Online Gaming Traffic Generator for Reproducing Gamer Behavior

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
The authors note that interactive game traffic differs from typical internet traffic, as it tends to use small, highly periodic packets.See it on page 2
02
L4D's IDTs are mostly under 50 ms, whereas WOW shows many packets with long IDTs, and WOW packets are smaller than L4D packets.See it on page 4
03
Generated L4D traffic matched the analytical model, while generated WOW traffic differed greatly from it, which the authors attribute to TCP mechanisms.See it on page 6
04
Generated WOW IDTs were delayed until about 200 ms, and some small packets were merged, reducing the share of small packets.See it on page 8
05
After the authors disabled the Nagle algorithm by setting TCP_NODELAY, the generated WOW distributions came close to the analytical model.See it on page 8
06
Even with Nagle disabled, the WOW IDT fit remained relatively worse than L4D's, which the authors attribute to other TCP control mechanisms distorting timing.See it on page 8

Summary

This paper, by Kwangsik Shin and colleagues from ETRI and Inha University, proposes an online gaming traffic generator that reproduces gamer behavior. The authors analyzed packet size and inter departure time (IDT) distributions for two games: Left4Dead (L4D), a cooperative first-person shooter, and World of Warcraft (WOW), a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The generator produces IDTs and packets from an analytical model of gamer behavior and transmits each packet after its IDT expires. The paper was published in ICEC 2010.

The analysis found clear differences between genres. Most L4D IDTs are under 50 ms, while WOW has many packets with long IDTs, and WOW packets are smaller than L4D packets. In initial tests, generated L4D traffic closely matched the analytical model, but WOW traffic diverged substantially. The authors attribute this to TCP's Nagle algorithm and delayed acknowledgments. After disabling Nagle's algorithm via TCP_NODELAY, the generated WOW distributions moved close to the model, according to the authors, who report that Q-Q plots indicate goodness of fit. They note that WOW IDTs remain less accurate than L4D's because TCP's other control mechanisms still distort timing.