MMORPG Player actions: Network performance, session patterns and latency requirements analysis

Providing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) is a big challenge for future mobile, IP-based networks. Understanding how the players' actions affect the network parameters, the game platform, and the overall perceived quality is highly relevant for the purposes of game design, as well as for the networking infrastructure and network support for games. We break player actions down into discrete categories, and show that each category is distinct in terms of several key metrics. We discuss which categories of actions could be supported on current mobile devices, and present evidence in form of a user survey demonstrating the demand for such services. The starting points into the discussion include the networking, session and latency requirements for particular player actions on one side, and the players' interest on the other. The Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft (WoW) is used as a case study.