language: en

Network Services for Multi-User Virtual Environments

Thomas A. Funkhouser
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Murray Hill, NJ

Abstract This paper describes network services to support large multi-user virtual environments. A client-server design is proposed in which multiple servers coordinate execution, manage communication, offload processing, and provide persistent storage for their clients. Using this design, it is possible to support real-time features, such as collision detection, voice bridging, persistent updates, physical simulation, and autonomous agents, that would be difficult to implement for large virtual environments with a peer-to-peer design. The paper includes a description of services being implemented in RING, a client-server system for interaction between many users in large virtual environments.

1 Introduction