packet loss and latency likely to be encountered by average players do not statistically impact player scores
Latency was more detrimental to player performance than packet loss
Packet loss was only noticeable at levels higher than 25%
Future Work “Bursty” Loss Variable Latency Unreal Tournament 2003 compared to
different game lineages