[e2e] SIG on Networked Computer Games

[Joerg Widmer]

Hi all,
With respect to the recent discussion about networked computer games
this SIG might be of interest.

Cheers,
  Jörg/Martin





                   Call for Participation

Special Interest Group on Networked Computer Games (SIG NetGame)

Over the past three to four years networked computer games have been a
tremendous commercial success. Games like Ultima Online, Everquest,
Doom,
Quake, Diablo II and others have attracted an audience of several
million
players, worldwide. They are one of the few Internet services for which 
end users are actually willing to pay money. As the Internet becomes 
ubiquitous through wireless and/or cheaper Internet access the the 
audience for networked computer games will increase rapidly, creating 
a mass market with a multi-billion dollar volume.  

However, most - if not all - of the successful networked computer games
have
encountered a large number of technical challenges that are inherent to
this
application area. These range from inadequate support by network and
transport
protocols to consistency problems and security breaches (or cheating as
players prefer to call it). At the same time scientists have begun to
discover
networked computer games as an extremely challenging and rewarding area
of 
research. What makes this area of research particularly fascinating is
that 
solutions found for networked computer games tend to solve related
problems 
in other areas such as computer supported collaborative work, distance 
education and telemedicine. 

It is the aim of this SIG to bring together developers of commercial and
non-commercial networked computer games, service providers, scientists,
and
interested individuals in order to discuss - and possibly solve -
technical
challenges of networked computer games. Topics of interest include, but
are 
certainly not limited to: 
             
- network and transport protocols 
- application-level protocol design 
- architectures for service providers 
- consistency mechanisms 
- security / cheating prevention 
- middle-ware (e.g. Direct Play) 
- billing and charging 

... for networked computer games. 


You can subscribe to the NetGame mailing list through the NetGame 
webpage:

  http://www.informatik.uni-mannheim.de/netgame/index.html

or by sending a mail to:

  netgame-l-request at pi4.informatik.uni-mannheim.de 

  with the following line in the BODY of the message: 

  subscribe

I'm looking forward to interesting discussions on netgame-l.

Sincerely,

Martin Mauve

Disclaimer: This SIG is currently not affiliated with any other
organization.