A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2014. / Virtual worlds and massive multiplayer online games are amongst the most popular applications on the Internet. In order to host these applications a reliable architecture is required. It is essential for the architecture to handle high user loads, maintain a complex game state, promptly respond to game interactions, and prevent cheating, amongst other properties. Many of today’s Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) use client-server architectures to provide multiplayer service. Clients (players) send their actions to a server. The latter calculates the game state and publishes the information to the clients. Although the client-server architecture has been widely adopted in the past for MMOG, it suffers from many limitations. First, applications based on a client-server architecture are difficult to support and maintain given the dynamic user base of online games. Such architectures do not easily scale (or handle heavy loads). Also, the server constitutes a single point of failure. We argue that peer-to-peer architectures can provide better support for MMOG. Peer-to-peer architectures can enable the user base to scale to a large number. They also limit disruptions experienced by players due to other nodes failing. This research designs and implements a peer-to-peer architecture for MMOG. The peer-to-peer architecture aims at reducing message latency over the network and on the application layer. We refine the communication between nodes in the architecture to reduce network latency by using SPDY, a protocol designed to reduce web page load time. For the application layer, an event-driven paradigm was used to process messages. Through user load simulation, we show that our peer-to-peer design is able to process and reliably deliver messages in a timely manner. Furthermore, by distributing the work conducted by a game server, our research shows that a peer-to-peer architecture responds quicker to requests compared to client-server models.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2009. / "Submitted to Department of Media and Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-125)

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The purpose of this thesis is to explore the following research question: How does immersion occur in a virtual game environment? Specifically, this study will focus on the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft. Approaching the question using a grounded theory methodology, the study finds that immersion takes place in two primary areas: Environmental and Social. Environmental immersion concerns technical aspects of the game including aesthetic detail, sensory stimulation, and narratives. Social immersion evolves as a paradigmatic opposition of cooperation and intimidation. Players are not fully immersed in the world until they have accepted cooperation as their dominant paradigm for play. / Department of Telecommunications

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the School of Computer Science. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2007/08/30). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/01/30). Written for the School of Computer Science. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the School of Computer Science. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/12/05). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the School of Computer Science. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2009/06/24). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 2005. / Supervisor: Nicholas Colangelo. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-155).

Massively multiplayer online games (MMOG’s) are a specific form of online computer games that allow for millions of people to simultaneously play online at any time. This form of online gaming has become a huge phenomenon worldwide both as a popular past time and a business endeavour for many individuals. There are more than 16 million people worldwide who subscribe to fantasy role-playing online games. Although such games can provide entertainment for many people, they can also lead to problematic Internet use (PIU). PIU has also been referred to as Internet addiction, and can cause significant problems in an individual’s functioning. The study aimed to enhance a greater understanding of the phenomenon of male adults’ experiences PIU with MMOG’s. More specifically the study aims to identify if PIU with MMOG’s can be considered a form of Internet addiction within South Africa. Furthermore, assisting in the further development of online addiction diagnosis and treatment strategies. The study utilised an interpretive phenomenological approach (IPA) and participants were purposively sampled. The data was collected using semi-structured individual interviews. Furthermore, Braun and Clarks thematic analysis was used during data analysis while incorporating the four major processes in phenomenological research, namely 1) epoche, 2) phenomenological reduction, 3) imaginative variation and, 4) synthesis. Themes that emerged from the analysis of the participants’ experiences included, initial description of use, motives for continued use of MMOG’s, consequences of PIU with MMOG’s, perceptions of PIU with MMOG’s, and treatment considerations. This study provided a thick description of South African and international literature and combines the literature with the themes that emerged from the participants experiences in order to produce discussions based on the findings of this qualitative study. Conclusions, recommendations, and limitations of this study informed future research on cyber citizenship by providing a detailed understanding of the context of South African male adults’ experiences of PIU with MMOG’s.