Handling of players and objects in massive multi-player on-line games

• US 8,057,307 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2005
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Berstis, Viktors, Bethencourt, John Daniel Sieron, Damm, Kevin Blake, Deen, Robert Glenn, Hammer, Matthew Arthur, Kaufman, James H., Lehman, Tobin Jon
• Primary Examiner(s): Laneau, Ronald
• Assistant Examiner(s): Williams, Ross A
• Application Number:
  US11/089,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20060217201A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,427 Days
• Field of Search: 463/31, 463 40- 42, 709/205, 709/315, 709/229, 455/453, 718/105
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3276 wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament

Abstract

The disclosed massive multi-player on-line gaming environment and method eliminate the coordination and synchronization problems between servers by assigning each game user to a specific client proxy server for game duration and utilizing a space information distribution center to indicate client specific changes in game space. Such configuration eliminates the need to use “grey” areas around partitioning boundaries and servers having to “own” client objects thereby improving massive multi-player on-line gaming scalability.

Claims

1. A massive multi-player on-line gaming environment, comprising:

a space information distribution system;

a game space mapping system, connected to the space information distribution system via an internal network, comprising;

a game space mapping program comprising a graph of game space;

a plurality of servers to process the graph of game space, each server of the plurality of servers sending a message to the space information distribution system to indicate a change in their own part of the game space;

a re-mapping game space program; and

a rules engine to re-calculate the game space graph;

a plurality of client proxy servers connected to the internal network; and

a multiplicity of remote users connected to the client proxy servers by a worldwide network, each of the plurality of client proxy servers handling one or more users for game duration wherein the one or more users handled by a client proxy server are not handed off to another client proxy server to be handled, wherein the space information distribution system tracks user status information for the multiplicity of remote users, the space information distribution system sends changes in the game space received from the plurality of servers to the plurality of client proxy servers, and the plurality of client proxy servers employ information from the game space mapping system and space information distribution system to distribute only user specific information to each specific remote user.

2. The massive multi-player on-line gaming environment of claim 1 wherein the graph of game space includes vertices representing specific game regions and edges connecting those game regions capable of being influenced.

3. The massive multi-player on-line gaming environment of claim 2 wherein the game space mapping system further comprises means for assigning partitions to the plurality of servers, the servers performing computations for the partitioning of the game space graph.

4. The massive multi-player on-line gaming environment of claim 3 wherein the partitions comprise one or more collections of one or more cells wherein communication among cells within a collection is performed by in-memory communication, communication among cells not within a collection is performed by in-memory communication when the cells are within the same partition, and communication among cells not within a collection is performed over a network connecting the plurality of servers when the cells are not within the same partition.

5. The massive multi-player on-line gaming environment of claim 1 wherein the space information distribution system is comprised of a communication program, a communication game space graph, a game space map address book, and a game space user address book.

6. The massive multi-player on-line gaming environment of claim 5 wherein the communication program is further comprised of means to monitor data in the communication graph.

7. The massive multi-player on-line gaming environment of claim 6 wherein the communication program further comprises means for calculating a threshold for server load and comparing said value to a pre-established threshold.

8. The massive multi-player on-line gaming environment of claim 7 wherein the communication program further comprises means for sending an instruction to the re-mapping program to alter the game space graph when the calculated threshold is greater than the pre-established threshold.

9. The massive multi-player on-line gaming environment of claim 1 wherein the re-mapping game space program further comprises a means for determining the applicable rule engine and applying such engine to re-calculate the game space graph.

10. The massive multi-player on-line gaming environment of claim 9 wherein the re-mapping game space program further comprises a means for determining the applicable rule engine and applying such engine to re-calculate the game space graph.

11. A method for partitioning work between servers and tracking user interaction with servers in massive multi-player online games running multiple servers, comprising:

creating an internal network that includes a space information distribution system, a game space mapping system including a plurality of servers to process a graph of game space, each server of the plurality of servers sending a message to the space information distribution system indicating a change in their own part of the game space, and a plurality of applications and servers;

assigning each remote game user to one of a plurality of client proxy servers, each client proxy server handling one or more users for the duration of the multi-player game wherein the one or more users handled by a client proxy server are not handed off to another client proxy server to be handled;

connecting the client proxy servers to the internal network; and

employing the space information distribution system to track user status information, the space information distribution system sending the information indicating a change in game space sent by the plurality of servers to the plurality of client proxy servers to distribute user specific information to the remote users via a worldwide network.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the game space mapping system further includes a game space mapping program, a re-mapping game space program, and a rules engine to re-calculate the game space graph.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the game space mapping system further includes a game space graph with vertices representing specific game regions and edges connecting the game regions capable of being influenced.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the game space mapping system assigning partitions to the plurality of servers, the servers performing computations for the partitioning of the game space graph.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the partitions comprise one or more collections of one or more cells wherein communication among cells within a collection is performed by in-memory communication, communication among cells not within a collection is performed by in-memory communication when the cells are within the same partition, and communication among cells not within a collection is performed over a network connecting the plurality of servers when the cells are not within the same partition.

16. The method of claim 13 used to convert an existing computer game into a massive multi-player on-line game.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the space information distribution system includes a communication program, a communication game space graph, a game space map address book, and a game space user address.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the space information distribution system monitors data in the communication game space graph.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the space information distribution system is capable of calculating a threshold for server load and comparing said value to a pre-established threshold.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the communication program sends an instruction to the re-mapping program to alter the game space graph when the calculated threshold is greater than the pre-established threshold.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the re-mapping program determines the applicable rule engine and applies such engine to re-calculate the game space graph.

22. A method for partitioning work between servers and tracking user interaction with servers in massive multi-player online games running multiple servers, comprising the steps of:

segmenting game space within a multi-player game into a game graph with vertices and edges, the vertices representing game regions and the edges connecting the game regions that can influence each other;

assigning each game user to one of a plurality of client proxy servers, each of the plurality of client proxy servers handling one or more users for the duration of the multi-player game wherein the one or more users handled by a client proxy server are not handed off to another client proxy server to be handled;

employing a space information distribution system to track user status information;

processing the game graph utilizing a game space mapping system which utilizes a plurality of servers to process the game graph, each of the plurality of servers sending a message to the space information distribution system to indicate a change in their own part of the game space;

delegating communications between the client proxy servers and the space information distribution system; and

sending the information of the space information distribution system indicating a change in game space received from the plurality of servers to the plurality of client proxy servers, the plurality of client proxy servers then employing the information to distribute user specific information to game users connected to the plurality of client proxy servers via a worldwide network.

23. The method of claim 22 used to convert an existing computer game into a massive multi-player on-line game.