Latency Incorporated Game Mechanics: A game design project

Latency Incorporated Game Mechanics

Jensen, Tom

4. term

Medialogy, Master

2011

2011-05-31

43

Online spil kan føles uretfærdige, når nogle spillere har høj forsinkelse (latency) til spilserveren. Tidligere forskning viser, at præstationen falder, når latency stiger, og at førstepersonsskydespil er særligt følsomme over for dette. Dette projekt foreslår at justere spilmekanikken ud fra hver spillers målte latency, en tilgang kaldet Latency Incorporated Game Mechanics. Med afsæt i tidligere studier opstilles tre hypoteser: ved at forstærke visse egenskaber hos spilleren som en funktion af latency kan man måske reducere ulemperne ved forsinkelse. For at evaluere dette blev der designet et førstepersonsskydespil samt udviklet de funktioner og procedurer, der var nødvendige for test, og der blev bygget en fungerende prototype. Prototypen blev brugt i et eksperiment, hvis resultater ikke var entydige i forhold til hypoteserne, men gav nyttig viden til fremtidigt arbejde. Samlet konkluderer projektet, at der er behov for mere forskning, og at den opbyggede viden og prototype udgør et solidt fundament for de næste faser.

Online games can feel unfair when some players have high delay (latency) to the game server. Prior research shows that performance declines as latency increases, and first-person shooters are especially sensitive to this. This project proposes adjusting in-game mechanics according to each player’s measured latency, an approach called Latency Incorporated Game Mechanics. Based on earlier studies, it formulates three hypotheses: by boosting certain player attributes as a function of latency, the disadvantages from delay might be reduced. To evaluate this, the team designed a first-person shooter game, developed the features and procedures needed for testing, and built a working prototype. The prototype was used in an experiment whose results were inconclusive regarding the hypotheses, but the study produced useful insights for future work. Overall, the project finds that more research is needed, and that the accumulated knowledge and prototype provide a solid foundation for the next phases.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]

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